Organ matters - Organs matter!

http://www.pipeorgans.eu/en/pipeorgans/Koch-6-I-P


Year of construction
1972
number of manuals
1
manuals
C-g'''
pedal
C-d'
system
mechanical
stop action mechanism
mechanical
Register 6
Principle-base 2
height 137 cm
width 148 cm
depth 120 cm

disposition

Gedackt 8' (B/D) 
Rohrflöte 4' (B/D) 
Prinzipal 2' (B/D) 
Mixtur 1' (B/D) 
Quinte 1 1/3' (only discant) 
Terz 1 3/5' (only discant) 

Best wishes

David P

The Principal invites you to come to a
Organ walk in Ghent on March 6, 2016 at 14 pm.

During this organ hike we get a list of nearly four centuries of investment in organ and music in Ghent. The organ of the old beguinage church St. Elisabeth Rabot contains many old materials include Pieter Van Peteghem and even 16th century pipes with an exceptionally beautiful sound. The Carmelites have a mechanical romantic organ and the Augustinians bought a neo-baroque Flentrop organ 1962 for the choir,

Quote
Hoofdwerk  Borstwerk Pedaal

Prestant 8'   Holpijp 8′   Subbas 16′
Roerfluit 8'   Fluit 4′       Quintadeen 8′
Octaaf 4′     Prestant 2′  Fluit 4′
Vlakfluit 2′   Octaaf 1′
Regaal 8′     Cymbel 1-2r
   
Koppelingen
Ped + I
Ped + II
I + II

pending the restoration of Philippe Forrest organ from 1873 on the rood screen (restored in 2003) in 2001.

QuoteGrand orgue

Bourdon 16ʼ
Montre 8ʼ
Flûte harmonique 8ʼ Dulciana 8ʼ Prestant 4ʼ Quintaton 4ʼ
Quinte 3ʼ
Doublette 2ʼ Fourniture 3r Cymbale 2r
Cornet 5r discant Bombarde 16ʼ Trompette 8ʼ

Pédale

Flûte ouverte 16′ Violoncelle 8ʻ Bombarde 16′ Trompette 8ʻ

Positif

Salicional 8ʼ Bourdon 8ʼ Prestant 4ʼ
Gambe 4ʼ
Flûte 4ʼ
Piccolo 1ʼ Basson-hautbois 8ʼ

Speelhulpen

Tonnerre
Pédalier + Positif
Plein jeu + Récit Pédalier + Grand orgue Plein jeu + Pédalier Grand orgue + Positif Plein jeu + Grand orgue Grand orgue + Récit Pédalier + Récit Tremolo (Récit)

Récit expressif

Flûte harmonique 8ʼ Viol de gambe 8ʼ Voix céleste 8ʼ Flûte octaviant 4ʼ Viol dʼamour 4ʼ Quinte 2 2/3ʼ Octavin 2ʼ Trompette 8ʼ Clairon-Clarinette 8ʼ Voix humaine 8ʼ

The St Michael's Church closes the row with the new organ acquisition in Ghent: a beautiful sounding organ from the 1980s Bas Blank, a highly celebrated organ builder from the Netherlands.

The first three organists study at the Art Academy Bridge in Ghent, the final concert is a teacher recital.

14 h. Saint Elisabeth Church in the old beguinage (the Begijnhofdries the Rabot)
Stan Van Rompay, organ, with works by Bach and Lebègue
15 u. Carmelite Church in Burgstraat
Louis mispelon, organ, with works by Lemmens, Brahms, Rheinberger and Karg-Elert

16 u. our familiar "house church" St. Stephen's Church
Show Pillaert, organ, with works by Bach, Vierne, Alain and Messiaen

17h. St Michael's Church on St. Michael's Square
This final concert will be by La Soave (Kersten Cottyn organ, Marleen Leicher cornetto and Goedele Heidbüchel vocals). La soave in Italian means sweetness, softness, generosity ... But it is also the name of a trio dedicated to the great music of the Italian Renaissance and early Baroque.

walk, four concerts and program € 20
www.deprincipaal.be

A most interesting instrument hides inside a fountain at Tivoli in the gardens of the Villa D'Este. Currently suffering loss of wind, power and tuning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13ndbbWRR40 it should majestically sound https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGJumf6m44M above the water although I wonder if some ranks of upperwork have been removed?

Best wishes

David P

Harrison & Harrison 1883

Full details - http://www.organmatters.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2043.0;attach=17

St Peter Church of England
Princes Street, Bishop Auckland, Durham, DL14 7BB

NPOR Index  N12075

2m 18ss Harrison & Harrison organ - 1883, completed 1885, addition 1900.

Action: mechanical throughout, incl. pedals.

Overall dimensions:
In a chamber approx. 310cm N/S, 295cm E/W, but pedal Open and Vc. in 254cm wide arch to S. aisle [+100cm], and console under large coving [104cm deep] in arch [width 264cm] to chancel. Both the chancel front, with Diapason basses, and aisle front, with Vc. pipes contain speaking pipes.
Approx. height to top of highest cancel case pipes 500cm, but internally to top of
Swell box est. 760cm.

This organ remains as built, a splendid example of early Harrison & Harrison work , when Thomas Harrison (who trained with Willis) was managing and developing the business in Durham.

The organ is solidly constructed on a rather grand scale in its large chamber in the base of the tower on the south side of the chancel. Two decorated case fronts.

Excellent clear bold tonal qualities. The 18 speaking stops provide for much variety in solo or accompaniment singing out effectively into the spacious building, originally accommodating some 500 persons.

Unaltered; restored H.E.Prested of Durham 1989.

Current location: redundant church (St.Peter's CofE), Bishop Auckland.

Offers invited for transfer/conservation as whole instrument.

Condition: In good working order - in spite of being out of use for 2 years.

Notes - Richard Hurd


Pedal
Key action Tr  Stop action Me  Compass-low C  Compass-high f1  Keys 30
           
1
Ped. Open Diapason
16

           
2
Ped. Bourdon
16

           
3
Ped. Violoncello
8
1900





Great
Key action Tr  Stop action Me  Compass-low C  Compass-high g3  Keys 56
           
4
Open Diapason
8

           
5
Hohlflote
8
stopped bass octave
           
6
Dulciana
8
open metal throughout
           
7
Principal
4

           
8
Harmonic Flute
4

           
9
Harmonic Piccolo
2






Swell
Key action Tr  Stop action Me  Compass-low C  Compass-high g3  Keys 56 Enclosed
           
10
Sw. Bourdon
16

           
11
Sw. Viola
8

           
12
Sw. Lieblich Gedeckt
8

           
13
Sw. Gamba
8
bottom 12 grooved to Gedact
           
14
Sw. Viox Celeste
8
sp.sic!
           
15
Sw. Principal
4

           
16
Sw. Fifteenth
2

           
17
Sw. Horn
8

           
18
Sw. Oboe
8

           
19
Tremulant



Buyer is responsible for removal.

Enquiries to the church contact please.

Contact:
Bill Heslop, Diocesan Churches Officer,
Cuthbert House, Stonebridge, DURHAM DH1 3RY
Tel: 01388 660001
E-mail: churches@durham.anglican.org

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Two-Manual-University-Reed-Organ-Harmonium-Pump-Organ-Church-Organ-/181990324749

Two manuals no pedals

Best wishes

David P

With the closure of a church in Sussex recently approved by the Church Commissioners supported by a congregation of 25 with at least a further 55 coming to festival services, and many many churches throughout the country supported by far fewer people, the organ and its music is in danger of loss.

I've been writing heretically recently because the Church doesn't appreciate its failure to engage with people. The reality is that people are not local anymore. In our day to day lives we see people collectively finding the Creator, in hospitals for instance where interfaith movements are coming together with enthusiasm, and finding that the separatist views of religions do not accord with the basic message of loving the Creator and our neighbours as ourselves. People are either coming together in such circumstances, or rejecting the hypocrisy or the separatist orthodoxies altogether in atheism.

Until the Church moves forward, actively and inclusively bringing understanding of the Creator God to all, more and more churches will be closed, human discord and disharmony will multiply, and the subject of this forum, organs, will at best retreat to ivory towers.

This is not a merely British problem. It's happening in Germany too and
http://www.pipeorgans.eu/en/pipeorgans/Dreher-und-Reinisch-18-II-P for sale

for just €14,000 is testimony to our loss.

I. Manual: 
Prinzipal 8' 
Holzflöte 8' 
Oktav 4' 
Rohrflöte 4' 
Prinzipal 2' 
Mixtur 1 1/3' 

II. Manual: 
Gedeckt 8' 
Blockflöte 4' 
Quinte 2 2/3' 
Sifflöte 2' 
Terz 1 3/5' 
Scharf 1' 
Krummhorn 8' 

Pedal: 
Subbass 16' 
Oktavbass 8' 
Choralbass 4' 
Rauschpf. 2 2/3'+2' 
Fagott 16' 

The failure of the Church to engage in promoting the understanding of God the Creator by the process of which all matter and all life is created is a crime for which not only humanity but the human race itself may pay the ultimate price. The religions have resorted to the teaching only of worship of their teachers rather than that which their teachers taught. The teachers have been reduced to idols of superstition. Organs will die with them, unless we can navigate routes of survival and recovery.

Best wishes

David P

For anyone who thinks the Bible is to be read purely on a literal level . . . Psalm 46 is a shock  . . .

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+46

A friend directed me to word 46 . . . and then the 46th letter backwards from the end. What does it look like?

What does that say? What does that say about the book?

Best wishes

David P


46 God is our refuge and strength,
    a help always near in times of great trouble.
2 That's why we won't be afraid when the world falls apart,
    when the mountains crumble into the center of the sea,
3     when its waters roar and rage,
    when the mountains shake because of its surging waves. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams gladden God's city,
    the holiest dwelling of the Most High.
5 God is in that city. It will never crumble.
    God will help it when morning dawns.
6 Nations roar; kingdoms crumble.
    God utters his voice; the earth melts.
7 The Lord of heavenly forces is with us!
    The God of Jacob is our place of safety. Selah
8 Come, see the Lord's deeds,
    what devastation he has imposed on the earth—
9     bringing wars to an end in every corner of the world,
    breaking the bow and shattering the spear,
        burning chariots with fire.
10 "That's enough! Now know that I am God!
    I am exalted among all nations; I am exalted throughout the world!"
11 The Lord of heavenly forces is with us!
    The God of Jacob is our place of safety.

Following a discussion with my son in the thoughts of http://www.organmatters.com/index.php/topic,2035.0.html he pointed out to me http://www.eauk.org/church/research-and-statistics/how-many-churches-have-opened-or-closed-in-recent-years.cfm which details the vast increase of Pentecostal churches and a corresponding collapse of Anglicans. This is wholly dangerous for the human race because in simplification of faith, the religions grow farther apart and segregated, from each other and from The Creator of All who or which is everywhere, invisible and all powerful in everything and this will lead to destruction.

We will face a Germany of the 2030s not unlike that of the 1930s because the circumstances will be the same.

The human race hasn't learned - only turned its back on the nonsenses and finding Atheism. That doesn't understand the work or power of the Creator and the skills of creating. It is only blind.

http://www.eauk.org/idea/should-christians-do-yoga.cfm is interesting. We could well expect to see such an article written by a Muslim.

This sort of blinkering and deliberate blindness is not at all in harmony or worship of God the Creator nor the Creator of All.

If we don't want churches to close, we've got to get away from the worship of the square root of minus one without working + and x first in all that we do and with everyone, (explained a little in http://www.organmatters.com/index.php/topic,2035.0.html ) we have to understand all things in context and in the way they are all the work of the creator, but in dealing with "-" negative numbers remember that 1 is made up also of -1x-1 . . . . and we've got to get into + and x mode, the decisions that create, the meanings of texts which lead to creating and the putting aside of meanings that don't help us create, instead of 1 and 2 mode.  In other words we have to think in the operator dimension rather than the material number dimension. So we have to see the creator process between things rather than the things.

This is equivalent to the analogy of the surface of the Sea of Circumstances on which we are boats visible on the invisible sea. In order to understand where we're going we have to understand the sea, the circumstances, the decisions which link one piece of matter to another, one human being to the next and the furthest.

That article on Yoga is saying "Watch out - there's a Hindu boat over there" rather than appreciating that we are all boats of the Creator, and we all part of the same Sea.

Perhaps on that Hindu boat we can help them to see more clearly the Creator whilst we might see his component parts.

The Parthenon frieze is interesting in the section above the East Door of the Parthenon, showing the Homeric Council, or Assembly of Gods who sit in First Judgment about the creation of mankind. . . . Though we are many we are one body. In the debate on that Frieze being part of our psyche we carry it in our heads, each quality having been given by each god inserted into Pandora from whom we come, and being a hung Council, the Chairman there and in us is in charge. The Parthenon is monotheistic but through the Greek we are better able to understand its component parts and in the identification of eliminating Desire, Deceit and Hate from our hearts to achieve Paradise, Nirvana, we have a better focus in the Buddist.

Last week before Christmas I had to remind a devout Philippine Cristian of this in marriage guidance before Christmas - as the Christian perspective wasn't coming through. On Facebook she's the most devout of Christians, praying to Jesus all the time asking to be saved from this situation and that, and the cruelty of one person and another.

But the reality is that she could not embrace her husband, let alone Jesus, with anger rather than love in her heart. No amount of explaining love for Jesus would do the trick, as she didn't have love in her heart. Simply couldn't understand. No point in the Lord's Prayer - she didn't understand how to forgive. Always blame on someone else and she was always right.

The Christian message didn't get through - Jesus is a prop and a superstition and Jesus will do it for you if you ask him - but Jesus only works if we too are Sons and Daughters of the Creator and understand + and x mode. Some people can't get there, especially if they have an ego the size of an elephant and brain the size of a pea, without being enlightened from another of the perspectives. The family had a Happy Christmas as a result that Jesus alone could not have achieved.

In togetherness is power. That's why the forces of man in this world, and very apparent in our texts of all religions, want to split us apart.

Best wishes

David P

I was at a confirmation service a few weeks ago and was sent into apoplexy by the banality of the lyrics of what were called "songs" accompanied by percussion beats and any tunefulness at best approaching only a dirge. It was the debasement of culture to the worst degree possible and anyone with any intellect would have run out screaming.

When I was young, I belonged to a youth fellowship  . . . and the people from this generation including teenage girls who reported seeing the face of the devil looking in at them through their bedroom window and who loved Jesus really to the extent of being their imaginary boyfriend . . . are now grown up, and from services I've attended in the past few years really haven't grown beyond that idea.

I overheard a retired Bishop recently talking about his experience coming into a parish relating how he had been asked by his congregation "Your predecessor talked about God. What's all this stuff about Jesus?"

The Church that I'm experiencing now seems to be rather a different place to the church that many of us experienced in our youth before we joined youth fellowships . . . We learned about God through what Jesus taught and we worshipped God as God. But now we seem to worship our teacher as God.

We look sideways at Islam bemoaning "radicalisation" and "fundamentalism" - which really means literalism without examination of language and interpretation in the context of the Creator creating . . . - and the willingness of Muslims to worship their teacher as God.

Yet when we see such a mote in the eye of Islam are we not overlooking the beam in the eye of Christianity?

Both religions have debased to the simple, to appeal to the first rung of getting bums on seats, and in not providing a stairway from that path isn't it of no surprise to see the texts and religions in conflict?

In many ways I wonder if Christianity is being disseminated backwards and in a manner that encourages its beleifs more as a superstition - "Love Jesus and his Holy Spirit will work miracles for you" - every day if you pray to him . . .

So people are attracted to the Majic Man.

When we learn the creation of numbers at school we start with 1 and 1 and we come to know that that makes 2.

The invisible and all powerful thing in this, which is overlooked, is that 1 stays 1 for ever even if it meets another 1, nothing happens without their operand . . . "+" and as soon as we understand "+" we can start to understand the work of the Creator resulting in two . . . and the wonder of "x" which breeds life as soon as we get past the number 1, as 1x1 is no more than 1.

In this mathematics we learn about the Creator God creating. Two numbers have to love each other as themselves to be willing to be transformed into bigger and more useful numbers.

There's no maJic in this, nothing supernatural. It's all common sense and can be understood by anyone.

But it's the power of the supernatural that seems the attraction now, praying and obeying the communication of the Holy Spirit and witness of healing . . . That's great, but for most of us it doesn't happen every day, which is why I believe many have run from the churches screaming, rejecting them and leaving them to die . . . whilst those that remain frenzy to the music of percussion bands and hypnotic dirges in pleadings for their imaginary boyfriend to come and do it for them.

Meanwhile, jealousies arise between the boyfriends . . . and exclusion results and war ensues.

In the mathematics of 1, there's something very maJic . . . but we don't teach it to kids at primary school, leaving it till much later. It's the square root of -1 . . . which we call "j".

J is a maJic number that enables music to fill the air around you. Can you not hear the music? It's there - but you have to have a radio to switch on to hear it. Radios are great, but it's been a long process for the operands + and x to bring everything together along the way to make radios happen. I believe that many believe they can hear the music without necessarily having a reliable radio on which to listen and uncertainties of the signal received cause uncreation to happen rather than the creation that anyone can see in the processes of "+" and "x" with 1+1=2 and 2x2=4 leading to all.

The J of religion might possibly usefully kept where perhaps it used to be, learned after the letter C and G in understanding of the Creator God.

The power of the Creator God to bring peoples together to create is the true magic of our religions.

Does anyone else feel that they have experienced such a shift of focus in recent decades?

Best wishes

David P

The Meeting House - University of Sussex
Wednesday 25 November at 12 noon - free entrance
DT at the organ

45 minutes of music - Come and hear the other Mozart Fantasia!

SCHLICK Maria zart von edler art
DANDRIEU Noël de Saintonge
J. S. BACH Prelude & Fugue in E minor, BWV548
MOZART Fantasia in F minor, K608
LANGLAIS Folkloric Suite, Op. 77: Rhapsodie sur deux Noëls
PEETERS Ten Chorale Preludes, Op.39: No.3 - Jesus, dear Lord, we greet Thee
EDMUNDSON Toccata-Prelude 'From Heaven above to earth I come'
The Meeting House
University of Sussex
Falmer
Brighton
BN1 9QF

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/chaplaincy/

The events in Paris last night potentially bring an awakening as to what we are all about.

Philosophy goes nowhere unless it leads to something.

The point of last night is that the human race is at risk of extinction
(a) by war with each other
(b) by war with our planet.

Perhaps an atheist perspective is a good place from which to perceive God, not as a person, but as the Creator.

Just as in 13BC the Roman Emperor Augustus deified "peace" https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/history/ancient-medieval/Ancient/v/ara-pacis-augustae-altar-of-augustan-peace-13-9-b-c-e-rome with imagery raising questions of where our imagery of the events of 13 years later came from . . .

one might look to see the extent to which other philosophies deify "life" itself.

Those philosophies are built into what are perceived to be religions but the problem, which is far from unique, is when
(i) people worship the teachers as heroes, as idols rather than going deeper in understanding what the teacher was teaching
(ii) people forget that when deified, the god of Life is absolutely that, of life, not death, and the god of life now, of living now, and not the afterlife. In that living is also the mental living that doesn't stop with accepting what we're told, but enquiring and finding and progressing.

The answer is not in telling someone else that their religion isn't the right one nor in rejecting religion at all, because in the encompassing of "peace" and "life" these philosophies have an important and potent spirit to convey to us all, all around the world, of whatever creed or nation.

The answer is in understanding, encouragement and education that we can live in our minds progressing past the human interpretations that are imposed, sometimes imposed to bring war and death, the very opposite. But of all creeds, or none, we need to look past the personalities and see how the linguistic riddles help us and lead us to life and peace so that we avoid
- war with each other
- war with our planet.

Best wishes

David P

Laycock & Bannister 1908

Farnhill Methodist Church
Main Street Farnhill Keighley W Yorks
BD20 9BJ   SE 008 461

NPOR  G01408

2mp
14 ss

Tracker action manuals
TP action pedals
Me action stops

Dimensions:
Width 18ft 2ins
Depth 8 ft 10ft (incl. bench)
Height 13ft 7ins

Department and Stop list
Pedal
Key action TP  Stop action Me  Compass-low C  Compass-high f1  Keys 30
           
1
Bourdon
16

           
2
Flute Bass
8






Great
Key action Tr  Stop action Me  Compass-low C  Compass-high a3  Keys 58
           
3
Open Diapason
8

           
4
Hohl Flute
8

           
5
Gamba
8

           
6
Dulciana
8

           
7
Principal
4

           
8
Harmonic Flute
4






Swell
Key action Tr  Stop action Me  Compass-low C  Compass-high a3  Keys 58 Enclosed
           
9
Violin Diapason
8

           
10
Rohr Flute
8

           
11
Salcional
8

           
12
Voix Celeste
8

           
13
Gemshorn
4

           
14
Oboe
8

           
15
Tremulant




Console
Console type  Attached   Stop type  Drawstop   Pedalboard  Radiating Flat 

Couplers
Swell to Pedal
Swell to Great
Great to Pedal
Swell Super Octave

This is a pleasant instrument in a playable condition. Some re-leathering, attention to the soundboards and blower is required and there is some running on the Great.

There is no back to the swell box.

The church has just closed and the organ is immediately available.

Buyer makes arrangements for removal.

Enquiries to the contacts below, please.

Accessories
Balanced swell pedal RHS;
4 composition pedals;

Organ Contact:
David Wilks
Tel. 0113 293 2960
Email: david.wilks57@ntlworld.com   

Church Contact:
John Taylor
Tel.  01535 652 097

I have recently had to object to the closure of a church.

In doing so I was likely to risk alienation of the local PCC on account of the contunuing burden of meeting pressures from the Diocese to fund the Diocesan Quota. It was appropriate to apologise to the PCC:

Quote
If we do not suffer this process at St S******'s one after another after another of our country churches will close as it is is the policy for the church only to provide one incumbent for every 7000 parishioners, and this of course does not happen in the countryside of villages of 500 or 1000 inhabitants. Indeed if the policy is implemented between 7 out of 8 and 13 out of 14 churches will be threatened with closure, and more in habitations of lower than 500 people.

The face of our countryside will be changed for ever.

One has also to ask the reason why . . . and that, of course, is finance. For us to support the Diocesan Quota is a significant burden.

As the demographics of churchgoing change and current congregations age and not replaced by younger people who lost connexion with God at atheist schools, the problems of finance will get worse.

That is as it may be, and we have to encourage younger people that there is relevance to their lives in understanding the work of the Creator.

In fact that can only be achieved by way of the presence of the Church in the community, however badly supported it might be. The Church is a permanent and symbolic presence of God. Not remote, but on the doorstep.

The financial pressures that we face are visible in the Diocesan accounts.

It is apparent that all monies are stretched among the different and necessary requirements of the work of God but for one thing. And that is the support of the financial institutions that provide insurance. Insurance is a tax on fear to save us from the worry of what might happen in the future. Perhaps [the sermon's] words yesterday quoting worry are appropriate,
"Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear"
and paying in advance to cover the fear of churches closing through disaster of one sort or another is causing currently the disaster of the certain closure of churches now in the present. Insurance is an inefficient cycle of finance which is better used to keep our churches open in the present.

So it's important to put this issue to the Church Commissioners, not that St S******'s be saved, although with faith Lazarus may yet arise from the Dead, but so that all the other churches be saved.

The objection currently before the Church Commissioners:

Quote
Dear Sirs

Mission and Pastoral Scheme 2011
Benefice of ****** with **********, and parishes of St *******, ***********; ****** *** and *********
Diocese of *********
Proposed Pastoral Church Buildings Scheme


As a parishioner of St *******'s I note the announcement of the above. The title is disingenuous and does no credit to a Christian organisation founded upon the principles of honesty and the Creator. No ordinary lay person reading such a heading of such an announcement would interpret the proposal as relating to the closure of a church.

On the following grounds I object to the proposal:
(1) Historical
(2) Theoligical
(3) Pastoral and
(4) Financial

1. Historical
St *******'s church was built in the late Victorian period by ****** ******* ******, owner then of the Estate of ********** cementing a very ancient connexion of the land with the Church and Christianity.

Tithes were payable to the parishes of Stoke Poges and Wendover and in the Buckinghamshire Records Office is the 1788 copy of a map of 1641 recording the estate. New evidence is coming forward that it was clearly ecclesiastical land, a gated hunting park centred on Buscop's Wood on St Anne's Hill, and entered through gates, St Anne's Gate, St John's Gate and St Mary's Gate. In addition to Buscop's Wood was also Buscop's Mead, Buscop being the Mediaeval word for Bishop.

In (year), ******** ******, architect of [various] and Baltimore Cathedral built as a symbol of religious tolerance, built the house of the estate.

******* was the son of the Minister of the Moravian Church in Fetter Lane London, closely associated with 18th century Masonry. Devoutly Christian throughout his life, the house was *******'s first work and contained elements which the former Chairman of English Heritage referred to as an example of "Rebirth Architecture". This Christian heritage persisted through subsequent owners of the estate resulting in the building of St *******'s.

For the Church now to dissociate itself from connexions of such long tradition is a traversty, and whilst the population is small, the church has a role to serve in the community and to important effect.

(2) Theological
The parable of the Lost Sheep tells us that the lone sheep is just as important to Our Lord as each one in the flock. St *******'s might be well compared to the Lost Sheep of the Diocese and its importance pastorally does and is bearing fruit for the Church. With the capacity for all churches, even in the low population density countryside, to bear fruit, none should be closed.

As a result of the presence of St *******'s church within the community as a practicing church, a young member of the congregation has been sufficiently inspired to go to work for the Church at the parish at ********** with every intention of working towards ordination.

This would not have happened without the presence of the footprint of God at St *******'s within the community to which it ministers.

This is at the heart of the very meaning of the parable of the Lost Sheep and the lost sheep of St *******'s should not now be pushed out of the flock of the Diocese.

This parable is particularly at the heart of all current congregation of the church as the priest insisted on giving a children's sermon to the entirely adult congregation, with paper and scissors given out to all to cut out the image of sheep upon which to write all names and pin them upon a board in the Chancel. This has not assisted in boosting attendance at the Church although the activity has written the parable in all affected hearts. Those affected have come to expect the raising of Lazarus against the odds likewise in the resurrection of the Church.

St *******'s represents literally the work of God's Calling in the countryside and should not be closed.

(3) Pastoral
The village of ********** within the Deanery of **** ********* is not the place to be closing a church and removing the footprint of God from within the countryside. **** ********* and ****** *** are the centre of numerous persuasions and pseudo religions. *********** has an active presence in the town and is very welcoming to those who are vulnerable and needing counsel. The Church does it better - as is evidenced by the effectiveness of the current incumbent of St *******'s whose inspiration has caused the young congregation member to train towards ordination.

During recent decades ********* has been headlined as a centre with drugs problems in ****** and a man living within a mile of St *******'s whose family consists of ten children has been imprisoned twice for growing cannabis.

For those emerging from a psychotic breakdown and from addiction, the presence of a local church is a vital lynchpin, and without which subjects can easily be sucked into the local *********** which through targeted programmes draw such unfortunate people.

A local Police Commissioner's report details:

• Young people told us that the major root causes are boredom, peer pressure and social expectations, and personal and emotional problems. These root causes affect the majority of young people, regardless of differences in wealth and background.
  

This is a force within society just as much at work within the countryside as within the towns and whilst the measure of pastoral provision is being set by the church to the standard of one incumbent priest per 7000 head of population, in fact the power of the church to those head of population who become Lost Sheep in society relates to how near the Church is to the home and how familiar the church is to people's lives.

The local church therefore is a vital lynchpin around which countryside families depend and especially those where young people have gone astray. A density of pastoral provision per numbers of square miles where people live is therefore as important to achieve as any measure of provision per number of population.

The history of the estate as an ancient gated park is indicative of the topological isolation of the place and the community. The hamlet itself within the ancient ecclesiastical hunting park is of some 30 houses with perhaps another 15 houses in the outlying areas and a total population of around 200 to 300 people.

Within this context, the congregations normally of 20 - 25 people, although they may dip in the Summer to 12 or so, at near 10% of the population are excellently above the national average for church attendance and there is therefore a measurable demand for a building serving the dissemination of the Holy Spirit within the community. The Christmas Carol service has attracted congrations of 80 or so in recent years, but declining to 60 after one year when the hymns or carols chosen were obscure.

The church is perceived to be of less relevance in people's lives than formerly as unlike former incumbents, the current priest has not apparently ventured down the road into the hamlet beyond the church nor become involved in village activity. This has result in questionnaires about the church to be received with apathy. A fete a few years ago involved great effort by all, including many who don't come to Church, but the priest was not there. This has not helped enthusiasm for the church.

The estate is isolated in a valley and served by a road with notorious bends which are particularly dangerous and on which many people have been killed. Whereas people living around ****** ****** adjacent who formerly went to St *****'s church which is now closed and a financial white elephant, have divided themselves between St *******'s ********** and other parishes, ****** has good roads leading elsewhere which ********** does not.

Within 60 years the energy and materials crisis for the planet may mean that communities are as isolated without fast commodious transport that we experience today. For this reason Churches where they exist in less densely populated areas should not be closed.

The presence of the Church in the village is vital to what is a small and isolated village in which the church brings together community focus and which can sort out social problems. It was as a result of a Carol service at St *******'s that a man who had openly harboured hate for a neighbour for thirty years was able to shake his neighbour's hand and the two have become on speaking terms. Churches are vital to small villages.

The Church provides also a community forum for fundraising even for those who don't attend services but will come to a quiz night at the village hall, bringing people together. These have been so well supported that there has not been space for everybody and this provides evidence for the substantial and underlying requirement for the function of a church in the village.

Given that there is no village shop, no village societies, no village school the Church is the only vehicle for oiling the wheels of neighbourly cooperation, which is what Christianity is all about.

(4) Financial
With a low congregation number, it has been impossible for St *******'s to pay the Parish Quota demanded by the Diocese. In addition the building is a Grade II listed building and quite expensive to maintain.

I believe that in more prosperous decades the church was supported significantly by wealthy donors living nearby who ran a major international company but they have died. Wealth exists locally, one house nearby having been sold to [wealthy family].

With priests who are disconnected from their communities as has been the incumbent of St *******'s the Church is not winning the hearts and minds of those who are in a position to fund it most. Churches in the countryside are often surrounded by people of significant wealth who if involved in the right way can be valuable in supporting a Diocese and thereby the work of God in the more densely populated regions.

For this reason places of worship such as St *******'s are valuable assets to the work of the Church and should not be closed.

The problem remains that the Diocesan financial deficit requires costs to be cut and for to enable resources to bring the word of God to inadequately served new populations in expanding towns.

As a member of the Deanery Synod I have seen the Diocesan accounts. From these it is apparent that the total bill for insurance extends to double the Diocesan deficit.When the tower of **** ********* Church, St ******'s, was struck down by lightning in 1786 its rebuilding was achieved not by insurance but by the Christian spirit of contribution. In like manner the building of Guildford Cathedral was achieved and in this is the work of God and the bringing of Christians together in His name.

Insurance premiums fund the greedy and are part of the evils perceived of the financial institutions who live by the selling of fear for the future at the expense of living in the day. This is contrary to Matthew 6: 26-34

On account of paying the financial institutions to bail out the Church in the absence of the Christian spirit in the community to do so if the need arises in the future, we are trading  the total certainty of risk of closure in the present to pay for insurance against the uncertain risk of closure due to possible disaster in the future.

This approach to Church finance is unchristian and against the work of God.

The Rural Dean has asked me on at least two occasions not to speak on the matter of insurance and its effect upon the finances and the matter has been muzzled.

Were the Diocese to suspend payment to the financial institutions and to put a quarter of what they would be paying them into a reserve account for prudence sake, it would be in profit, be able to support all churches, close none, and pay incumbents a better living wage to attract people of higher calibre into the priesthood and to enable them to become more involved full time rather than part time in the lives of their communities.

For all of the above reasons St *******'s Church ********** should not be closed and a viable alternative exists to provide financial means for this church, and likewise many other churches in the countryside to be supported without threat of closure, and for the work of God to flourish thereby.

Best wishes

David P

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/House-Pipe-Organ-2-Manuals-Pedals-Electric-Action-/121771550258

QuoteBarrie Clark House Organ

I am offering for sale on behalf of an old friend who does not have an eBay account, a custom-built pipe organ in good working condition.

It was built by Barrie Clark between 1973 and 1978, and was based on pipework originally from Reigate United Reformed Church. The pipework has been much enhanced, with professional help over the years. Barrie designed the organ to fit in his house, with a custom frame for the purpose. Needless to say, a vast amount of work went into this project. Barrie is a notable figure in the organ world, and much respected by all who know him. Circumstances point to finding a new home for this treasured instrument, so Barrie will accept reasonable offers.

It is a direct electric action using the (then) new Corbett patent vertical draw magnets with air damping. There is detail documentation of the build including working drawings and photos, all of which will be provided with the instrument.

The specification comprises 14 stops from 6 ranks, over 2 manuals and pedals, which provides quite a versatile instrument in a small space - width 6', height 7'6", depth 2' (approximately, excluding keyboards); the pedalboard is removable. The bass octave of the 16' pedal is derived from American organ reeds so that there are no large bass flues.

Manual I                  Manual II
Cremona    8             Sesquialtera    II
Mixture      II            Quint              1 1/3
Gedakt       2            Principal         2
Principal     4            Stopped Flute 4
Stopped Flute    8     Gedakt            8

Pedal                        Couplers
Cremona    8            Tremulant
Principal     4            Manual I to Manual II
Stopped Flute    8     Manual II to Pedal
Gedakt      16           Manual I to Pedal
                               Cymbelstern
                               Vogelsang

We have recordings of the instrument, so samples could be provided electronically to interested parties.

The instrument is installed within walking distance of Reigate Station, and viewing/trying will be welcome by arrangement. It would need to be dismantled for removal: into several manageable components, plus the pipework, and the casework which is divided for ease of domestic movement.

As a rational physicist very much of the persuasion of Einstein, I take the injunction of saying the Name of God seriously so that in Einstein's words Jehovah's only excuse for all the bad in the world is his non-existence. But Einstein said that he had great respect for "The Old One" . . .

So what is the old one? That which gives life, represented by the breath of life, the sound of which unenunciated is described by the name Yahowah, YahWey and thus Jehovah but not said.

The breath of life . . . is a process rather than a name and the Creator might be a process that happens, that we can recognise, that we can emulate, rather than a person.

So where does this leave the Holy Spirit? The idea of God which for many is brought to life in personification and "who" can do things unseen?

Elsewhere I've written about the consciousness of matter, of the interconnexion and consciousness of decisions on a macro scale, and our interaction with them on a personal level leading to a view of a perspective of us visible as boats on an invisible sea, the Sea of Circumstances.

Perhaps whatever we might believe it's merely a different perspective of different descriptions of the same thing in the spirit of Nietzche's observation that "Since all language is figural, it is incapable of expressing literal truth."

So however we might describe the experience of the unseen hand of God, we might all have stories to tell.

In a faithless age and one in which all that anyone cares about is "What's in it for me?" this faith and knowing perhaps is one of the most important drivers of direction in our lives and one in which Churches and organs might be seen to be more important than commonly considered nowadays.

A few weeks ago I went to France on a mission.

My Dad was to go there for a holiday and, he being aged and lonely, I'd organised 6 months ago for a lady I'd met at church in Cannes to take him out on a trip during his stay. I'd been there a number of times since but hadn't met or recognised the lady and I'd lost her contact details. So I really wondered how I was going to tie the purpose of this trip together to succeed in doing things for my Dad. . . .

But I needn't have worried. . . . I went to Church on the Sunday before my Dad arrived . . . and walked into Church after a cycle ride arriving late. And as soon as I opened the door inside . . . at the door to greet me was the lady I needed to see saying "Hello. How's your Dad?"

So all was well, on the basis of my not having seen the lady at all in the visits in previous months, significantly against the tide of probability of this happening as an event at random.

At the end of the trip I arrived at the airport and was irritated and significantly distracted by a fingernail I'd caught on something with a torn section about to tear further into the quick if not cut. Of course travelling with hand luggage I had no scissors. There was no opportunity to cut the offending fragment of nail. I went through security cursing modern times knowing that I wouldn't be able to buy a pair of scissors on airside after security.

So I walked the distance through the airport past shops selling alchohol, expensive cheese and Rolex watches, none being as useful to me as a pair of scissors still cursing modern times, wondering how on earth I was going to manage toleration of this physical irritation and wishing that things were different. I can't say I was praying as I knew that it would be impossible to find a pair of scissors airside and that to pray for it would be too much to ask. And whilst wandering past the duty free shops on one side past the refreshment bars on the other, there before my eyes was a lady having set up a nail bar.

The problem had been solved.

The nail bar has never in my experience passing through the airport many times been there before, nor since.

All of us have such stories to tell.

The consciousness of circumstances, the hand of the unseen, the description of the physical world that we call God that behaves as Our Father . . . the Holy Spirit. What is the spirit? An idea, a description communicated, and yet something more that moves circumstances beyond the possibilities of our imagination.

The perspective offered by the Church is a valid description of the real world without which the real apparent world is incomplete.

Best wishes

David P

With the increasing use of tablet devices which are essentially mobile phone language rather than "proper" computers I wonder if this is a major factor in the rise of Facebook as against the forums.

With luck this software might be updated to work better on mobile phones. Perhaps someone might try and if successful spread the news on Facebook?

I am no longer using Facebook as it wants too much personal information.

Best wishes

David P

SATURDAY 19th SEPTEMBER, 2.00pm – 3.30pm
A Workshop for Young Players led by
NATHANIEL MANDER
The British Harpsichord Society welcomes a new generation of harpsichordists to an afternoon masterclass with Nathaniel Mander. It is a chance to delve into the expressive and inspiring world of the beautiful Ruckers style harpsichord housed at the museum. Come and learn by listening to this multi award-winning harpsichordist as he teaches others how to make the harpsichord 'sing'.

Handel House, 25 Brook Street, London W1K 4HB
Tickets: £12 and £6 Students.
Information: http://www.handelhouse.org
Booking line: +44(0)20 7399 1953
Book online via arttickets

There are so many instruments on ebay at the moment, especially commenting that the instrument is in good condition but no longer used, and so many notifications of redundant instruments from Methodist churches from Graham Jones, that with the decline of the Church of England and the rise of the Praise Band I'm seriously wondering if this generation is the end of the organ . . .

Best wishes

David P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5bS_aS_zo4 might be an interesting recital including Bach which might be played on the organ . . . and other modes of harpsichord sound including the peau de boeuf rank sounding very much like a hard, and a simple harpsichord one manual with split keyboard using the buff in the bass to contrast the tune singing against a lute in the bass, as one might register a single manual organ with spit keyboard at middle C.

Best wishes

David P

The performer on Saturday is an extraordinarily talented and musical lady http://www.alexandrakremakova.com/ who I met at the Greenwich Early Music fair last November and this is a particularly inspirational musical event http://www.earlymusicshop.com/More/Greenwich_International_Early_Music_Festival.aspx

Harpsichords are extremely critically adjusted instruments and whilst they are still happy in summer humidity mode, we've asked Alexandra to bring out the best of the superb trio of instruments at Hammerwood. One of the instruments, a Sperrhake, appears very simple and ordinary but somehow multiplies the harmonics in the music in the manner of an organ. The effect is magical.

The programme is:

J. S. Bach - Toccata E minor BWV 914

D. Scarlatti - Sonata D minor K1
D. Scarlatti - Sonata D major K119

J. S. Bach - Prelude and Fugue F minor Well-tempered Klavier Book II

D. Scarlatti - Sonata A major K208
D. Scarlatti - Sonata D minor K141 'Toccata'

J.S. Bach - Chiaconne from Violin Partita (arr. Colin Booth)

INTERVAL

G. Handel - Sarabande D minor

F. Couperin - Rondeau Passacaille B minor

L. Daquin - Le Coucou
Rameau - La Villageouse

C. P. E. Bach - Variations on La Folia d'Espagne

The concert will be in the mirrored drawing room which was no doubt the Ball Room in the 18th century and has a perfect acoustic for the harpsichord.

So please come taking the opportunity of hearing a brilliant performer and these wonderful instruments at their best!

Please telephone us 01342 850594 if you would like to come - and remember . . . if you would like a 50% discount, bring a child!

There will be a guided tour at 2pm preceding the recital at 4pm.

Best wishes

David P