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Requiem for a precious piano

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published April 11, 2007


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A grand piano valued at $88,750 crashed to the ground as it was being unloaded Tuesday in Sandyway, England.

Fundraisers for the Two Moors Festival saved for two years to buy the 10-year-old Bosendorfer piano, which they say is considered the Rolls-Royce of pianos, at an auction this year.

The festival's artistic director, Penny Adie, said she was left numb as she witnessed it crashing to the ground.

"Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Then, without warning, the instrument veered away from the men unloading it, sped up and flipped on to the ground," she said.

The Two Moors Festival was set up in 2001, after the foot-and-mouth livestock disease crisis struck Britain, to bring tourists back to Dartmoor and Exmoor. Up to 5,000 people attend concerts at rural churches in Devon and Somerset.

Adie did not yet know the full extent of the damage but fears it may be a complete loss.

The piano movers, G&R Removals of Chiswick, declined to comment, beyond saying that insurers were investigating.

"It's more than money that is the issue here. They are simply irreplaceable," said Adie's husband, John Adie.

Information from BBC News and the London Evening Standard was used in this report.

[Last modified April 11, 2007, 02:37:53]


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