Hi Everyone, The recently described memories of so many of you have triggered off additional ones for me. And as I ponder over these even more spill out. It is like the opening of Pandora' s Box, although I hope not with the same disastrous results! How many of you confess to be old enough to remember the theatre organ, in its heyday? The largest cinemas had splendid ones, which rose majestically from the floor, and played for us, before the film and in the interval. The organist enjoyed great prestige and the audience enjoyed his performance just as much as they did the following newsreels and films. The Gaumont and the Empire, central city cinemas in Coventry, had good examples of this. Their splendid foyers and general decor, together with the organ playing as it rose up, and finally descended, (still playing), were occasions to remember and cherish, as small Muriel usually only attended the Saturday children's sessions in the suburbs. Theatre organs were all the vogue in the 30s and 40s---maybe even lasted longer, although I can't be sure of that. Do any of you remember listening to Reginald Forte on the radio? He had a regular series which was enjoyed by a huge following. I like organs---all organs, even the little one in great Aunt Alice's front-room, which you had to pedal madly as you played! Not that I produced anything of musical note, being more likely to play "Chopsticks" and the like! My out and out favourite type of organ was the pipe one, of the type that has survived the centuries. I know that electonic pipe organs exist, there was one in Preston Baptist Church, near Paignton, Devon, but while admirable they lack the magnificent sound of the REAL thing. My own Baptist Church obtained a small (real) one and with an organist/ choirmaster who was a great exponenet of Bach, set me on my way to being in love with organ sound! However it is the enormous organs, found in cathedrals, in the Central Hall Westminster and the Albert Hall that I loved best of all. I was exposed to the latter two in my teens and it was sublime when you could feel the vibrations throughout your being, (via your toes!), as the great bass pipes produced their glorious rumbles. Sadly, the way things have panned out I rarely get to indulge my love anymore.One memory surfaces of visiting Nelson cathedral, about fifteen or sixteen years ago, when the organist was practising. The rest of my party left me to it whilst they did some shopping, and I enjoyed this oasis of calm pervaded by such lovely sound---albeit punctuated at times with a pause, and retry of a passage. Joe mentions the demise of the 78s when LPs were introduced. It couldn't have happened at a worse time for me, as the previous year I had been given a portable gramaphone as my 21st present. Unlike later models it did not have multiple choice of speeds.The long players were such a huge step forward, in the quality of their sound, though, as well as playing for so much longer. I just had the misfortune to have my pride and joy becoming outdated almost before the wrapping was off. That's the price of progress! I am old enough to remember the hisses and squeals that eminated from our wireless sets, especially in the 30s. Sunspots and weather conditions affected reception badly. Dad used to sit there delicately tuning past stations like Radio Luxembourg, Hilversum, Hamburg and Droitwich---just a few that come to mind. Brief sounds of music or speaking invaded the room as he sought his station.Then he bought a model with cat's whisker tuning and an "eye" expanded or contracted when you were getting on or off the station.It needed concentration and "lots of hush", so woe betide you if you disturbed Dad at this juncture! He was as proud of it as anyone today with the most sophisticated stereo-system. As a youngster, our noses were kept fairly well down to the grindstone, homework-wise, so I never got to sample the joys of Youth Clubs. Infact some girls aroused the ire of our headmistress by attending regularly, and scamped their set work. We were all told, in no uncertain terms, that these places were for those who had left school and had leisure time to fill---they were NOT for the likes of us! With this option out I think that I passed through my youth in a time warp, as popular music mainly passed me by. But at Training College, with scrimping and saving,and queueing for "stools" to obtain a 2/6d ticket in the galleries of West End theatres, we were able to enjoy "Annie Get Your Gun", "Oklahoma", "Brigadoon" and "Castles in the Air". The greats of the musical comedy world gave wonderful renditions of such engaging songs---and the scenery was spectacular. I discovered popular music when my children were growing up and have favourites amongst them that still give me much pleasure. Memories bring back so many happy times, but I am looking forward to more of them, too. Regards, Muriel.