John Compton

[wave.jaco]

Thank you for the info regarding the copyright of the work.

I shall introduce myself soon on the "Introduce Yourself" thread as suggested.

[wave.jaco]

On 17/02/2020 at 16:11, MusingMuso said:

I'm on camitch49@yahoo.com
MM

 

On 08/01/2024 at 14:19, pwhodges said:

I'm wondering whether MM is even still with us (though he's younger than me)...

Anyway, higher up this thread he provided an email address which it might be worth trying: camitch49@yahoo.com

It appears that this e-mail address for MM is not valid anymore, as an attempt to contact him at this address resulted in an automatic reply stating "the address couldn't be found, or is unable to receive mail".

I shall continue with attempting to contact MM via other channels as well.

[madorganist]

I believe MM was (is) organist at St Jospeh's Ingrow. Perhaps a call to the parish priest might be worth while. https://www.ourlady-stjoseph.org.uk/contact/

[wave.jaco]

13 minutes ago, madorganist said:

I believe MM was (is) organist at St Jospeh's Ingrow. Perhaps a call to the parish priest might be worth while. https://www.ourlady-stjoseph.org.uk/contact/

Thanks for the reference. I have already submitted an inquiry with the parish via the contact form on their website earlier today. Hoping to get some helpful response.

[Barry Oakley]

On 10/01/2024 at 13:20, madorganist said:

I believe MM was (is) organist at St Jospeh's Ingrow. Perhaps a call to the parish priest might be worth while. https://www.ourlady-stjoseph.org.uk/contact/

I provided Colin Mitchell (MM) with some information for his Compton publication although unfortunately I seem to no longer have his email address. But I understand he also plays the organ at Oakworth Crematorium and is listed as a member of the Society of Crematorium Organists. Either of those two might be of help?

[wave.jaco]

Hi everyone. I have managed to obtain a copy of MM's publication. Unfortunately, none of the attempts to make contact with him or the apparent publisher were successful. Thank you to all who assisted.

[Malcolm]

Referring back to my initial post on this thread I have now found hundred(s) of newspaper articles relating to new organs built by the Halmshaw family in the British Newspaper Archives. I am still in the process of downloading all the relevant pages and then transcribing the information so this will take some time. Surprisingly, Joseph Halmshaw was building organs himself from as early as 1842 when one was erected in Flockton, Yorkshire, while he was living in Dewsbury. He built several more over the following years while living in Dewsbury until by early 1849 he moved to Birmingham, at 367 Coventry Road, Bordesley where he continued producing them until perhaps 1854 when the company was first registered at Camp-hill. Clearly, some of the reports are duplicated by different newspapers. While some reports contain very little information, simply saying a new organ was opened, or erected, others are very detailed, mentioning types of stops and keyboards, pedals and pipes with sizes, who the organist was and how much they cost.

I have added a copy of my working file which is still very much a work in progress and only covers the first two decades but does give an idea of what is out there. I don't know how many newspapers are still to be digitised but it is likely to take several more years, just as it is likely to take me a long time to complete my transcriptions.

Halmshaw Organ Newspaper clips.docx