Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Help Save the Historic Piano Collection! (updated)

My response from Mr Dennehey;


Ms. Neff:

Thank you for your email and your support of the Fredericks. I am not sure why the Fredericks are not mentioned on the town's website. I will look into that and see if we can add a link for them there.

Thank you for your complimentary comments about the Fredericks and our town!

Jonathan M. Dennehy
Chairman, Board of Selectmen
Town of Ashburnham
32 Main Street
Ashburnham, MA 01430
jmd@dennehy.us

Here is something I thought of and sent, I will post a reply if I get one, but isnt it a great idea..

OH I pray my idea and my prayers are answered...
Peace and love to the town and for the Frederick Historic Piano Collection..


To whom this may concern,
Hi, my name is Tracy, also known as Tolovemoon in the Piano World Forums on the web.
I have learned about this magnificent place called Frederick Historic Piano Collection only tonight and I dream of visiting one day.
I adore my own special 1910 piano with high hopes of one day affording the cost to restore it or doing most all the work myself.
There are so many piano lovers and musicians in our world today that it would be a shame to have this Piano Musuem have to relocate or worse not have a place to share such awesome instruments.
Think about this idea..

I live in Laurens, South Carolina a town where who would of dared thought could ever be in the spot light of tv, yet it did and was also made over to better the community. This was so special to the town folks and it has resparked more attention from visitors...
If your town could host a reality tv show with world known sponsors from piano manufacturing companies or even the small town restoration businesses then think of all the deserving piano owners that own old pianos could have the oppurtunity to have thier piano restored and placed in the musuem or the piano owner gets the visit to the museum with more insights about the history in piano making as well as their own piano restored for thier selves as a gift from others giving back.. You have watched shows like Pimp My Ride. Pimp My Truck, Which Building Should Be Saved? Restoration... , Divine Restoration, 'This Old House, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, just to name a few or if you haven't just look at all the positives that come from these types of situations.

"Then God willing, power tools humming, hammers pounding, video cameras rolling and volunteers scrambling something just this side of miraculous can happen in 48 hours, or a few days.

Youth rooms, fellowship halls, kitchens, basketball floors, storefront ministries, pulpit areas and other spaces are renewed or created.

Church members often get new life, too. " From an aricle, TV show documents faith, fellowship, hammers and nails; 3 church
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The, Jul 15, 2006 by, TOM HEINEN


Many artist I am sure that are well known and successful would probably love the oppurtunity to give back to such a cause.
As old pianos from our histories piano manufacturing companies, some of wich are no longer in business start to fade away or demolish because of lack of funds to keep up or owners could not afford to restore as well accidents like floods, fires, or natural disasters wipe these instruments out we may not see them ever again...

This could be a very good oppurtunity for your town to have tourism, growth, current residents will take pride in thier town, as well as new place estashblished in a ever so popular loved passion by so many people around the globe.
Please consider in the thought, so my crazy idea, my dream, my heart, passion, soul, others as well, will have a chance from a miracle to come true..
May God Bless you in all that you do, and the best that is meant to happen will happen because it was meant to be...

Sincerely yours,
Tracy
Tolovemoon.
Peace!
Http://tolovemoon.buzznet.com

Here's Mine -

Mr. Turcotte;

Burn them, burn them all. They are old, stinky and dont sound or play very well.

Out with the old, I'm openning up a digital piano museum with an Estonia Annex next to it.

I really didnt send it. Man, they will put in a "parking lot."

You had me scared for a minute!

Actually I've been spending time emailing various keyboard and historic performance societies. Perhaps these people will rally up too to help out.

John

Terry,

Any new news on the Fredericks Historic Museum?

Has a decision been made or is it still in the works? Thanks

musdan, thanks for asking; I have not heard from Pat Frederick since last week at which time she hoped there was still a strong show of support pouring into the Ashburnham selectmen's office in the way of email and letters.

Also, anyone interested in informing another organization who might be interested in forwarding msgs to the town selectmen,please do so. John Citron had mentioned he was making other contacts requesting their support.

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to respond. I'll update this thread when I receive any further info from Pat Frederick.

I just checked the Ashburnham website;

http://www.ashburnham-ma.gov/

still no updates for a link to the Frederick Collection under the Culture and Recreation titles.

Any news on the the Franklin Museum?

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

I received a msg from Pat Frederick this weekend informing me the building that houses their historic piano collection will be going through another episode with town officials in a special town meeting setup for Wednesday evening, Jan 24th.

To recap this whole mess:

The town is renovating their town hall and needs temporary office space. The historic piano building has received over $100K of improvements provided by Pat & Michael Frederick. The town plans to break the lease and take back the building. Should this be voted in on Wednesday, the historic pianos would need to be removed as early as March or April.

According to Pat, the town has other options; one being to wait until next spring for town hall renovations to start since at this time the new fire and police stations will be finished and allow for town offices to be temporarily placed in the empty buildings.

There is also another building in town which could be rented and would already be equipped for the needs of the town administration offices.

I do realize the chance of someone reading this post and being able to attend the town hall meeting for a show of support is very slim but at Pat’s request I am making the effort to encourage area residents (and myself).


I know many of you were kind enough to send emails when this situation arose last fall. Maybe a reminder is in order.


Stay tuned for Wednesday nights results.

Thanks for the update.

Hi Terry,

Thanks for the update.

The best solution if possible would be for the Frederick's to buy the building. They have so much invested.

I have a feeling that the "powers that be" would never allow that to happen. Hope the town takes advantage of the suggestions that you have posted.

Hope all goes well for the Fredericks.

Hi Terry,

How did the meeting go?

Terry,

Did the February Town Meeting happen yet? If it has, what did they decide?

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date.

The meeting of the town selectmen last night in Ashburnham, MA, surprised all in attendance when it was announced by the selectmen that an unanticipated option had suddenly materialized that would avoid their having to inconvenience anyone, and that everyone will be happy with!

The details have not been completely worked out but the revised plan will be announced on Wednesday, 2/7/07.

Pat Frederick eagerly anticipates returning her priorities to the preparation of the spring concert series and continuing in their efforts to make available to the public the historic piano collection & study center.

Thanks to all who were concerned and those who offered support behind the scenes!

Should anyone have plans to be visiting the MA area, please consider dropping into the study center in Ashburnham to enjoy the fine collection of historic playable pianos and meeting Pat and Michael Frederick. Those who are intrigued and fascinated by the piano will find their visit to be both educational and memorable.

Hi Terry,

I am so glad to hear this. Hopefully it is a real plan, and not something that'll cause heart aches later on.

John

Terry,

Fantastic news. I hope to visit sometime in the spring or summer.

I don't drive, so how to get there "tis a puzzelment".

This is a bump to keep the news at the top.

I will call Pat when I get a chance. I want to talk to her about this and some other things.

John

Hello all,

Here is a follow up from Patricia:

"It looks as if our Piano Collection will be able to stay in its building until the end of our lease in June, 2010."

"Now we can turn our attention back to planning our concert seasons for spring and fall, 2007. Our spring schedule is still incomplete; although we know who is playing, and when, they have not all decided on their program details.
You can see what is scheduled so far, on our website at www.FrederickCollection.org The fliers will be mailed early in April."

The piano museum is back in business!

Hey, what are other great piano collections?

Recommended for those seeking a thorough history lesson...

Hi Kristina,

There are a couple of others around, but this one is a touch and play kind of place. The others I think are more like collections at art museums where you can look, but absolutely can not touch. Here you get to play all the instruments after the tour. This quite the place, and a really wonderful treat.

I went on the official tour not quite two years ago, and I can still picture the location of every piano in the building. They've since added a new member to the collection, and I had the opportunity to try the instrument. It's an 1888 screw-stringer Mason & Hamlin grand about 7'3" long.

I'm looking forward to another tour, and especially to the new concert season.

John