Sale community invited to celebrate new public piano

Shoppers headed to Market Walk in Sale town centre will receive a pleasant surprise from today, as a community piano is in place for residents and visitors to play.

The idea behind installing the musical instrument came from a community Facebook post. Sale resident Claudia De Carlo put out a post on the social media platform about an 83-year-old fellow M33 resident, Janet.

Twice a week Janet takes a taxi to Stretford Mall to play on the community piano that is situated in a café at the mall – Claudia filmed Janet playing the piano and then – with Janet’s permission – shared the story on a local Facebook page. 

Following the post, Tony Martin, general manager at Stanley Square, was bombarded with requests to have a piano at Stanley Square. Tony reached out to the community and the piano was donated by Sale resident Imair Betts.

Tony commissioned local artist Sarah Mitch to put artwork on the piano and in Sarah’s unique design the piano is covered with images of music and Sale town centre. You might recognise Sarah’s handiwork, as she was the artist behind creating local favourite Nina the giraffe for the Sale Art Trail. 

Tony said “We are delighted to be having a community piano at Stanley Square and are very grateful to Imair for kindly donating it. The piano will look great with Sarah’s artwork, and it will be nice to see her art back at Stanley Square. 

“I am looking forward to hearing the piano being played and hopefully, Janet will come down and play a tune for passersby”.

Artist Sarah Mitch said, “'I was really chuffed when Tony asked me to be involved in the project. It’s a fantastic community idea it will be fun for me to do and awesome for Sale town centre to have its very own public piano”.

You can find the new community piano in Market Walk and it is available for playing from today (24 April). So next time you're in the town centre, why not play a few tunes? 🎹

📍 Market Walk, Sale M33 7ZZ