Andrew Butler

I'm sure there is a village organ somewhere in Norfolk with shutters operated by hand lever.....

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=E00594 - This has manually operated shutters to the GREAT to adjust sound in the gallery....

Yes - I've heard of this. Can't remember where though.

Apologies - I was mistaken about the spelling. I was thinking of someone else It is Richard Cock!

On paper, I would say that there are more accompanimental possibilities than with the existing instrument, which only has an 8' flute as the only unison flue on the Swell - although it does have 16 & 8 reeds. Time will tell.

I played for a wedding at a nearby church (not my own) the other week. The choir of three were conducted in "All things b & b", "Sing Hosanna" and "One more step"

Some of Ken Tickell's smaller instruments have a 12-17 Cornet as the only Swell mixture. I wonder if these are intended for chorus use?

I remember an evensong at Chichester in the mid-late 70s with Richard Kok (sic) playing, no sign of John Birch, lay clerks conducting, and excellent performances of (albeit sraightforward) repertoire. If I remember correctly Wood No 2 in Eb and Holst "Turn back, O man"

I have discussed this today with Barry Rose to see if he remembered anything. He thinks that Christopher Dearnley had some sort of mock-up of the stop jambs in his house, but not a full console. Interestingly though, when i asked the question on my Facebook page, a non-musical friend recalls seeing a documentary years ago about St Pauls and remembers something about a mock-up!

Apologies - John Mander has advised me that my assertion is total rubbish - although there are apparently old consoles from previous incarnations stored in the triforium. I must have got the story from somewhere though!

Could be - although I thought it was Amen Court. Can John Mander comment?

I'm still waiting for someone to confirm I'm not dreaming here, but I think it was just a dummy to allow practice of registration changes, and familiarity with the (then) new console

if I am correct, I think it dates from the first Mander rebuild. can't remember how i heard about it but i don't think I'm dreaming....... Anyone......?

I don't know if it still exists, but did there not used to be a mock-up of the St Paul's console in the organist's house? Does that count?!

Sorry - posting in a hurry and got mixed up. I knew that!

Makin Organs' website's "Installations" section mentions a 42 stop 3 manual for "Thaxted Festival Foundation" (from memory - I haven't checked) Could this be it? i visited Thaxted in the early 1990s and the west end Arnold instrument appeared to be in regular use then. The England didn't look as though it was in use - was it playable at that time?

The Yates instrument (2 manual, totally enclosed with extensions) at Ulcombe, Kent, is a beautifully constructed and reliable instrument. Specification and lack of inter-manual coupler take a bit of getting used to, but it is a very effective organ.

Apologies for being slightly tangential here, but was Percy Beard related to GWB? I played for a funeral some years ago at Brightling, East Sussex, where the builder's plate read "Percy Beard" (As I remember, it had a Voix Celeste AND Vox Agelica, but one - can't remember which - wasn't undulating)

There is no mention of the current location of the pipework on NPOR or on the cathedral website...

Salford did have a 2 manual pipe organ prior to the installation of the Makin - it was a rebuild of the Compton http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N12617 Norwich, last I heard, had a Bradford Computing organ in addition to a small pipe organ in the south transept that looks as though it came from elsewhere. http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D07254 The Northampton pipe organ is, I believe, not fully functional, and suffered from poor execution of the original design. http://www.northamptoncathedral.org/Cathedral/TheOrgan/tabid/70/Default.aspx

I almost came horribly unstuck at Canterbury some years ago. I opted to use the then assistant's accompaniment channel for "my" evensong, but between my practicing in the week, and the service at the weekend, he had set the Swell 8 & 4 Reeds on Sw 1 in place of the Celestes - for a psalm verse I imagine. Luckily I spotted it in time!!

Daniel Justin - starting this month according to cathedral newsletter

Nick's funeral will be on Tuesday March 24th at 11am at St George's Cathedral, Southwark. (Information from Nick's sister)

Nick Gale, until recently DoM at St George's Cathedral (RC) Southwark, died tragically in an RTA yesterday. RIP

On another tack, is there a standard distance up from the top surface of the pedalboard for a balanced swell pedal to be mounted? A local organ to me has a (I think) Rushworth and dreaper console from the 1950s, and the swell pedal is uncomfortably high - you have to lean backwards to get your foot up onto it.