“the jigsaw pieces just all fitted together…”

It was a damp and blustery day in Newport, on Thursday January 12. Tia was making the one-mile journey along the footpath by the Quay to Mountbatten. Normally it’s a nice walk but by the time she arrived she was more than a little cold and wet. So the dry, warm atmosphere at the hospice was welcome. After a cup of tea in the café, Tia was warm as toast and reflecting on how, this winter, many are feeling more than a pinch in their efforts to stay warm. She was also reflecting on how, given its role in caring for the very ill and dying, the hospice is a place that must, at all times, stay warm. As a result, Mountbatten is also feeling the cost of its energy bills, which rose in 2022 by 200%.  

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Ever since her PhD research on Beethoven, his world, and his pianos, Tia has been interested in organisational ecology. That interest involves a focus on how ambient features of a location, its furnishings and décor, people, their needs and tastes, organisational regulations, vocabularies and practices get pieced together and have consequences. So, after speaking with Fraser Simpson about the beautiful grand piano that sits in the main lounge area at Mountbatten, something clicked. What Fraser had to say underlined the importance of finding the right fit between the features of a space and the needs of that space’s inhabitants – in this case temperature, humidity, a very special, donated, piano, and the needs of hospice patients. 

As Fraser explains:

“Ray Thomas of the Moody Blues was a supporter of the music therapy charity, Nordoff Robbins in its early days – the 1970s, when the charity was just starting. When Ray died about five years ago, he left his grand piano to Nordoff Robbins in his will. Nigel Hartley and I had a conversation not long before about the fact that we really did need a good grand piano here. The piano we had in the lounge area at the time was probably around a hundred years old and of course in those days, pianos weren’t built to withstand the dryness and warm temperatures of the hospice environment. We really needed a more modern, grand piano, because they make them differently now (this one is actually a Yamaha). They’re built much more robustly, much better suited to the hospice environment. And so, the jigsaw pieces just all fitted together: it was just exactly what we needed here. … It was Ray Thomas’s widow, Lee, who originally reached out to Nordoff Robbins. I went to her house to see the instrument and immediately realised it was a really fine piano. When I mentioned it to Nigel he jumped at it! Then I arranged to have it brought here.”

At the time the piano was donated to Mountbatten, Lee spoke about it and is quoted in a news item by Matthew White, Mountbatten’s Head of Communications, on Mountbatten’s webpage She says:

“We started donating to Nordoff Robbins because of its work in helping people through music. Ray’s life was music and he would be so happy his piano is at the hospice. Ray was always helping people, so it’s fantastic.”

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The piano can be heard each week when Fraser plays for the day centre patients, visitors, staff and some in-patients. When Tia visited on that blustery day in January, Fraser took requests and offered a few selections of his own. At other times, someone will just go up and play a little because the instrument is ‘there’. CEO Nigel Hartley, himself a trained musician and music therapist, commented, “it’s common for visitors or local musicians to come in and play during the week. I try to play myself from time to time. I got my Christmas repertoire out a few times during the holidays as did a few others.”

The instrument is also part of many hospice concerts. It will also be used later this year when the Care for Music Project holds its Festival at Mountbatten. There will be a session run by Fraser for local musicians who might have an interest in playing piano in caring settings. 

So, five years since it arrived at Mountbatten, Ray Thomas’ piano is thriving. It doesn’t seem to mind the warmth. It warms the spirits of many who come into contact with it. And it underlines the importance of fitting the pieces together with care to support an organisation’s people and cultural ecology.