Shackleford Pianos and The Rossendale Trust

For many years, Shackleford Pianos has been working with the Rossendale Trust to give opportunities to adults with both learning and physical disabilities. Matthew, our most recent Rosendale Trust staff member, has written about himself and his first experiences at Shackleford Pianos...

 

 

I am doing a Supported Internship at Shackleford Pianos 3 days per week. Monday 22^nd of March I met my Job Coach Phil Hansford at Shackleford on Bond Street, I needed PPE steel toe cap boot and was given a Shackleford jumper as a uniform to wear.  We entered the warehouse and met the staff, one by one there was about a team of ten.  When we entered the restoration room at the back, we were introduced to Paul Skehan and his co-worker, Terry Sadler. They showed us the piano we were tasked to restore, The Albert Finger.

 

We began; Paul told us of individual tasks to take, step by step, in the restoration room. We started by dismantling the pianos by its panels, screws, hinges and so on.  These were placed on a separate area to polish before putting them back together.

The task included;

1^st Unscrewing the top panel, leave the hinge until last for holding.

2^nd Paul gave us small boxes to separate the parts.

3^rd Paul showed us how to remove the front panel of keynotes. Then we remove the shelf, lock and hinges. Another important part was to label. 

4^th We had a box per component for all the pieces of the “Albert Finger”

5^th We removed the “action” carefully

6^th We counted the key notes, 1 to 49 or 50 as some have more/less.  

7^th Lastly, Paul demonstrated how to polish panels following the grain.

We finished for the day at 3pm we placed the tools and cleaning materials in the correct areas, and checked off the task list and said farewell to all. 

A bit more information about me

My hobbies are music, films especially sci-fi and comedy. I enjoy being outdoors as well as exercising. During my time at Macclesfield College (2015 - 2021) I have a BTEC Level 3 Diploma in IT, GCSE English Language with grade E. At All Hallows I achieved grade C for both GSCE Science and Art and Design, GSCE math with E and GCSE History for G.

I live in Macclesfield with my mother and a brother we have a cat, Lexi who I look after.   My walk into placement is 5 minutes down Bond street.

 

My Job Coach Phil Hansford  

“Matthew has enjoyed his first week at Shackleford’s. He has had a bit of variety and we have adhered to the tasks we have planned.  He is keen to learn, willing to listen and a very conscientious worker. Both myself and the staff at Shackleford’s are very pleased with what he has done”. Kind Regards, Phil Hansford WorkTaste Coach

 

Matthew Phillip-Betts

And Joshua Wardle