madorganist

It sounded very good when i attended a friends wedding about 18 months ago. The picture is one of mine.

Is this the same Hugh Banton that was the keyboard wizard from the prog rock group Van der Graaf Generator?

Does anyone have any ideas about the cost of such a move? And no, I'm not the "middle eastern gentleman" in question

I wonder if anyone can help me out. A friend of mine has recently rescued a toaster from one of our redundant chapels and has installed in his house. All was working fine until today when his son managed to kill it. For some bizarre reason he managed to connect up the speakers and the output from the organ to the mains – result bang! Does anyone know of anybody in the Kent or East Sussex area that services/repairs electronic organs?

Just as well that this organ is something of a caged beast, in a more open position it would be devastating. It’s a shame the late JB never got his 32’ reed. The chamade at Luton Parish Church needed a health warning when heard from the console. A similar effect can be gained from about five pints of Old Peculier

No !!

Some years ago I had just finished my voluntary at our evening service, when a lady came over and started writing down the organ specification. Upon asking if she was a player, she told me her brother needed the information as he was playing for her wedding the following Saturday. Needless to say no-one had bothered to ask me first, or, indeed, apologise for the oversight. I was sorely tempted to remove the main fuses from the rectifiers inside the organ.

Cant help you directly - the only decent organ I ever played in Malta was the the organ in St Paul's Cathedral which is/was a 3 manual Norman and Beard ( I think). This chap may be able to help you http://www.robertbuhagiar.com/ The organ mentioned on the Ruffatti web sit is not the main organ. I seem to recall the main organ is pretty conventional and may have more than a whiff of Ralph Downes to it.

Artemis 81. There was a lot of footage of Liverpool Cathedral. I remember a lot of close up shots of an organ console being played, but I don't remember it being a 5 decker. The well known "popular" musician Gordon Sumner was in the film. The show is available on DVD A quick google came up with this http://www.davidrudkin.com/html/tv/artemis.html apparently it was Southwell - but no mention of the organist

I had a similar problem to AJT. Our choir had been invited to perform at a Methodist church in London. I had been assured there was a proper organ. I quick search on NPOR revealed the organ to have a Compton electronic, with a fairly conventional specification. Upon arrival at the church I quickly discovered that the Compton had been discarded for a theatre type organ with two overlapping keyboards and about an octave and a half of pedals. Despite re-setting just about everything the pedals remained a tone out from the manuals. The church piano was quickly tested, only to find that it was so bad even a honky tonk would blush!! The only plus point that day was the the first rate tea supplied afterwards.

Coming from an Anglican background, where the organist drew up music lists on a quarterly basis, I found it quite a shock when I moved over to a Methodist Church. I’m lucky to get 48 hours notice of the hymns. This causes a number of frustrations. Its difficult to prepare appropriate choir anthems as many of our preachers refuse to follow lectionary themes, so we have to maintain a repertoire of theme neutral anthems. Also, it means that we have a significantly reduced variety of hymns – they all like to choose their favourites. Some of the preachers will make changes if I point out that we have had a particular hymn within the last week or two. Most wont! And one in particular will insist on providing hymns and tunes that are totally unknown to the Church or choir

This really annoys me. Not only are the hymn numbers printed on the order of service, they are also displayed on multiple hymn boards. Then there is the is the question of consistency, sometimes it’s the hymn number followed by the first line, and sometimes any number of lines (whole verse), comments about the author (never composer – wonder why?) and then the number again. These days if they pause for too long I just start playing. Unwritten passing notes are another irritation. I could go on and on and on. Perhaps there is a TV series lurking here, “ Grumpy (Old) Organists”.

I think it could be something to do with closet megalomania. Like JSB, I enjoy testing an organs lungs, and given half a chance, would love to have a thrash on a steam engine. Perhaps the UN would have had better results in Iraq had they sent in an army of organists and steam enthusiasts. The steam engines would all be running again, and the militants could all chill out to the sounds of the merry organ (and steam whistles). I understand that there are a number of steam engines located near to Baghdad, including a British built 8F. I’ll get my anorak.

I’m Robin Stalker, organist of the Centrepiece Church in Ashford Kent. (http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=D03036) It was one my aunts that described me as a “mad organist”, hence my use as a pseudonym. These days I think I would best be described as a “mildly irritated organist”. I had organ lessons from Philip Moore (no, not that one) and managed to pass my Grade 8. Sadly transposition still has me totally bewildered. Best organ fun? Easy, being let loose in Coventry Cathedral after hours. It seemed only right and proper to test full organ………repeatedly! Running a very close second is the time I played “ There’s No Business Like Show Business” arranged for organ quartet. I played the pipe organ and was joined by three toasters from the local organ club. After many years working in finance I am currently resting. It’s nice to be able to devote more time to photography and steam railways. Robin

Black leather! I thought I’d seen it all, I think I have now. And for the curious, think Harley Davidson rather than dominatrix. I had to stop playing before the service, I couldn't hear full organ against the multitude of "mean machines" in the car park. It turned out to be only two "mean machines", but never the less the organ lost!

This is what I got from Thanet Leisure Force, the people that run the Town Hall on behalf of Dover District Council "Further to your request I can confirm that the organ is still on site as it was when Thanet Leisureforce took over the operation of the Dover Town Hall back in November 2003. I have made enquiries as to the approx cost to have it repaired / restored which is in the region of £200k. This sum of money could not be justified commercially for us to consider but in my opinion could form part of a Cultural bid for Lottery money – should DDC wish to pursue. Dover Choral Society have show interest in the past in backing a bid for money but to date no real action has taken place. I hopes this answers your questions and do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further assistance

I emailed them this morning - no reply as yet. I cant believe that the organ could have been scrapped without someone picking up on it

Thats very sad news

I thought it was more a case of silenced pending a huge pile of cash.

How about Franz Schmidt’s Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln – that has quite a big organ part – and a rather nice Hallelujah chorus

Any idea of what he's playing? Couldn't see anything on the cathedral web site

More or less the same here - I gave up halfway through the Mag. I'm sure the singers are very talented - its just that to me, they didn't sound entirely at home with the music.

Could be quite entertaining! Slip on some Jim Morrison "C'mon baby light my fire" and enjoy the results!

Contact you local diocesan arsonist.