Category: organ

Liturgical hair: Ember Day during Advent

Byartsyhonker December 11, 2013 0 Comments
So far in Advent I've been puprle, purple, and purple. There have been a few optional white days for various saints, but they aren't ones we normally keep at St Andrew's. Today is what is known as an Ember Day, and I thought I'd do some red spray-on stripes to highlight it. According to Wikipedia, Ember days are four separate sets of three days within the same week — specifically, the...

Those Naughty Organists

Byartsyhonker May 3, 2013 0 Comments
I read with some bemusement an article in the Telegraph. Beware the wrath of the church organist, it warns, and goes on to list various musical infelicities. Slipping unexpected tunes into music is practically obligatory, as far as I'm concerned. Yes, I will play "We're walking in the air" as a recessional voluntary when it is actually snowing (or at least for the first Sunday snowfall of the...

So why does a poor East London church need a pipe organ, anyway?

Byartsyhonker October 8, 2012 4 Comments
At St Andrew's Leytonstone we're hosting a hymnathon this weekend, to raise money for the repair of our pipe organ. Fundraising is going well, but there have been some questions. In this time of austerity, unemployment and recession, what are we doing raising money to pay for the repair of an instrument a century old? Can't we just get an electric organ, and spend the money on more useful things,...

A call for words…

Byartsyhonker July 5, 2012 1 Comment
So, I wrote some words last night, rather too many in fact, about my interpretation of various Church of England stuff. That post has received over three hundred hits, more than all my posts on organ fundraising combined. I joked about this on Twitter, asking if I could make the organ fundraising more controversial... ...and someone remarked I could only do that if I were the wife of the Dean of...

St Andrew’s Hymnathon

Byartsyhonker June 22, 2012 0 Comments
The historic nearly-100-year-old pipe organ at St Andrew's Leytonstone will soon fall silent unless we can raise £25000 to repair the bellows. We'll be hosting a sponsored hymnathon, singing all of the hymns in the New English Hymnal. Could you come and sing for an hour or two between noon on Friday 12th October and 6pm on Saturday 13th? We'll be singing through the night (though you can arrive...

Organ fund: form for cheque donations

Byartsyhonker June 6, 2012 3 Comments
The Organ Fund has had two pipes sponsored now; this means we have another £24970 to raise. Here is the form for cheque donations. It has a Gift Aid form attached, which we'd appreciated you filling out if you are a UK taxpayer. This allows us to claim the tax you pay on your donation at no extra cost to you. If you are not in the UK, you could donate via this post. Your generosity is...

Steeeeeeeeeeam

Byartsyhonker June 4, 2012 1 Comment
In trying to put together bits of organ fundraising yesterday I happened upon our organ technician's website, and found the previous lot of repairs are listed as a case study. As part of this contract, we felt for historic reasons, that it was important to retain the three attached feeders. These still have their iron likages connecting them to the off-set main shaft and the original cogged...

Organ fundraising

Byartsyhonker June 3, 2012 4 Comments
The organ at St Andrew's Leytonstone has been in need of repair for some time. Before I got there, a first stage of repairs was done; the second stage was deferred. Here's a quote from our organ builder's estimate on the second stage: "The four remaining bellows up in the main organ chamber are very awkward to access (being sited on floor level) and require dismantling/removal of the Choir...