Author: Paul

On Saturday 22nd February a cheery audience listened to my afternoon recital on the grand J.J. Binns at Rochdale Town Hall. Not only Binns’s loudest organ, it’s arguably his finest, though having been for a time a Trustee of the Nottingham Albert Hall’s even larger Binns, I ought to whisper that.

I made a DAC visit to Louth on 4th February.  This and Boston ‘stump’ are the two great glories among Lincolnshire churches.  The organs are fine, too: an H&H at Boston and a Forster & Andrews / HNB at Louth, which needs just a little restorative work. A very enjoyable day out.

Sunday 2nd February saw me attending a most enjoyable recital by Declan Poole on the 11-rank 1935 Compton cinema organ in Fentham Hall – at the Hampton-in-Arden end of Hampton Lane in Solihull, the road on which I lived as a teenager.  Adroit and musical playing on a well-maintained instrument.

On January 22nd I made my monthly visit to the Nicholson organ works to inspect progress with the Gloucester Cathedral organ.  All is going well with many pipes made and voiced.  Unit chests under construction and this photograph shows the inside mechanism of one of them.

On January 11th I played a demonstration recital on the little Lewis organ at Cranham, near Gloucester, beautifully restored by Daly Organs. The church was full – most unusual for an organ recital, but they may have been there more for the bubbly and nibbles after the recital than for the playing.  The tiny village is famous for being the birthplace of Holst’s mother: hence his tune for ‘In the bleak midwinter’ being named ‘Cranham’.

Today I made a trio of organ visits, all north-east of Lincoln, for the Lincoln DAC – Nettleham, Burgh on Bain and Louth.  This is Cousans country, and the first two organs are by that firm, separated by almost exactly a century.  The 1971 Nettleham case is by Lawrence Bond and the organ spec (quite ‘vertical’) was by Dr William L Sumner, the renowned author on organs who was based at the University of Nottingham quite nearby.  Something of a champion of Willis and Cousans, there are several examples of his Willis & Cousans schemes in the Lincs/Notts/Sheffield area.

I joined the BOA (founded in 1924) in 1965 – aged 13.  It has long held warm memories for me, as it does for Dr Roy Massey, who joined it a decade or so earlier and has twice been President.  A delightful 100th anniversary lunch was held at St Chad’s Cathedral, where Dr Massey gave an informed and amusing speech, before cutting a wonderfully decorated cake, as this photograph shows.

It was a total delight to attend a stunning concert by Ex Cathedral this evening, in St Francis church, Bournville.  The choir and its founder-director Jeffrey Skidmore, were on typically top form.  I last played the organ here in the early 1970s, when Roy Hayton was the excellent choirmaster, since when both the church and the organ have been beautifully refurnished and an enhanced.  What a joy to see the nave completely full for this concert!

Today I met Alastair Johnston, who is carrying out research into one of my favourite ‘small’ organ-builders – Roger Yates (1905-75).  Willis-trained, his work was absolutely first-class and it was a joy to play and inspect this remarkably successful 2-manual of his in St Andrew’s, Kegworth church. Dating from 1953, it’s much the same age as me, but shows it rather less!

Back home and some practice needed doing for my recital at Sleaford a few days later.  This Rodgers organ was installed to accompany services in the nave, leaving the compact 3-manual Harrison & Harrison in the chancel to accompany services (such as Choral Evensong and Compline) east of the wonderful but dense screen.  Seems an ideal solution and I enjoyed myself,  playing the encore (‘Tune in E’, Thalben-Ball) on the H&H, which went down well with the smiley audience.