A young Hong Kong widow, struggling to manage after losing her husband to cancer, told us she desperately longed to find a piano for her talented young son. A devoted mother, she had organised piano lessons, subsidised at a cheap rate, and bought him a little battery operated keyboard. “He plays it like he’s addicted to it!” she told us. Clearly, though, as he learned more, it could not support his need to practise. We don’t always have pianos in stock. The day before her visit, however, a piano had, as it happens, been donated to us. The timing was superb.

That’s one of the things we love about this work. Even a single donation, rightly placed, can be instrumental in another’s life. In this case, a young boy may see his talent flourish in ways that would otherwise be outside his reach.