Bath Alkmaar Civic Reception

The Mayor (Councillor Manda Rigby) held a Civic Reception via Zoom in September to officially mark the loan of the Alkmaar Barrel Organ to the City of Bath.  It was recorded, and we hope you will enjoy watching and listening to the event (39 mins)  at this link –Bath Alkmaar Civic Reception

The street piano, often called a barrel organ, was wheeled around Bath and several surrounding towns and villages in 1945 to raise money and create publicity for the ‘Alkmaar Appeal’, a fund-raising effort to help children in that Dutch City badly affected by the impact of the Second World War on the Netherlands.

In 1946 the instrument was presented to City of Alkmaar as a token of abiding friendship, and has been on display in the Town Hall there ever since.  To help mark 75 years since the end of the War, the little instrument has been loaned back to Bath, serving as a reminder of the friendship which continues between the two historic cities, and once again helping bring the two communities together. The barrel organ will stay in the Guildhall in Bath for a year, before returning to Alkmaar in Summer 2021.