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Newsletter 1999
Stolen £8,000 Cello bought back for £42 Hereford Times 27~ May 1999 A former St Michael’s College pupil has been reunited with his stolen £8,000 cello after a Hereford shop innocently bought if for £42.50! Indeed, organist Simon Holt had been blissfully unaware his prized possession was even missing until he received a message from its maker that it had turned up at Music Plus in Union Street. At the end of April, Simon, aged 33, his wife Alison and two young sons Oliver and Joseph, had left their Ashperton home and gone to start a new life in the United States. They had put most of their possessions from their house into store with the intention of shipping them out when all the red tape had been sorted out.
When Simon returned to this country on a visit he went back to Bristol Cathedral School where he had been head of music. To his surprise there was a message for him to ring Karl Hepplewhite in Malvern who had made his cello in 1984. The cello, worth £8,000 or more had been given to Simon when he was 18 by his late mother Carol, a very well known person on the Malvern music scene. Simon then came to Hereford to be reunited with his instrument and discover what had happened to it. Norman Baker, the owner of Music Plus, and lan Gregory the shop manager, revealed how a man had brought the cello into the shop looking to sell it for £50. A deal was struck for £42.50, but it was only on closer inspection that they found written inside the cello the words "This cello was made for Simon Holt by Karl Hepplewhite of Malvern 1984". The investigation then began which led to a message fortuitously being left at Bristol. Mr Baker said, "When Ian heard how much it was worth he nearly fell off his chair. If it had been kosher and above board we were going to book our holidays! But we are dead chuffed we could help." Now happily reunited with the instrument Simon has taken it back with him to the United States where he is working as a freelance musician based in Connecticut where he also plays the organ for his local village church. Simon was full of praise for the people at Music Plus for their vigilance and honesty. "I am going to buy them some champagne I am so grateful to them." To page 4 |
The 2006 Reunion was the Centenary of the Society and 150 years since Ouseley opened his college
For more details see here |
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St Michael's College Society |
