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East Kent Trombone

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Everything posted by East Kent Trombone

  1. Point taken about Chichester and Rochester. The 1978 Mander Organ at Canterbury was not seen in a good light so not so well regarded in that sense. I understand it was a victim of the fashions at the time where most of the Father Willis work was scrapped. Someone I know who worked for old Manders said that the majority of the equipment was sold at Auction and the largest amount was collected by Harrisons who have taken it to Durham. They've just put a brand new organ in Canterbury Cathedral which I hear is superb. I understand other Organ Builders bought a much smaller proportion of some stock too - no idea if any went to FHB they've only announced they've bought the trading name and websites etc. St. Peters Organ Works in Bethnal Green is owned by NP Mander Properties according to companies house. They also used to own Mander Organs Ltd before 2018 when it went to an employee ownership trust. I assume the works will therefore revert to John Mander on the termination of the lease by the bankrupt firm and their liquidators.
  2. I understand they have 12 staff so I think 25% are ex-mander.
  3. I don't think it's discourteous at all. I'm pleased for FHB but don't think it's unreasonable to note that a small regional organ builder is not necessarily the real original Mander with their specialities, equipment, noted pipework makers and voicers simply by the virtue recycling the trading name. I hope they go well but the change of name has not gone down that well with many of their existing customers who have stuck with their 'local' long established firm for years. The name Mander doesn't have the reverance or the reputation down in Kent and Sussex that it has elsewhere because it's not well known in the area.
  4. It will be an interesting change and good luck to them. Generally fellow Organists in East Kent are very surprised that FHB are so readily abandoning the well established and known Browne name for a company thats just gone bust. The styles of the two firms, as I understand are also very different adding to the mystery. The real Mander were known for pretty high end tracker organs, doing big jobs internationally and were one of the big boys with their own pipe making and excellent tonal work whereas the new 'Mander' (FHB) seem to almost never make new organs and generally appear to do relatively small overhauls and no international work. Perhaps they think it will propel them into the premier league but all the organ advisors and anyone in the know will understand that its a totally different company just reusing the name.
  5. I wonder who is taking over the tuning since Manders went bust.
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