Richard Senior, born in 1931 at Alderley Edge in Cheshire, died peacefully at home in Glastonbury on August 22 in 2014.

  Educated at Shrewsbury School, Richard became a professional musician with a calling rather unusual for the time: he played electronic organ, as the backing musician for visiting artists at various pop venues. His particular skill was improvisation, to support and glamorize each artist. Usually these were young performers on their way up, some of whom went on to become big stars: Sandie Shaw, Georgie Fame, Roy Castle, Danny Williams, Faith Brown.

  As a child, Richard had avidly listened to every theatre-organ broadcast on the radio and could identify the individual sound of every organ in Britain.

  Bereaved in 2003, he came to Glastonbury to share The Pump House, Magdalene Street, with Susanna van Rose and the two pianos on which they played duets. He became a stalwart in the local bridge scene, playing at Coxley, Street, Wedmore and Wells.

  Volunteering for the Conservation Society, Richard painstakingly typed out the Glastonbury history written in 1890 by G.W. Wright, which will soon appear as a Consoc booklet.

  Mark Bacon adds: Richard’s first home in Glastonbury was the annex flat at our house, St Edmund’s Lodge. We became great friends, and I introduced him to Susanna, whom I had known since school days at Millfield. The rest is history. [—Ed. 2019]