Sad to see the mindset of this seller:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Methodist-Pipe-Organ-Scrap-Value-Is-Worth-Over-2000-00-/200987919734?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item2ecbd04576 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Methodist-Pipe-Organ-Scrap-Value-Is-Worth-Over-2000-00-/200987919734?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Keyboard_RL&hash=item2ecbd04576)
Very depressing. The dust on the bench tells a sad story too. Sadly, he'd be very lucky to sell it for £500 - and as for the keyboard, I'd be robbed if I offered him half-a-crown.
It doesn't look much like an HN&B to me. Maybe they put it in. Or maybe it was by 'Paddy' Benson, the store-keeper, who collected bits from other organs and put them together, sometimes under his own name, but sometimes using the firm's. He also brewed an alcohlic ginger beer, and was the uncle of Archbishop Runcie. I didn't know the Methodist Church in Methwold had an organ, although I've played the Keith Bance rebuild in the parish church. Non-conformist churches in general are something of an untapped field as far as NPOR is concerned because they tend to be locked. There's a whole sub-strata of organ-building there - some builders did most of their work for non-conformists (Henry Dyer, for example).
It looks as though eBay have removed the listing . . . so presumably the mindset of the seller offends others too . . . ?
Best wishes
David P
Folks, please forgive another view here. I agree it's all a very sad state of affairs - but I think a little proportion is needed.
I'm quite saddened to see an organ unwanted, but even sadder to see a church closed. And as for the chap selling the organ, I suspect he's either a developer having bought the whole property or a trader having bought the chapel contents. In either case he's behaving in a manner quite appropriate for someone trying to make his living - which we should accept.
If we want to reduce the number of sad cases of unwanted organs then we need to help non-organ folks see just what a splendid thing an organ is. A little sad reflection is a healthy human response and fine at that; I don't think moaning and negativity is at all helpful.
John