An unwanted 1879 Forster and Andrews organ from St Margaret's and St Leonard's Catholic Church, Edinburgh, has found a new home in a church in the south west of England.
The two-manual instrument was in poor condition and virtually unplayable, so we were pleased to be commissioned to remove, restore and install it in the Church of Our Lady and Saint Alphege, Bath.
Five stops were 'prepared for' but never installed on this organ: three on the Swell and two on the Great. We were fortunate enough to find a Flute 8' and a Cornopean 8' from a contemporaneous Forster and Andrews instrument that had been broken up.
They now been fitted to the St Alphege organ and we hope to complete the prepared-for specification in due course, with a Swell Mixture and a Viola and Harmonic Flute 4' on the Great.
Thanks to a very enthusiastic organ committee guided by organ adviser Dr John Rowntree, the organ now stands on the gallery. Its façade pipes have been decorated and gold leafed to impressive effect by a member of the congregation.
The specification:
Swell: Open Diapason 8, Flute 8, Salicional 8, Voix Celeste 8. Principal 4, Oboe 8, Cornopean 8 + one prepared-for stop.
Great: Open Diapason 8, Triangular Flute 8, Principal 4', Twelfth, Fifteenth + two prepared-for stops.
Pedal: Bourdon 16' A message on the church website says: "We are very pleased that the organ has now been installed and is fully in use. It is good that we have a worthy instrument so that we can give glory to God by music and song.
"We express our thanks to Woods of Huddersfield who restored and installed the organ over the last few months. We will be organising a concert and arranging for the blessing of the organ when it is fully settled in."
Comments