St Andrew’s Church Organ

 

At the end of last year our organ had a small service, followed by a recent ‘flying visit’ to attend to a pedal stop;  we shall be having a full service on it this coming Spring/Summer.  The organ repairers are a small family-run business of mum, dad & son who travel all around the country from their home in Truro.  *They thought the organ was pre 1850 Victorian and small enough to have been made for someone’s home as a status symbol, much like people have cars now.* (see below *-*)

 

For the Carol Service we engaged an organist (David Illingworth) who had not played at our church before; he came for a practice before the day and decided to do some research about the history of the organ:-

 

The early history of the organ is uncertain but possibly built by James Clark of Bath  in the mid-19th century.  *-*  In the mid 1960’s it was acquired by Revd Michael Curran, vicar of St James’ Church in Southbroom, Devizes; it was in a derelict condition and largely dismantled. He partly reconstructed and re-erected it in the Drawing Room at The Vicarage.  In the late 1960’s it was moved across the road into the church where it served as a temporary instrument for nearly a year whilst the church’s own organ was rebuilt.  At the end of 1969 it was moved to Bridport and stored in a semi-open shed; in 1975 it was purchased by St Andrew’s Church in West Stafford for the sum of £100.  It was collected by organ builder Derry Thompson, who rebuilt it inside the church on the gallery at the west end of the building.  Replacement pedal pipes and pedalboard, and a new pedal windchest and new blower amounted to £580.  The casework was restored and modified by F. J. Watts of Frampton under the organ builder’s direction.  The structure of the West Gallery was modified by the addition of two upright steel post supports faced with oak, which are below the existing horizontal oak beam.  In total the church paid £680 for the organ.

 

Many thanks to David for providing so much information.  When he accessed the National Pipe Organ Register (NPOR) there was very little information on their website about our organ; there was a note from the Editor suggesting that information would be welcome so David has submitted the ‘stop list’ details.

 

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Our stall (Water into Wine) at the St George’s Church Fair on Saturday 23 April raised £160.