pwhodges

The old organ at Ch Ch had no 32' reed. It was prepared for only, and I remember being rebuked when I pulled it by mistake instead of the 16' Ophicleide that Dr Watson was expecting. It did have a very fine 32' Violone, though, the bottom octave of which is now on the Grove organ at Tewkesbury. Paul

I played the pedals by hand for the first (Christmas) service on the rebuilt Conacher at Gresham's School, Holt in the late 1960s. Paul

I remember when I was at the BBC long, long ago, that one year the National Brass Band Championship became the International Brass Band Championship on account of a single band from Holland joining in. I dare say my son who is a pianist would not object to being called an International Concert Pianist - he plays in concerts internationally,after all. I suppose many do, but I suspect that less get around as widely (as well as the "routine" travel around Europe, he regularly goes to both sides of the US, Australia, Japan, Argentina...). Paul

Perhaps what's really wanted is a celeste with two dedicated ranks (i.e. not used with any other), one tuned sharp and the other flat, so that the mean pitch remains accurate. Tuning each rank sharp or flat relative to another rank as reference at half the required beat rate should do it. Paul

When I spoke to the Tewkesbury organist last year about the Grove organ, he seemed to indicate that it was in OK condition (he was surprised that I commented that it had, from my memory of hearing it quite some years earlier, more wind noise than I expected). Paul

This is certainly true: http://www.boosey.com/shop/prod/Kod-ly-Zoltan-Organoedia/620933. I have two recordings of this version (an old Hungarian LP and a 2006 CD from a church in Massachusetts). Paul

Too many Paul H's here, it seems! Paul

ebay has several at around £30: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw="oxford+psalter"&_sacat=0 Paul

At one of our cathedrals - Lincoln perhaps? - I was able to take my dogs (two) round with me when visiting. Paul

Though it was also reported that they were asking if people would give up their bookings. Paul

The sample set was commercially made while he was there, and is available to buy. But he constructed his own replica of the console to play it from, which they used while the blower room was being repaired. Paul

It's also not in 2-5 (I have 1-6). Paul

"Clutch and windshield" looks like meaning "coupling/connection to the windchest". I.e. the top three keys of the pedalboard are dummies. "Mechanical trolley" is presumably just "mechanical action". Paul

Yes, it's dialect. Here's a translation: https://americangeissbock.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/by-special-request-mer-stonn-zo-dir-fc-kolle-our-hymn-in-english/

It's Loch Lomond. When I was at primary school, it was what the teacher who could play the piano played for us to walk in and out of assembly to, so it got pretty ingrained!