The Organ Restored:

A Dream Realised

Come and hear the Organ in all its glory

The Restored Organ has now been heard in all its glory during the Easter Celebrations. Everyone is delighted with the end result which is due to many months of planning, as well as to the expertise and craftsmanship of Nicholson's. It has lived up to and surpassed expectations in every way.

The finished product is an instrument capable of playing the quietest to the grandest of pieces convincingly; from the intimacy of Compline to the grandest of liturgies, the organ will certainly fulfil its role at Belmont for many years to come.

Without the enthusiasm and support of the project by so many people this could never have come about. Thanks must go to the many benefactors who have generously supported the project financially during a difficult economic climate.

For your Diary:
Grand Opening Recital
given by our consultant
David Briggs
on Friday, 19th November.

Br Stanislaus reports on months of meticulous work
and the magnificent result.

On the morning of Monday 12th October the arrival of two large lorries outside the West Doors heralded the beginning of work on the organ. Much of the North Transept and the North Aisle of the nave were strewn with pipes and highly polished wooden chests in all shapes and sizes for the best part of a week. Six men from Nicholson's set to work fitting all these weird and wonderful objects together over the next five days. My initial thought was: how is this all going to fit inside such a small space? However, by the Friday all was neatly in place inside the organ chamber. Since then, almost every week, vans have continued to deliver yet more parts.

The great shame is that very few people will ever see the quality of the work inside the organ and indeed all the loving care and craftsmanship which has gone into restoring or making every piece of the organ by hand. The fact that all this is out of sight has not diminished the attention to detail, as no short cuts can be taken without affecting the quality of the sound.
The new blower has now breathed life back into the bellows (lungs) of the organ after eighteen months of lying dormant. The new blower is much larger than the old (yet more economic to run), as it needs to feed many more chests, including the new 'West Great' division (nave organ), which is situated within the opened arch of the North Transept. Wind is fed to all parts of the organ via wooden trunks and the inside of the organ chamber is now reminiscent of Spaghetti Junction, with wind needing to be fed to all parts of the organ.

The cleaning of the organ has also been very time-consuming and all the chests inside the organ have been dismantled on site piece by piece, repaired, cleaned and reassembled. More noticeably, the Pugin and Pugin case and pipes have been cleaned and now look resplendent with the new lighting. In the midst of all this, the console has been completely restored and updated. Seeing the console back (along with the organ stool!) is very exciting and comparing it to the old one shows how much easier it is going to be to choose different combinations of sounds. It will all be at the touch of a button under the three keyboards, rather than frantically diving for the stop jambs to change sounds.

The console is now digitally controlled with aid of four computers directly behind. With this and the new electrics, there will be no excuse for mysterious sounds being heard at the wrong moment, when the organist suddenly realises that the electrics have failed yet again to cancel the Trumpet or Bombarde! I'm sure that I'm not the only one who will not miss the embarrassment of those moments!

Perhaps the most dramatic change is the new case designed by Dom Raphael, being delivered and installed. The woodwork of the new case, made of European Oak, closely relates to the old in design. It is the product of many hours of work by Dom Raphael and it looks wonderful in situ. The colour has been carefully matched by Nicholson's and the new pipes will hide a further four hundred pipes of all shapes and sizes directly behind. Father Dyfrig's superb gilding finishes the case off to perfection.

Slightly less noticeable are the trumpets that the angels are holding on top of the case in St. Joseph's Chapel. Two new trumpets were made by Mr Vic Townsend and have been gilded by Dom Dyfrig. These finish off the old case beautifully and the gilding draws attention to the angels, so easily missed as they are so high.

The two sides of the case complement each other and yet have slightly different characters according to the aesthetics of the two very different areas. The other evening, when we were admiring the new case in the North Transept, Dom Bernard said that it looks as though it's always been there - what greater compliment could there be?

The new case not only serves its purpose acoustically but also architecturally. It highlights what this project has always been about: the completion of the organ as Abbot Alan envisaged it and spoke of for so many years. What greater tribute could there be to him, than his memory living on through the instrument he knew so well and loved?

Not only does most of the work on the actual organ lie hidden, but so do many peoples' efforts. This whole project would have been impossible without their generosity. To date more than 260 individuals, families, institutions and events such as the Quiz Night (organised by Clare Nickerson) have generously contributed towards the project. We are now at a stage to begin work on the collating the Book of Remembrance, where the names of all Benefactors will be written.

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to the project in any way.

Now come and join us on a big feast day to hear the organ at its best, or join us for forthcoming organ recitals, in particular the Grand Opening Recital to be given by David Briggs on Saturday 20th November.