I HAD to smile when I read Allan Denney's letter 'Music Memories' (March 19).

Allan says: "Rachmaninov didn't survive 45 years and now there are a lot of crumpled separate pages in his music cupboard as page-turning was never his strong point".

I have stood behind Allan many hours at rehearsals turning pages and telling him to count two or four on a note or space as the case may be.

If we required Roll Out The Barrel or Bless 'Em all or anything from the First World War he replied: "I can't play that, it was written before I was born". Rachmaninov eh?

Keep writing Allan, we all love a laugh.

Ivy Eden,

Pinewood Grove,

Huntington,

York.

Updated: 10:57 Tuesday, April 02, 2002