Philip J Wells

Sorry to be negative, but whilst discussion on individual instruments might be useful the whole idea of that part of the IBO website which lists redundant organs was so they all appeared in the one place to aid possible buyers. From memory I think that replaced 3 different listings but of course there is still the BIOS historic redundancies list as well. Regards PJW

I think that Grant Degens and Bradbeer used large pull down magnets on their earlier organs before their mechanical actions were fully developed but i assume they were slightly slow in acting. Gloucester cathedral action sought to overcome that with the use of multiple small lever arm magnets working directly into the bar. Whilst appreciating that Ken Tickell makes great use of many modern manufacturing techniques I wonder if the credit for this new form of electric action lies with the consultant, one John Norman?

A short article on the Celestial Organ in Westminster Abbey is at http://www.organrecitals.com/westabbey.php . PJW

The NPOR has a picture of the Christchurch Priory polyphone here: http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/PSearch...D06714&no=3

Why not play your own music. A bit of self promotion may go a long way. However, should you ask for the performing rights fee afterwards? Providing this music and any improvisations are at the end of the recital it does at least provide the listener with a chance to walk out if you don't like it (and I have). I was told many years ago that Cunningham placed Rheinberger etc at the end of his Birminham Town Hall recitals for the same reason.

This one on ebay sold recently for £1650 http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...A:IT&ih=011 but the one your selling looks a good deal better. 40 years ago there used to be a good market for these in Holland. I sold 2 through Exchange and Mart to fund the acquisition of a pipe organ for my church.

I used to think these things were somewhat scarce. There are loads for sale on ebay so good luck in finding a home for this one.

I have not seen the series of The Organ articles so forgive for for repeating what might already be known. The guide book for St Thomas's RC Church Fairford contains the following: In about 1905 Captain Lindsay Garrard retired from the 5 th Dragoons and he set up an organ building business in a large conservatory next to his home in Ryton House, in Lechlade. Sadly the firm did not succeed financially and Garrard enlisted as a private soldier in the Pembroke Yeomanry at the outbreak of the First World War. He built at least a dozen instruments, some quite large including an organ for St Thomas's Church, which he gave as a thanks offering for his conversion to the Catholoc faith. No details of this instrument survive but we know that it was later moved to Swindon. The NPOR gives around 19 organs by him. (This did not not including Shellingford, Oxfordshire which was replaced by Peter Collins Opus 2; proving I can't use the search engine properly).

I emailed Positif press earlier in the year about the availability of their forthcoming books and was assured they are stll in the pipeline. The most recent publications seem to be the short histories of organs at Abingdon, Arundel Cath and Boyns Hill, Maidenhead. On a related note you may be interested to know that John Norman has just (20 Sept 07) published a new book “Box of Whistles, The: Organ Case Design - Its History and Recent Development” £40, but Tesco are doing it for £28 on line. Synopsis (taken from Amazon) - The standard work on organ case design, Andrew Freeman's "English Organ Cases", was published in 1921. Since then, particularly in the last 40 years, there has been a revival in organ case design which almost rivals the glories of the late seventeenth century. This revival has, so far, been little documented so there is now room for a comprehensive survey which, hopefully, will become the new standard work. The new book has been recommended to me but Tesco's are out of stock at the moment. Also of interest on Amazon under “Toys and Games” (I searched using “Organ Gloucester”) for £129 you can play the organ of Gloucester Cathedral. Toy Safety Manufacturer's minimum age: 14 years Product Features This is your chance to play the organ within the magnificent setting of Gloucester Cathedral Location - Gloucester, Minimum age is 14, Available all year on selected dates More details are given on the Amazon site for this activity toy.

Many thanks for your reply. I'm looking forward to hearing the completed organ installation in due course.

Sorry, I have deleted this as I was off on a tangent.

Thank you for the pictures. Very interesting. Given all the flack that Peter Collins recently received on this site for the tuning stability of vertically constructed divisions in the Southampton Turner Sims concert hall (rather unfairly I thought), the Recit division here seems to be really packed closely in the top of the roof space. And within the division the pipes are not on one level. I do not know the building (but would like to visit when the exciting project is finished) but surely temperature gradient issues are likely to surface here as well. Does the building have a good air conditioning control system? I would also be interested to see the final stop specification. Has this been published anywhere please.

Yes exactley that. You may be able to just make them out on another picture I supplied at: http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/PSearch...D08351&no=2

Many years ago I recall that someone from HNB moved one of these things and put an electric blower on to relieve the organist of having to supply the wind for him/herself. He never could get the Melodic Bass to work properly and came to the conclusion that it required turbulence in the wind supply in order to operate OK. In several I have seen the mechanical bits just keep going but the pneumatics have usually given up years ago. Can't say I like the sounds but they seem good workhorses and surley the next things up from American Organs or Harmoniums.

The new 3M+P Bill Drake organ proposed for Autumn 2004 in St Mary's Priory, Abergavenny had a Ffliwt 8 (an open Fluit 8 also borrowed to the pedal) which is the nearest I have come across. I assume lack of money stopped it being built or is fundraising still progressing?

Alwyn Surplice (when at Winchester Cath.) recounted that before the Willis organ in Truro was worked on by the Willis firm in the 60's (?) with the new console down behind the choir, the console was up with the organ. They had a system of indicator lights on the console to warn of 'bride at the west door' etc. One of the lights was for 'your playing the wrong tune'.

Tirley has a nice little Bryceson Bros & Morten, c1873 to ?1877 (spec & pics on the NPOR). Although it is built up on a plinth to avoid flooding looking at this picture of the church with water nearley up to the roof of the entrance porch I can tell you the plinth is not that high!

There is possibly another discovery in the Looking Ahead section (Sep/Oct issue)of the same publication. "The long awaited refurbishment of Birmingham Town hall is complete: before its doors open to the public, we pay a visit to its five-manual William Hill organ, under the care of Harrison and Harrison". strange, I thought that the recent work had been carried out by our hosts. Its mighty quick to have lost the tuning contract? PJW

This sounds very much as though things have now firmed up. As I understood it a while ago there was talk of a 2nd mobile console in the Nave to augment the new 4 M console on the North side of the choir, (this was also spoken of for Gloucester Cath) the choir organ being resited from the North Aisle into the main case, and the Great and Solo reeds coming out from the main organ and going in a new case up on the wall at the front of the South Aisle. The church was also to be reordered with nave altar etc. and one reason for the delay has been that all the building repair work had not been carried out. I had always thought that a solution with a west end and a chancel organ such as at Chelmsford Cathedral might have worked well here but then I have never been to any service in the building so might be completely mistaken. It might have meant that the current case (if it would have fitted) could have looked splendid on a gallery at the west end after all it seems that money is no object here! If the organ overflows the current position and mostly fills the current old chapel space will it be the only organ with a toilet in it? PJW

Just out of interest two of the mock-ups superimpose the cases of Durham Cath. and Hereford Cath. on pictures of the interior of the building. However, I don't recognise the source of the main superimposed organ case. Can anyone help me recognise my organ heritage! PJW

I think the photo you saw was the Sheldonian Theatre ,Oxford and was in the latest issue of the Organist's Review. There were 4 styles of lettering according to what style of organ sound was selected from the 4 options. PJW

I assume these days with all the red tape a risk assessment is required before one of these things is installed. With all this mention of water droplets etc spraying through the air, has legionnaires disesase ever been found to be a problem?

I had also heard that it was Walkers. However, I think they did more than that as it is now possible to see pipes against the wall behind the organ on the LHS. (Is this new full length 32 reed resonators?). The tale I heard was that it was not until Dame Gillian Weir complained about the heavy action that Pennells from Walkers were approached. I think that Peter Collins originally had the design of the action checked over by a mechanical engineer to ensure that it was OK. PJW