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Another Organ Under Threat


nfortin

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According to a story in today's "Cheltenham Echo", it would seem as if Holy Trinity, Cheltenham (very evangelical, happy clappy) want to get rid of their 3 manual A J Price pipe organ. I've not actually played or heard this one myself, but on paper its not a bad spec and would seem well worth saving.

 

http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=N07456

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According to a story in today's "Cheltenham Echo", it would seem as if Holy Trinity, Cheltenham (very evangelical, happy clappy) want to get rid of their 3 manual A J Price pipe organ. I've not actually played or heard this one myself, but on paper its not a bad spec and would seem well worth saving.

 

http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=N07456

 

 

According to Roy Williamson, author of The Organs of Cheltenham and long-term monitor of all matters relating to organs in Gloucestershire, this was not only the only large Price organ left but probably his best. Price's work was confined to a small area but it is of more than passing interest. I lived in Cheltenham for nearly ten years but never managed to get a try at Holy Trinity. Your description of their churchmanship tallies with what was going on in those days. Cheltenham is a town where churches tend to polarize - there are three extremely high-church churches and the remainder are all heavily evangelical. I don't think I ever saw one that was traditional 'middle-of-the-road' Anglican. The high-church ones were proud of being even higher than St.Gregory's Priory where I played for seven years!

 

Since the Holy Trinity organ is safely up in an under-tower gallery I can't see why there would be an urgent need to dispense with it. I suppose their Music Group turns out even for funerals and Remembrance Day. O tempora O mores! I heartily disagree with this apparent decision, but maybe one should stand back and admire the utter blind confidence which says (in effect) 'we are so certain of our needs and the needs of future generations of worshippers in this church that we can safely dispense with something even if it cost our forbears a lot of money.'

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Since the Holy Trinity organ is safely up in an under-tower gallery I can't see why there would be an urgent need to dispense with it.

 

 

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There was a lovely piece of modern design, by Sir Edward Maufe,(Sp?) I believe, at Bradford Cathedral.

 

The nave organ, with its shiny tin pipes and chamades, was a delightful feature of the building; free-standing on four polished wooden posts.

 

"They" had it removed to make for way for an ill-fated exhibition-area; as if people can't be trusted to walk around four wooden posts without bashing into them.

 

It's fairly typical, I suspect.......the space now just a nothing.

 

They may as well just dig a large hole and leave it like that for all time. Holes and open-spaces are low maintenance. :(

 

MM

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According to a story in today's "Cheltenham Echo", it would seem as if Holy Trinity, Cheltenham (very evangelical, happy clappy) want to get rid of their 3 manual A J Price pipe organ. I've not actually played or heard this one myself, but on paper its not a bad spec and would seem well worth saving.

 

http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch...ec_index=N07456

 

 

I became worried about this instrument a souple of weeks ago.

 

Icalled in at Holy Trinity (juat around the corner from All Ss, where I run the music) and eventually spoke to someone on the 'phone about getting to look at/play this organ. I was told that it "might" be OK in a couple of weeks, if it still worked beacause it hadn't been used for a few years.

 

The point was that the church authorities were seeking to get rid of this organ so that they can redevelop the space it occupies and that a process was underway. If I went in it might just bring some unwanted attention to the case and jeopardise their aim of it's removal (though what anyone thought I was going to do I don't know. My interest was purely in discovering an unknown builder whose largest and best work survived).

 

I was told that they (at the church) would contact me again when the process was over to tell me whether or not I could go and have a look.

 

Make of that what you will. I will report back if and when I manage to get in!

 

F-W

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I became worried about this instrument a souple of weeks ago.

 

Icalled in at Holy Trinity (juat around the corner from All Ss, where I run the music) and eventually spoke to someone on the 'phone about getting to look at/play this organ. I was told that it "might" be OK in a couple of weeks, if it still worked beacause it hadn't been used for a few years.

 

The point was that the church authorities were seeking to get rid of this organ so that they can redevelop the space it occupies and that a process was underway. If I went in it might just bring some unwanted attention to the case and jeopardise their aim of it's removal (though what anyone thought I was going to do I don't know. My interest was purely in discovering an unknown builder whose largest and best work survived).

 

I was told that they (at the church) would contact me again when the process was over to tell me whether or not I could go and have a look.

 

Make of that what you will. I will report back if and when I manage to get in!

 

F-W

 

When I was a Christ Church, as successor to Paul, I played it for a wedding. It was a particularly unrewarding instrument, but how much of that was due to the carpeting and other things in the church. However, it strikes me as very short sighted to get rid of it, as Paul says, what about funerals, weddings, etc. and who knows what the future will bring.

 

Jonathan

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When I was a Christ Church, as successor to Paul, I played it for a wedding. It was a particularly unrewarding instrument, but how much of that was due to the carpeting and other things in the church. However, it strikes me as very short sighted to get rid of it, as Paul says, what about funerals, weddings, etc. and who knows what the future will bring.

 

Jonathan

 

 

I've got it. They're getting ready for The Rapture!

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Holy Trinity is something of a success story. They attract so many to their services that they've taken to holding services at the race course. According to the story in the Echo they want the space in the gallery for extra seating and to re-expose a hidden window.

 

I'm not sure which 3 anglican churches Paul thinks are so very high, All Saints, St. Mary's Prestbury and Up Hatherly all used to be very high but I believe at least two of these have come down a notch or two in recent years. Certainly I would regard both my current church (St. Mary's Charlton Kings) and my previous church (St. Peter's Leckhampton) as examples of "middle-of-the-road" anglican.

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Was this Price the same as the one who introduced

the romantic organ style in Italy???

Anyway, just another one which probably deserves better...

 

Pierre

If you're thinking of the builder based in Genova with whom Tamburini did his apprenticeship, the name I thought was Tice. Although, Price does sound much more English, so perhaps 'Tice' was a spelling mistake that has found it's way into the articles I've read.

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