Just back from a enjoyable Organ Club Tour, based in delightful guest quarters at Buckfast Abbey. Leaving aside the rather curate’s eggish new organs in the Abbey, for me the stand-out instruments were the two we played in Totnes. In St Mary’s church is a fine Father Willis, moved to the west end and beautifully restored by William Drake in 1988. Its 12-stop Great Organ could give a few cathedral instruments a run for their money.
Across the river is the church of St John the Evangelist, which suffered a terrible fire in 1976 and was rebuilt in modern style. In 1983 William Drake installed an uncompromising 2/24 werkprinzip instrument, which is one of the best-voiced such instruments in the country and should be better known.