Organ Refurbishment Project

The Church Organ was built by Liddiatt & Sons of Leonard Stanley, Gloucester and was installed in 1910. It has lasted well, with some updating over the years (e.g. a water pump was installed to replace the original hand pump and that was itself replaced some time ago). A further updating took place in the mid-1980’s by Peter Hindmarsh, which included the electrification of the action and the adding of a mixture stop to the Great.

The organ has very good quality pipes (especially the wooden ones), but the windchests are of poorer construction and the speech of the pipes is adversely affected by this, especially when heard at close quarters.

Many good organists have played it and have commented favourably. For example, a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (a regular performer and broadcaster) described it as ‘a very good organ for a church of this size’. Several experienced organists have played at weddings and commented favourably.

Capability to be delivered by the Project

For the organ to remain in good working order for at least the next fifty years, the following work needs to be undertaken as a matter of urgency:

• New slider windchests for the ‘Great’ and ‘Swell’, with electric solenoids operating the slider;
• ‘Great’ pipework will be re-ordered, with the largest pipes in the centre of the chest, to take advantage of extra height under the stone archway;
• Separate ‘Great Mixture’ which was added at the last re-build, is to be incorporated into the ‘Great’ windchest (i.e. new mechanical action for the manual keyboards);
• Two new roller-boards and all mechanical linkages and new keyboards are to be provided but using existing console and Pedal board.
• The Pedals will remain electric but with ‘Great’ and ‘Swell’ to Pedal couplers made manual.
• Wind regulators (bellows) installed at the last re-build will also be incorporated into the new chests;
• Old dark stain to be removed from organ case and external pipes re-sprayed.

Project Manager & Team

Planned Implementation

The planned implementation date for this project is October 2020 and is currently approximately 4 months behind schedule owing to COVID-19.