The family of a renowned Holbeach St Matthew musician have found a recording of him they’ve put online to enable others to hear him again.
Dick Hammond was a renowned organ player who lived his whole life in South Holland from 1927 to 1994.
He performed as the Dick Hammond Trio and Duo as well as formerly as The Ace of Diamonds with Joe Chenery.
That band had a big following in the area during the 1950s and 60s.
The Very Best of Dick Hammond has now been placed on You Tube.
Rob Hammond, Dick’s grandson, said: “It’s the only recording the family have to hand of Dick.
“It was done at home during the time of his leukaemia, so you will note it is quite sedate.
“But it still can be served up as a memory for a generation that had some of the best entertainment almost right at their doorsteps.”
Dick was taught the piano when his parents worried he wouldn’t be able to carry out manual work in the future after he was badly injured by scalding hot water aged around seven.
He learned the accordion and the saxophone initially becoming known for playing the former at Holbeach St Matthews Chapel because a goose from the White House Farm where he grew up would follow him whenever he played it.
After the war, during which he was part of the Home Guard, he worked at The Music Shop in Long Sutton and opened his own Dick Hammond music shop in the town afterwards.
He did piano tuning and repairing from his parents’ Gedney Drove End Home.
In the late 1940s he’s known to have done at least two professional recordings in London, one for His Majesty’s Voice (HMV) recording company, though the family have few details of these.
“He had party tricks of being able to play a song (sometimes a Benny Hill one) blindfolded, with a sheet over the keys or facing away from the piano or organ playing it backwards,” continued Rob. “Music was his soul.
“He said that it was what got him through his illness. He would just become absorbed in his playing, losing track of time.
“He wasn’t into being praised, maybe he enjoyed being in a room of like-minded people.
“Maybe he liked to be part of the reason people were enjoying the night.
“Why he didn’t take his big chance who knows. The only thing I think is his family are everything to him.
“His parents were still here around the earlier time and he worshipped them, he said as much.”
