Why Do we Need £350,000?

Pictures of the Organ

Video illustrating the need for restoration of the Organ

The Sacred Heart is blessed with one of the finest parish church organs in the country. It has enhanced the worship of our community for nearly a hundred years. It dates from 1912 and is registered as an instrument of historic significance. Besides its vital role in the liturgical life of the parish, it contributes to the musical life of the wider community through concerts and recitals. But now, time has taken its toll and this remarkable organ is in need of full scale restoration.

Bob Rathbone, Director of Music, writes:
We have our organ because of the vision of Fr John Driscoll SJ. He was choirmaster at the church for 40 years and ran a nationally famous choir. He persuaded Fr Kerr, the Parish Priest in the 1900s, to erect a gallery for the choir, and using a generous donation from a parishioner, to commission J W Walker to build an organ on a lavish scale.

In all its main mechanisms the organ is pretty well as it was when it was built in 1912. Some changes were made in 1935, some cleaning and other restorative work done in the early 70s. In 1985 urgent repair work was carried out by Manders, who made some tonal alterations to restore the organ to its pre-1935 sound.

Apart from the electric blowers which supply the wind, the organ is entirely run by air (tubular-pneumatic action). Air is conveyed through metal tubing to operate little motors, which control what notes sound and which type of sound is heard. Each one of these motors, and there are literally thousands of them, are made of wood and leather; they look a little like the bellows that one used to use to encourage an open fire to catch. The leather has long passed its 'sell-by date', and much is perishing.

We have been able to patch up as best we can with drawing pins, gaffer tape and the occasional matchstick. But many motors are inaccessible and require the removal of large sections or the organ to reach them. The metal tubing is in remarkably good condition, but much of it needs to be renewed sooner rather than later. The seals that prevent air escaping are failing regularly. This leads to a great rushing of wind, notes not sounding and the occasional cipher, where notes sound when you don't want them to!

The most serious problem, however, is the reservoirs. These are the 'lungs' that retain the wind from the blowers under pressure from weights on top of them. These are very large bellows made of wood and leather and there are lots of them. The leather is perishing after nearly a hundred years of use, and we cannot put off the day when these will simply fail and the organ will be silent. The reservoirs are the first thing put into any organ, the rest of the instrument being built around them. In order to remove and restore them, the rest of the instrument must be removed, incurring the bulk of the costs.

While the pipework is out, we will clean them and repair pipes that themselves are showing signs of wear and tear (some suffer from a kind of metal fatigue - they literally fall over!). We will also make other essential repairs to the thousands of rods and connectors throughout the instrument.

Most organs too have electric action to control the sound, and this needs replacing every 30-40 years. Our tubular-pneumatic action has lasted nearly 100 years.We are the generation that has inherited the job of ensuring that it lasts for another 100. The work in 1985 was the first stage - this is the second and final part of the restoration - and restoration it will be. The estimated cost is £350,000. We do not intend to change anything about the sound of the instrument that Fr Driscoll would have heard in 1912.

If you would like to make a donation to the Organ Appeal please see the link at the bottom of the main Parish Capital Appeal page.