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The pipe organ in St Mary's is a charming one manual built from the Nelson instrument previously in St Nick's, Durham. It's very much an 'orgue de choeur' and none the worse for that, but the 'main' organ is the electronic. The G&D is the URC is well worth a visit if you are in the area - the only pipe organ left in Abergavenny and a testament to the longevity of Victorian tracker actions. All Saints, High Wycombe has an appeal running for the overhaul of their 1930 HW III, a fine instrument which fills the church and has an almost ideal layout - Great speaking west, Choir south and Swell between the two. It has what I think is the only full length 32' in Buckinghamshire, the pipes being in the north east corner of the church in what is now the 'Chapel of Rest'! The mechanisms are well past their sell-by date, said to be a mixture of very old slider chests and Willis pitman chests, and some unsuccessful tonal changes were made in 1984, together with some ugly revisions to the console. Hopefully the appeal will be successful and it can be edged back towards its former character. Reading Minster (St Mary the Virgin) - not an organ I know - has a long running appeal for the restoration of its Willis I / Bishop / Willis III. The old Mander firm was looking after the instrument but I don't know the present situation.

Last Tuesday there was a piece on lady organists and adjustable benches billed on Women's Hour by Marion Lees McPherson of the Society of Women Organists, but as it clashed with the service for Prince Philip I didn't listen. I've now found that it is available here - scroll to about 36 mins: https://podcasts.apple.com/lu/podcast/womans-hour/id130950322 https://www.societyofwomenorganists.co.uk/ The adjustment on one of the instruments I play is stool; stool plus blocks; stool plus blocks plus prayer books!

A very impressive service all round, although I thought the hymns were taken at a very deliberate pace rather than 'quite a fast tempo'. They held together very well - I'm often slightly startled at how fast the hymns are taken at the annual RBL Remembrance Service at the RAH, but again they hold together well.

A CD entitled 'The Bells, Choir and Organ of Dunkeld Cathedral' is available from the Cathedral: https://www.dunkeldcathedral.org.uk/church-life-worship/59-music-song/200-music-in-the-cathedral

Thanks - fascinating. The Telegraph's obit on Alastair Rushworth (23 March 2016) mentioned the Italian contract going sour, but there is a lot more detail in Mr Wong's thesis.

There was a good obituary in yesterdays' Daily Telegraph (Saturday 15 January).

Fascinating - I wonder what the material is - perhaps a type of resin? Presumably the special connectors keep the stop head square on the shaft and prevent the annoying rotation that you sometimes see.

A Buckinghamshire Organists' Association member planning to relocate has had a clear out of a large quantity of music which is available for a donation to charity. If anyone is interested, please PM me and I will forward a PDF listing.

Indeed - and so far with no 'superspreader' spikes in infection rates.

Tim Byram-Wigfield is coming to St John the Evangelist, Whitchurch (Buckinghamshire) on Friday, 1 October starting at 7.45pm. Tickets £10 on the door or from Parrott's farm shop in advance.

There are a couple of photos and a description in Elvin's 'The Harrison Story'.

As the holidays have started, we had a small congregation on Sunday who distanced themselves, cast off their masks and sung their hearts out. I have long been sceptical about the benefits of mask wearing. It often seems that you can tell when big fibs are told because the argument changes over time - first we were told (correctly) that they make little difference, then we were told that they were worth wearing, then we were told they only work if everyone wears them so everyone had to, and then we were told we wear them to protect others. The science is well summarised here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/07/17/cloth-face-masks-comfort-blankets-do-little-curb-covid-spread/ They will catch the big bits from coughs and sneezes, but if you are coughing and sneezing, stay home.

RIP. The story of his work revitalising JW Walker deserves to be told in full.

Thanks - I'll look out for it.

I had a look at the YouTube recording of the meeting yesterday but the sound level was so low the speech was inaudible. Is it a problem with my system?

Thanks - that's a good starting point if needed. It will be interesting to see if any timely guidance is issued, other than for churches to make their own decisions in the light of local circumstances.

After Monday's announcement, are there any opinions as to whether a risk assessment is necessary or advisable before restarting congregational singing, and if so, is anyone aware of a template that is available?

In Wales, Emma Gibbins is at Newport: https://www.newportcathedral.org.uk/whos-who-2021/

Paul Hale wrote an interesting article on Hunter in the March 2019 Organists' Review - he might be worth contacting: https://paulhale.org/

An interesting and informative stream - thanks to all those involved.

Having signed the petition I received the government's reply. It notes that "that singing can increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission through the spread of aerosol droplets." It then goes on to say "the limits do not apply to activity taking place for work or commercial activity." In other words you can take the risk of spreading COVID if you are doing it for money but not if you are doing it for pleasure. That is about as bizarre as it gets.

There's a picture in today's Telegraph of the instrument and a quick search showed this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-57329950 Very good news and I hope the fundraising goes well.

Thanks - clearly an outstandingly successful transplant.

If my counting is correct, there are 16 R.L. responses in 'New Psalms for Common Worship' compiled by Colin Mawby.

Signed. It's been "interesting" to see the crowds at recent football matches singing heartily.