[i was a chorister at St Peters at the time of the Osmond rebuild, my father was church warden. The Compton organ was very unreliable with very funny full organ ciphers a regular occurrence. A noisy instrument in its death throws as the blower is turned off was guaranteed to make a ten year old laugh.
The rebuild was Osmonds (yes they were owned by Hill, Norman and Beard) last job as Brian Verriker decided to set up the Deane organ builders soon after. Roger Fisher was the consultant with Roger Hill. The new console was a mixture of traditionalism with draw stobs rather than the Compton tabs but micro processor "time divided multiplexing" control. The original keyboards were retained as they were ivory!
In my mind, the most stunning recitals were performed by Stephen Bell (Director of Music at Queens College, Taunton) who managed to coax the most amazing continental sounds out of the instrument. Cesar Frank's symphonies were stunning.
For the budget, the re-build in 1982, was a stunning improvement. Alas, Roger Hill was not enjoy the fruits of his labours for too long. In about 1988 he suffered a massive stroke. He was quite a genius. When he started campaigning for the re-build, the church authorities stated he did not know what he was talking about and that he knew nothing about extension organs. He proved them wrong by building one in his living room!
