We went on our annual expedition to Boughton, this time to an event about Memory and the importance of music to those suffering dementia, often the only thing that people can remember when everything else is forgotten, hard wired into the brain.

The house was as beautiful as ever, floating across the Northamptonshire fields, dreaming of northern France:-

We went round the back where one can see the remains of an older house, monastic, bought in 1528 by Sir Edward Montagu, a Henrician lawyer.   Pevsner says, rather harshly, that it ‘does not call for study’:-

Inside were some items from the collection, including a copy of Peter Prelleur’s A Modern Music Master (London, 1730):-

And Bonnie Prince Charlie’s camp kettle:-

Best of all was Mozart’s 40th. Symphony, performed by the Aurora Orchestra in the Great Hall from memory.   Not having scores gave it a different mood:  lighter, less rigid, more authentic, as if performed for the first time in 1788.