It has taken almost twelve months but the £90,000 refurbishment of the organ at St Johns Church Rastrick is complete, and a celebration service and organ recital are planned for Sunday 22nd September.
In 2015 the church identified that the organ needed refurbishment, but it wasn’t until 2021 when it became apparent that something needed to be done urgently or else the organ would become unplayable that fundraising was stepped up. By the end of June 2023 £46,200 had been raised through pipe sponsorship, events, legacies and grants. However, over the years the cost of the refurbishment had gradually increased and now the latest quoted cost stood at £85,000. Faced with the real possibility of the organ being lost in July 2023 the church appealed directly to the congregation and a gift day raised £41,732 with great joy and celebration the project was given the green light to go ahead.
AJ Carter Organ Builder and Chris M Holford Pipe Organ Builders of Ossett were appointed contractors for the complete overhaul. This involved the organ being dismantled, cleaned, repaired, and refurbished before being put back together again. Part of the refurbishment was to electrify the ‘action’ – the way the message gets sent from the keys to the bellows and pipes and a “record and playback” system has also been fitted. The final cost of the work was £90,685.
We believe our organ may be the only one of the first types of Conacher cinema organ to survive, moving from the Central Cinema, Harrogate to St John’s in the mid-1950s.
The invention of the motion picture camera in 1890 gave us the “Silent Era” of the movies. Films remained silent until 1927 and during that time were often accompanied by a cinema organ. Our organ began its days in 1920 when it was installed in the Central Cinema, Harrogate. The publicity at the time states that the Central Cinema had, “….full orchestral music with the accompaniment on the Grand Organ, installed at a cost of £3,300.” Quite a sum in those days! At that time it had a set of chimes and possibly also drums and other percussion.
In 1949 the Central Cinema closed and during the mid 1950s the organ was moved to St John’s. In a service on 19th November 1955, it was “Dedicated to the glory of God by the Provost of Wakefield, The Very Rev. Noel T Hopkins. M. A.” The service was conducted by the Rev. R.A.C. Broddribb and the organist was Mr. Harold Rayner who was Organist from 1928-1968.
A ‘plate’ in the organ loft tells us that in 1983 the organ was “cleaned and improved” by Mr. J. E. Shippin, Organ builder from Leeds, and “brought back into use” on 18th September of that year. The Vicar was the Rev. Michael Storey and the organist was Miss Jill V. Ramsden.
Details of the present specification can be found on the National Pipe Organ Registry: Ref: RO1134 (when it was at Harrogate) and RO1135 (as it is now at St John’s).
Here you can hear the organ being played by David Robertshaw.
Gladiator Soundtrack – Hans Zimmer
Interstellar “First Step” Hans Zimmer soundtrack
