March 4th and 6th are mine and Anne’s birthdays, celebrated this year by enjoying two wonderful Opera North productions in our beautiful local theatre – Nottingham’s Theatre Royal. A marvellous way to enjoy our close birthdays.
On March 11th it became possible to take photos close up to the very top of the Gloucester Cathedral organ case (Harris, 1665-6) showing the wonderful case cleaning by Nicholsons and pipe conservation by Michelle Pepper.
The 1666 Gloucester Cathedral case work and pipes – cleaned – as the scaffolding begins to come down (2)
Anne and I did some exploring on March 19th, aiming to find the home of organ-builder John Compton (about whom I am writing a book). Which we did, in Newton Burgoland (near Ashby de la Zouche in Leicestershire). The delightful Congregational Chapel in which the Compton family worshipped is still there, as is (greatly enlarged) the village school. A most sunny and satisfactory day!
The Organ Club’s 100th Anniversary Celebrations continued on 21st March with a brilliant recital by Jan Liebermann on the Hunter / H&H in All Souls’ Church, Langham Place. This included the world premiere of one of the Club’s 2026 commissions: the very jolly Variations on ‘Westminster Abbey’ by Denis Bédard (RSCM Publications).
