Tomorrow Wednesday 19 November at 12 noon, Timothy Lin plays the Viola da Gamba, an ancestor of the modern cello. It is a bowed, fretted instrument played da gamba, that is ‘on the leg’. It has six or seven strings, as distinct from the cello which has four. It was popular during the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

Timothy, from Taiwan, has built a career as an early musician. It should be an interesting lunchtime.

The Violinda

And another unusual stringed instrument, the Violinda, designed especially for children in the 1930s.

This is exhibited in the Richmond Museum in the Old Town Hall in Whittaker Avenue.