Author: Paul

It was my pleasure to organise an Organ Club 5-day tour of 15 organs (plus Osborne House) on the Isle of Wight, ending up at Quarr Abbey before returning to Portsmouth for a session on the cathedral organ, where we were warmly welcomed by Dr David Price.  The Island has a wide range of organs – some of them fine musical instruments as well as ‘interesting’.

Island organ-builder Andrew Cooper made most of the arrangements (what a help that was!) and accompanied us on our travels.  At Quarr, the beautiful Mutin Cavaillé-Coll (excellently restored by Andrew Cooper) stole members’ hearts; the truly imperial Fr. Willis at All Saints Ryde thrilled them in equal measure.  A very sociable – sunny – and successful tour.

Today a goodly number of people descended upon the Guards’ Chapel in London, where Harrison & Harrison recently completed one of the most imaginative organs they’ve designed for many years.  A fine composite recital displayed it admirably and showed that it could both fill the chapel with sound yet also enchant with a wide palette of delightful softer colours.  A notable success.

The HN&B ‘Trompeta’ remains, but mute (taking it down would have been too costly); its photo here is therefore in memoriam.

At the end of the month was our annual Diocesan Organ Advisers’ Conference, which I had the privilege of chairing for three years and then organising for a decade.  This year found us in Norwich, where the rebuilt cathedral organ made a great impression – as did (to the surprise of no few members) the Peter Collins magnum opus at St Peter, Mancroft.

There were several worthwhile discussions about aspects of our work and a detailed update from Dr David Knight of Church Care.  As usual, the three days were both sociable and informative.

Of the several concerts we attended during August, these two stood out: Jonathan Scott’s barnstorming Prom from the RAH on the 10th, plus an inspiring performance of the Mozart Requiem in Southwell Minster conducted by Marcus Farnsworth on the 25th, as part of the highly enjoyable Southwell Music Festival.

Anne sang for the weekend of August 17-18 in Hereford Cathedral with the excellent choir of St Peter’s Nottingham.  I was able to walk along the river and take these photographs. Note Bulldog Dan, of Enigma Variations fame.

August 8th saw us showing an old friend around Lincoln.  Castle, prison (!) and cathedral all impressed. To my delight, the 1898 Father Willis console is on display in the cathedral’s excellent new museum.  Here are shots of both stop jambs, to entertain organists reading my news this month.

August has been a pleasantly varied month – without too many organs, but busy. Anne and I spent a lovely day on 2nd August at Althorp House in Northamptonshire, the late Princess of Wales’ family home.

Near the lake, on an island in the middle of which Diana is buried, is an elegant temple in her memory, containing various items which bring to mind both her remarkable character and also the tragic manner in which she met her death.

It was a beautiful, tranquil day, and we were moved by the Diana memorials and utterly delighted by the astonishing collection of fine art within the house itself, which visitors are not allowed to photograph.  A visit is highly recommended.

On Saturday 27th I had the great delight of giving an afternoon recital on the very fine instrument in St Giles – a handsome church in Lincoln.  The case and much pipework survives from the H.C. Lincoln organ of 1795, with some Swell pipework by Fr. Willis and later work – fine reeds, an elegant mahogany console and responsive tubular-pneumatic action – by Cousans of Lincoln.

Lewis Paul and Chris Hind have recently cleaned the Great, releathering the various complex layers of pneumatics.  All now sound bright once again and works perfectly.  A treat to perform there.

On Thursday 25th I much enjoyed a lunchtime recital at Worksop Priory by Angela Sones, who has recently been appointed director of music at the Birmingham Anglo-Catholic church of St Alban where I spent my teenage years soaking up the liturgy and J.L. Pearson’s wonderful French Gothic architecture.  The choir and organ weren’t bad either!  Truly impressive that Angela could play at all, as her car had been written off (with her at the wheel) in a smash on the M1 only the day before.  That’s professionalism for you.

On Tuesday 23rd the family of the late Dominic Gwynn held a small ‘do’ outside the Goetze & Gwynn workshop (near Worksop), in Dominic’s memory, and mainly for some of us who had been unable to attend his funeral in St Cuthbert’s, Wells.  His long-time colleague Edward Bennett formed some of us into a choir, singing madrigals by Wilbye (‘Adieu, sweet Amaryllis’) and Gibbons (‘The Silver Swan’, naturally), plus ‘Salvator Mundi’ and ‘If ye love me’ (Tallis).  It was a lovely, gentle, thoughtful evening of which one felt sure Dominic would have approved.