Top Pianist and Falklands Veteran

Fitz in the Community is a podcast attached to this paper and basically does what it ‘says on the tin’. I wander around the county talking to anyone about anything which encapsulates the community in which we live. Launched every Monday on the website of this paper, we have already taken in celebrities, sausages, helicopters, leopards and beer. You can listen back to all podcasts at your leisure and of thank you for listening.

This week we will talk to Nina Savicevic, a prize-winning pianist of both national and international competitions. Born in Exeter, she has taken the world by storm with her playing and is the powerhouse behind the Topsham Music Festival which takes place in April. I met up with Nina at St Margaret’s Church in Topsham, the venue for the forthcoming event, and sat at the Yamaha piano. The ease with which she can play is breath taking as I challenged her to introduce a piece … any piece of music and away she went.

‘I used to be able to hear any tune and reproduced it but that was when I was younger,’ she said. She was born in 2001! Needless to say, I had to go and ruin things by asking her if she could play “Baby Shark” from ear. I’m sorry to report she could!

The Topsham Music Festival will be held on April 5^th to the 7^th with classical guitar recitals, piano, harp and trumpet and even a splash of jazz but no Nina … she is merely putting it all together … merely!

Simon, Weston CBE, Falkland veteran and charity kingpin, turned up in Devon at my invitation to visit a local rugby match, but he combined this trip with his latest business project in mind. Working with Warwick University, Simon is part of a team investigating the methods of growing the haricot bean, baked beans to you and me! This cash crop, which is mostly imported from the US, Africa, and China, may well be coming to a field near you as there have been developments in a strain of bean that can cope with our climate. Simon explains the work behind developing the right seed stock, how to cook and prepare the beans and their general use… other than covering them in tomato sauce.

‘This could be a great income for Devon farmers. I never thought this would fascinate me, but it does.’

Simon has just undergone his ninety eighth operation for a serious eye infection. We did work it out that by adding up all the days he has spent in hospital since the 1982 fire, it comes to six and a half years.

He left Devon quite quickly after the rugby as his daughter is about to give birth making him a grandfather again.

The final guest this week is Austin Robison singer of the group Haytor. A great sound from a band that obviously draw a great deal of influence from Dartmoor. The latest track ‘Feel it Coming’ has been produced in the county but to a level that places it in Los Angeles or Hollywood. We manage to play a snatch from this yet to be signed band … but that must be coming as well.

Fitz in the Community, a podcast coming to your community … why not get in touch?