Queen’s University, Belfast

[Queen’s University, Belfast – the Whitla Hall organ grille and (in gallery) console]

I always enjoy my organ consulting adventures in Ireland.  This time it was a two-day stay in Belfast (March 26 & 27), surveying and then reporting on the large organ in the Whitla Hall at Queen’s University.  The 1905 magnum opus of William Andrews of Bradford (who?  I hear you ask), it was electrified by John Compton in 1949-50 and thoroughly modernised by Hill, Norman & Beard in 1969.  It now needs a complete refurbishment, following which it deserves to regain its place as one of Belfast’s finest instruments.