Organ matters - Organs matter!

I would like to wish all the members of this forum a very Happy and Blessed Christmas and New Year, but please hold in prayer and your hearts all the families who are suffering from the floods and have had their Christmas and homes destroyed. Please also think of the homeless and the people alone, I would like to encourage as many of you as can to contribute to the Salvation Army request of a donation of £19.99I apologise if I am out of order making this request, but at times I see the the commercial ho ho season taking over from the true meaning of Christmas.

Barrie

Hi

I noticed this organ on a recent television prog and looked it up on NPOR, it seems that heating engineers cut the wind trunking to the organ a few years ago. Is there any hope of it being made playable again??

Best wishes

Barrie

Hi

The Jardine/Nicholson organ in this church is being rebuilt by Trevor Tipple of Worcester. The instrument is being enlarged to 3 manuals, the pipework being moved from its cramped chancel position to the West end of the church. There was a very loud Trumpet unit which I have been assured is going to be tamed!!!!
I will post the new spec on NPOR when the work is completed.

Barrie

Hi

Can anyone tell me anything at all about this firm? I discovered one of their instruments several years ago in Shropshire and it was most pleasing both to the ear and to play.

Best wishes

Barrie

Hi

I was at the local crem today and had a priest in from Hawkesyard Priory, I asked him what the organ was and he told me a Hill, I looked it up on NPOR and it originated from Eton then went to Spode Hall, NPOR has no details of it there. Does anyone have any mor information or pictures of this organ?

Best wishes

Barrie

Hi

A friend of mine has been given permission to try the organ in this church next week, he saw it on a previous visit and tells me its a 4 manual instrument. I have searched NPOR and can only find details of a survey in the 1970's which is of a 3 manual instrument by Hele & Co, Elvins book Pipes and Actions gives the specification at 1992 after a Michael Farley rebuild. Has some other work been carried out since that date and does anyone have the current specification?
Michael Farley added 3 digital stops in 1992 to the Peadal organ.

Best wishes

Barrie

Hi

I can remember in my teens trying a 3manual and pedal reed organ somewhere in Shropshire, memories of this have made me wonder what was the biggest instrument of this kind ever built.

Best wishes

Barrie

This is a fine H&H rebuilt by Compton who added the 4th manual, Nicholson rebuilt and cleaned it a few years ago but did not alter its tonal scheme. I met a priest from there last Thursday and told her I had been suborganist there many years ago, she replied we have no organist now, the organ is rarely used maybe once a month in the evenings and for funerals. The late and great Geofrey Fletcher who established a good choral tradition there and oversaw the rebuilding of the organ will be turning in his grave.

Barrie

I watched this programme about the choir of Salisbury Cathedral last night, it is well worth watching, I hope if you missed it you can see it on Iplayer.

Best wishes

Barrie

Hi

Songs of Praise came from St Thomas Belfast on Sunday, the singing was accompanied by an orchestra, the organ remaining silent for the whole of the programe. I was curious to see what was there and looked it up on NPOR, ref NO6926. I wish they had used it, a Hill restored by Manders, does anyone know this instrument?

Best wishes

Barrie

Hi

Whilst eating my breakfast this morning I watched television, there was an item about a choir making a recording in the Chapel at Chivenor , in one shot it showed a pipe organ which I later looked up on NPOR.
It had originally been built by Hill for a private house and moved to the chapel at Chivenor, Michael Farley is noted as having done some work on it, it states on NPOR that the organ was for sale as it is unplayable, seemingly wind is not reaching the bellows!
If it is still for sale this little organ is well worth saving and it looks as if a new blower or trunking would solve the problem over the wind supply.

Best wishes

Barrie

Hi

Can I commend the latest issue of the magazine to members of the Board, it covers the new Drake organ in the OBE Chapel at St Pauls and also the Mander rebuild of Sacred Heart Wimbledon amongst other interesting articles. The magazine has developed well under its new Editorship, long may this continue.

Barrie

Hi

I was organist of St Lukes Bristol Road Birmingham in the early 1970s the organ was a peculiar Conacher-Sheffield which had a Quinted Contra Tromba 32, this simply did not work are there any more examples of quinted reeds?

Best wishes

Barrie

Hi

This organ really deserves to have a Grave stone.
It was built in 1877 by Henry Jones as a 3 manual instrument, rebuilt by Nicholsons who extended the Pedal Organ and then in 1891 added a Nave section playable from the main console. I remember the action to this section (tracker) being very heavy.
It had 2 32 ranks, one was quinted but the other went to c1, I hadnt realised that the Swell Reeds were on an early form of extension.
When I played it in the 1980s it was really in a dire state.
The building had been acquired by the BBI who were going to convert it into a Lecture Hall, but the vandals took over and the organ although partially rescued, but stored in the wrong place, a damp cellar, the whole organ was lost.
Henry Jones was an important builder and the Nave Section added by Nicholson was ahead of its time.
Please look at the details on NPOR 7334 Rev Tony Newnham knows far more about this organ than I do, but I feel it needs recording here.

Best wishes

Barrie

Hi

I have just done a search on NPOR listing the Town Hall organs which has given me some thoughts;
1. How many of these instruments are used on a regular basis?
2. How many councils still employ the services of an organist or curator?
3. In view of the present economic state many councils are in how many will justify spending money on the instrument?
4. Why is it so difficult to gain access to play them? I do realise there are other events held in them but there are many times when the Hall is free.

I was prompted to do the search after seeing West Bromwich Town Hall organ in an advertisement for Channel 4.

Best wishes

Barrie

I would like to take the opportunity to wish members of this Board, both old and new, a very Happy Christmas and New Year. It would be good if some of the newer members, and older ones, would contribute more to the Board, we all have something to offer one another. A good start could be, if you play, about the instrument you play regularly or even an instrument that inspires you. We would love to hear from you!!!!
Best wishes and greetings

Barrie

Hi

This is a 3 manual Father Willis, rebuilt over the years by W.J.Bird and electrified and moved to a west gallery with a detached console in the 60's by L J Snell. The spec on NPOR is not up to date, I will try to research my records. The organ is now silent and has been for several years being replaced by a Toaster. The reason being the console was riddled with woodworm and went to the bonfire complete with Willis keys and drawstops. The 16 Gamba on the Great was the best example I have heard, the flutes all differed and the Tromba was "hair raising". I worry for the future of this organ, I have been told ranks are missing but thats hearsay. The casework is impressive, it always gleamed in the sunlight. If only something could be done.

Best wishes
Barrie

I had the pleasure of playing this instrument twice last week, the action is terrible some of the pedal pipes are so ingrained with dirt that they do not speak properly, but what a fantastic sound the organ makes apart from these problems. The organ carries the Historic Organ Certificate Grade 2. The NPOR listing is NPOR NO3331. It is well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Barrie

Ill try and see how previous posts about this can be moved.

Barrie

Was the introduction of the Diapason based Twelfth to this country a Victorian idea, as prior to this period I have only ever seen Nazards, which really should be wide scale and used in conjunction with other mutations.
I am curious as I rarely use the Twelfth on the organ I play but use the Nazard on the Positif regularly.

Best wishes

Barrie