THIS is the moment that 103-year-old Gwyneth was reunited with a piano for the first time in 23 years - and there was not a dry eye in the house.

Gwyneth is a resident at Burnworthy House, in South Petherton, and this week saw the home receive the very generous donation of a baby grand piano.

The donation came from two very supportive but anonymous local benefactors, and it was collected from Taunton and delivered free of charge by Space Self Storage of Highbridge.

By coincidence, one of Burnworthy House's newest residents happens to be a classically trained pianist.

Gwyneth is 103 years young, nearly blind, very hard of hearing and not able to communicate as well as she used to, due to some speech difficulties she now has.

She was, however, very excited at the prospect of sitting at a piano again despite not having played, she said, since she was 80 - and she really wasn't sure if she could do it again.

But, having sat down, it was only moments before she was off as the sound and feel of the piano brought everything flooding back to her, and staff and residents gathered to stand in awe as Gwyneth played.

It was the look on her face which said the most, as she shut her eyes and let her fingers do the talking for her.

When Gwyneth did sing along, she was so pleased that the other residents who had gathered around the piano started to sing with her and one or two even danced.

The whole place burst into life, and the excitement this new musical addition generated continued throughout the day .

Gwyneth continued to return to the piano during the afternoon, and some of the other residents let it be known that they too can play!

The piano has brought Gwyneth a lot of new friends who couldn't wait to engage with her and tell her how much they enjoyed her playing, and this in turn has made Gwyneth feel very welcome in her new home.

Jaine Thorne, activity lead for Somerset Care, said: "Burnworthy House is very aware of the benefits of music and there is always plenty of singing and dancing every day, never more so than in the days since lockdown began all those months ago.

"But, now that we have our very own piano with our very own pianist, things have gone up a level.

"Practising our favourite carols is now high on the list of activities as the thought of Christmas at Burnworthy has just become very special indeed!"