The Organ
The organ was originally purchased and installed in 1925 by the Priestly family in memory of William Priestly and his wife Elizabeth who had lived at the nearby Offord D’Arcy Manor House.
Some years ago, at the request of The Friends, the Churches Conservation Trust asked an organ surveyor to assess the instrument. It was that person’s opinion that the organ was beyond economic repair and that it should be replaced by another being disposed of from another church. An estimate was at least £10,000 plus relocation and installation costs.
More recently (March 2009) an organ builder took a look at the instrument and advised that he could rebuild it to a working standard for about half of this amount. We are currently looking for monies to support such a rebuild. As a result some initial cleaning work has been undertaken but this project is currently on hold.
Following a recent review with the Churches Conservation Trust and its advisors we are very pleased to say that we have their full support in our aim of restoring the organ to a working state within the guidlines of the TCCT. So if there is a benefactor viewing this who would like to support this project please contact us.
The picture here is of a young student of music practising at the manuals. You can see here that it is a two manual instrument with a relatively small number of stops. None the less those parts of the organ that do work sound wonderful.