Ken Hopkins Accordian Museum

It looked like a normal house in a normal street. I knocked on the door.

I was looking to buy a small circus accordion.

Someone had given me Ken's number

He answered and invited me in.

It was that moment in MR Ben when you step behind the curtain and a magical world appears.

I am so grateful I came across Ken and his wonderful accordion collection

There I was, in his incredible world.

Ken loved accordions.

Do you play? he asked I nodded, he handed me an accordion and sat down to pick one up himself.

Then we were off, swapping tunes and trying different instruments.

His favourite was a massive electric accordion that had a base and drums

He always ended the session with a few very energetic tunes on that one.

He always smiled when playing it! It was the loudest accordion I have ever heard! It was his happy place.

He took great delight in surprising visitors with the back-to-front accordion and the one with the notes reversed. then there was the one with golden notes. They were RARE

He had an accordion table with legs in the hall

and a pink grand piano

and accordions EVERYWHERE!

You had to step over them.

Accordion cuckoo clocks

Walking up the stairs to the attic collection

past the stained glass window with accordions

hundreds of accordions

Ken was a really lovely man with visible health problems and he was losing his speech.

He knew the history of every accordion in his collection.

I wanted to document his knowledge, and I reached out to various organisations and museums. Charlotte from OH Yeah came out on a visit.

We both tried to see if we could get any funding to help Ken set up a museum.

Over the Years, I took many people to visit Ken and marvel at the collection. He had a musical chair and many treasures in his collection, including trinkets and toys. It was an aladains cave of unusual musical memorabilia.

When Ash Plum sits on the Musicial Chair

So much fun was had exploring the collection.

Then

time passed

I heard last week that we lost Ken

and his wonderful accordions were sold

I thought I would write a short blog to honour this man who followed his heart and his dreams and lived his very best life. He was a jewel in the crown of Comber and had created one of Northern Ireland's greatest hidden Gems.

I am still dreaming that we will have a display for Ken and his wonderful collection

In the cultural heart of Belfast City. He should be remembered and celebrated! Imagine if the new assembly rooms had a room or wall devoted to his story!