This interim project team bulletin provides some key updates between Project Newsletters.
Temporary Organ
We are excited to report that the installation of the 1879 Hill organ is now planned for late summer/early autumn. This small instrument is an essential measure to protect the continuance of our liturgical life and choral programme in St. Nicholas whilst we await the commissioning and building of the new Flentrop organ (expected to take some 5-6 years). The restoration and installation will be carried out by Cork- based organ builder Padraig O’Donovan. William Hill & Son was one of the pre-eminent English organ building firms in the nineteenth century, and built large cathedral organs in many famous venues as well as small instruments designed to be free-standing, easily installed and of great versatility.
These little organs were well-known for their compact dimensions, adaptability and excellent craftsmanship, and were often temporarily placed in cathedrals and churches where the main organ was being replaced or rebuilt. Although now rare, we have been lucky to source one such instrument from a redundant church in Essex. It has eleven speaking stops and three couplers – approximately a third of the size of the current organ, and less than a quarter of that of the new organ – but as it will be free standing in the south transept, it will punch above its weight as it leads our congregation and accompanies our choirs.
The Very Rev. Lynda Peilow on behalf of the Project Team
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