A new organ for St Pancras
Why the 'Cathedral of the Moor' deserves a new organ - and how this will benefit the village over time ...
Happy New Year!
Welcome to Rolling Along, our new community newsletter for Widecombe Parish. This is the first news article, each one authored by a different community group within the village. We hope you find it interesting (and if you do, please tell your friends!)
Let’s start as we mean to carry on, with an exciting new initiative for the Parish.
The time has come for us to find a new organ for the church. The instrument we currently have was transferred from Leusdon Church in 1883, although the original date and builder are not known. Michael Brown, who plays regularly in the church, explains why we need to do this.
“The organ is quite simply not fit for purpose. Firstly, it is simply not big enough to do the job in such a large building. Although the acoustics are quite flattering, the instrument just doesn’t have the oomph we need for big occasions. Secondly, it is very limited. It only has 8 stops, which means the variety of sounds it can make is very restricted, as is the style of music you can play on it. It also has only one keyboard, and this makes a lot of organ music difficult to play, since much of it is written with two keyboards in mind: a tune of some sort in the right hand on one keyboard, and an accompaniment with a different sound with the left hand on the other keyboard.
Add to this list of woes the fact that it doesn’t have all the notes it should have (particularly an issue on the pedals), meaning some music (such as Widor’s Toccata in F) which is often requested for weddings, is not playable. People often ask for the popular Trumpet Voluntary to be played: problem – we don’t have a trumpet!
Then there is playing it, which is not exactly easy. The pedal board isn’t set quite where it should be. Organists learn to play without having to look at their feet all the time, so when they put their foot in a certain position they know which note they will play. Unfortunately ours is two notes out of position, which does complicate things! There is also a wooden lever on the right side of the pedals which gets in the way at times.
Oh, and one more thing: it doesn’t actually sound very nice when you play with all the stops out. There we are: whinge over.
I hope this explains why we are going to all this effort to replace it. When we have a new instrument it will mean we can put on organ recitals and choral concerts. Maybe it might even facilitate getting a church choir going? It will also offer a better musical experience for weddings and so on, which may lead to more wedding bookings, which would be good for the village, especially when the new parish hall is ready.”
A fund has been launched to raise money to replace the organ. We are looking for a second-hand instrument with a mechanical action so that it can be maintained and will last us another 100 years. We are on the lookout across the country and are currently pursuing several lines of enquiry. The organ fund already has c £2500 in it, from donations and the concert we held in the church in July. Another concert is now planned for 10th February (watch this space for more details), and we plan to hold at least two concerts per year.
If you would like to know more, or to make a donation, please contact Michael
via a comment below, and he will get back in touch.
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