|
The parish magazine for October 1963 records that: ‘In the new organ there are: 900 pipes, 30,000 feet of copper wire, 1,000 contacts (pure silver); 200 magnets; 122 keys; 32 pedal keys; 27 stop keys; 17 combination pistons; 1 swell pedal - and lots of other necessary gadgets and pieces of packing’.
Some ‘first aid’ work was carried out on the pipework in 1984, but by 1991 the accumulation of dirt was such as to necessitate a complete cleaning. Once again, Hill, Norman and Beard was invited to carry out this work. However, the church was fortunate enough to receive a generous legacy from the estate of Miss Vivienne Hedley Baxter which allowed some additions to be made to the organ in her memory. These were the completion of the Great chorus by the addition of a three-rank Mixture and the introduction of a much firmer bass line by the addition of a 16 foot Major Bass. This latter stop is of particular interest as it is electronically generated. The necessary pipework would have cost approximately £14,000, but the electronic equivalent costs only a quarter of this amount. The total cost of this work was around £25,000.
In conjunction with this work, steps were taken to solve a number of problems in the organ gallery itself. The ceiling and walls were refurbished to prevent damp and dirt getting into the organ and the windows were specially treated to prevent sunlight overheating the Swell box and causing the organ to go out of tune. The renovated and extended organ was used for the first time at Evensong on Sunday 20 October 1991 - a happy coincidence!
Current specification:
* = new in 1963, † = new in 1991
|
