BROMLEY & CROYDON DISTRICTORGANISTS’ & CHOIRMASTERS’ ASSOCIATION

PRESIDENT: MR. PETER SANDERS, D.O., M.R.O.______________________________________________________________________________

From the Hon. SecretaryMR. CHRISTOPHER TOWN, B.Ed(HonsLond)., LRAM., LGSM., ATCL., ACP., FRSA., FISM., HonLCM

96 RIDGEWAY DRIVE, BROMLEY, KENT, BR1 5DDTel: 020 8851 9116 (Home) 07960 369356 (Mobile)

e-mail: christophertown@ntlworld.com

8th March 2016Dear Members,

We are off to Leatherhead on Saturday where our member, Mr. Jonathan Holmes, has arranged for us to visit two exceptional organs - one historic and the other brand new. All the details are below.

First I must report that our visit to Bromley & Sheppard's College on 20th February, proved to be a fascinating experience. We were made very welcome by the Chaplain, Revd Christopher Boulton, together with several of the Collegians. Our visit was centred on the chapel of the College, where the Compton Organ has been beautifully restored by Martin Cross. Members were able to play the organ and also to visit the intriguing organ "chamber" in the basement where our President (who assisted Martin Cross during the rebuild) was able to point out the unique features of the instrument. As we had a good number of members attending we divided into two groups and the Chaplain undertook two tours of the College. This gave plenty of time for each group to explore the organ whilst the other was exploring the rest of the College. Mr Boulton even took us into his own house so that we could see how these lovely 17th century buildings have been sensitively adapted for modern life. We ended our visit in the Collegians' Common Room for tea.

A short walk through the College grounds and along College Slip took us to Bromley Methodist Church where Martin Cross has also been responsible for work on the 1881 Forster and Andrews organ which has followed the church through three church buildings. Although the organ is strangely positioned in the church it still sounds remarkably good. Our President is very familiar with this organ and kindly introduced and demonstrated it for us.

Very many thanks to Mr. Boulton and the Collegians for making us so welcome at the College and to our President for his valuable input at both venues.

VISIT TO LEATHERHEAD ARRANGED BY MR JONATHAN HOLMES, SATURDAY 12 MARCH 2016 TO VISIT: 11 a.m. HISTORIC 1766 THOMAS PARKER ORGAN IN ST MARY & ST NICHOLAS CHURCH, RECENTLY RESTORED BY GOETZ & GWYNN, (12.30 p.m. WETHERSPOONS FOR LUNCH) 2 p.m. "FABULOUS" NEW KENNETH TICKELL ORGAN IN THE CHAPEL OF ST JOHN'S SCHOOL. There is also a 7.30pm Organ Recital by Jonathan Holmes at St Mary, Ewell

As you will see from the map, our venues are easily reached by means of Junction 9 on the M25 and are also fairly close to Leatherhead Station.

1. St. Mary and St. Nicholas, Church Road, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 8HQ.

We are due at the church of St Mary & St Nicholas, Leatherhead, at 11 a.m. There is a pay car park to the side of the church and it is also possible to park on some of the nearby streets. Much of the church is quite historic with parts dating from 11th to 15th centuries.The attraction for us is the 1766 Thomas Parker organ that was built for St Mary's, Watford, and was moved to Leatherhead in 1846 when it was installed by J. Walker. In 2007 following damage by fire, Goetz and Gwynn undertook a major restoration of the instrument which is now in good playing condition. Members should bear in mind that they will need some "manuals only" music for this organ which has a small short register Swell department starting at middle C, but a big full-compass Great. Incidentally, the Great is the upper manual. Should anyone feel so inclined there is also an Allen organ at the church.

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St. Mary and St. Nicholas, Church Road, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 8HQ.Builders: 1766 Thomas Parker in St Mary Watford

1846 J Walker installed the Thomas Parker organ from Watford here in Leatherhead1956 R.H.Walker2007 Goetze & Gwynn - Reconstructed following fire damage in 1990(c.); stoplist based on

the surviving Great wind chest and entry in the Walker shopbooks when organ moved to Leatherhead in 1843; stops marked with * have mostly original pipework; new Trumpet, based on the surviving Parker Trumpet in the organ atSt. Mary's, Barnsley and the Bridge organ at Christ Church, Spitalfields; key and stop actions and wind system new, reconstructed by copying those at the ca 1750 Thomas Parker organ at Great Packington, Warwickshire; surviving Great wind chest and upperboards restored; Swell wind chest with its box are new, based on the surviving Great chest, and on Parker organs at Great Packington and ones known to the builders;Cases: 2007 - Position North Transept facing West down N. aisle Type Architectural

New case following dimensions given in the Walker shopbooks, and sketch in the Sperling Notebooks and with reference to surviving contemporary cases of the same size, such as the 1770 Cont. Page 3

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Thomas Knight case at Richmond Parish Church; the case is darkened, and the front pipes gilded; organ occupies a floor space of approx 9ft (2.75m) wide, 6ft deep (1.83m), and 16ft tall (4.88m);

Department and Stop listSwell Key action: Tracker; Stop action: Mechanical; Compass: low C - high e3; Keys: 41; Enclosed 1 * Open Diapason2 Stop Diapason Walker, 18433 * Principal 4 Hautboy

Great Key action: Tracker; Stop action: Mechanical; Compass: low GG - high e3; Keys: 54. 5 * Open Diapason E-e¹ 25 gilded pipes in front 6 * Stop Diapason See Note 1 7 * Principal GG to e³8 * Flute GG to e³ stopped wood9 Twelfth GG to e³10 * Fifteenth GG to e³11 * Sesquialtra bass IV GG to c112 * Cornet treble IV c#1 to e313 Trumpet bass GG to c114 Trumpet treble c#1 to e3

Console: Great and Swell keys survive; unusually, Swell keys below Great; no couplers; The upper keys (Great organ) have a compass of GG AA C D to e³; The lower keys (Swell organ) have a compass of c¹ to e³;

Details: Blowing electric and hand Further information:

Note 1:GG to b stopped wood, c¹ ? e³ metal chimney flutes;Photographs and more history at

http://www.parishchurch.leatherheadweb.org.uk/parkerorgan/The Organ 345 Aug-Oct 2008 p.14-15Organ Building 8, 2008 pp.79-86

2. Lunch at Wetherspoons

We will probably walk to Wetherspoons for Lunch at about 12.30 p.m. which should give us plenty of time before we are due at our afternoon venue.

3. St John's School, Epsom Road, Leatherhead, Surrey, KT22 8SP.

We aim to be at St John's School for a 2 p.m. start and members can stay through to 4 p.m. if they wish. Parking is available and there are a limited number of spaces at the front of St John's to the left of the main entrance on Epsom Road, depending on what sports fixtures are taking place. If by any chance you can't find a space there, you can find another parking area on Garlands Road which is quite easily accessible.

The chapel now houses a new Kenneth Tickell organ which the school describes as "fabulous". Sadly, Kenneth Tickell died whilst the organ building was taking place but all the work was completed in time for the recent opening by David Briggs. I think Simon Bland, who teaches organ at the school, will be welcoming us and demonstrating the organ. We may even receive some refreshments at some stage in the afternoon.

ST JOHN'S SCHOOL, LEATHERHEAD - New Kenneth Tickell Organ

St John's Chapel holds a full congregation of more than 500 students and staff, and requires a bold instrument to support congregational singing. The second chorus on the Solo division has a dual role for reinforcing the Great and Swell in hymn singing, and for providing pedal upperwork in solo repertoire. The Pedal organ uses pipework from the former organ, completed with a new Trombone. All manual ranks are new. Cont. over

4Great1 Open Diapason 8 manual I2 Stopped Diapason 83 Principal 4 4 Chimney Flute 45 Fifteenth 26 Sesquialtera II 2 2/37 Furniture IV 1 1/38 Cremona 8i Tremulantii Solo to Greatiii Swell to Great Solo9 Bourdon 16 manual III10 Principal 811 Open Flute 812 Octave 413 Full Mixture III-IV 2 2/314 Posaune 815 Clarion 4 iv CymbelsternSwell16 Gedackt 8 manual II17 Viola 818 Voix Céleste 819 Fugara 420 Traverse Flute 421 Nazard 2 2/322 Flageolet 223 Tierce 1 3/5 24 Mixture III 225 Bassoon 1626 Trumpet 827 Oboe 828 Vox humana 8v Tremulant Pedal29 Open Diapason 1630 Sub Bass 1631 Quint 10 2/332 Octave 8 33 Bass Flute 834 Trombone 16vi Solo to Pedalvii Swell to Pedalviii Great to Pedal

Tracker key action : slider soundboardsElectric stop and combination actions 4. Organ Recital by Jonathan Holmes at 7.30 p.m. - St Mary's, Ewell.

Any members who are free in the evening will be very welcome at Jonathan Holmes' Organ Recital,"Organ Requests and Great Toccatas" which he will be giving on the splendid Father Willis organ at Ewell. His

programme will include: Dukas - "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”; Saint-Saens - “Danse Macabre”; plus Toccatas by Schmidt, Bach, Durufle and Dupre …..and some quieter stuff!! Cont. Page 5

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I do hope many of you will be able to come to Leatherhead. As always, you are very welcome to invite guests and we will be pleased to see members of neighbouring association. It would be helpful if you could contact me sometime before Saturday to let me know who will be coming.

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NEXT MEETING

April 23rd AGM and Composite Recital in Beckenham Parish ChurchDo please let me know if you would like to contribute a piece for the Composite Recital.

2015-2016 Season

There are still some dates / venues to be arranged but this is the programme as it stands at 15th February:

May 21st Return visit to Cambridge which Mr. John Woodhouse is organising for us.

June 25th Annual Dinner at Emmanuel URC West Wickham with Dr William McVicker as our Organist Guest.

July 30th Summer Country Organ Tour to Essex with visits to Thaxted and Saffron Walden, kindly organised by Mr. Norman Harper.

August ? Possible Residential Tour of Birmingham - Henry Fairs thinks this should be quite possible.

Other Venues West Wickham Theatre organ (Richard Cole) – Peter Sanders arranging

Michael Toplis has established contact with Christ Church Spitalfields and William McVicker has put me in touch with the contact person at Union Chapel.

Michael Toplis has also made contact with St Giles in the Fields which could well fill one of our dates if needed.

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IAN VERRAN is getting rid of umpteen copies of Choir and Organ dating from 1990s to the present. If any members would like them they would be welcome to them.

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LOCAL ORGAN RECITALS / CONCERTS etc.

Beckenham Parish Church - St George'sLunchtime Recitals – Friday at 12.30; admission free. Tea & Coffee served, bring your own sandwiches Saturday Coffee Concerts – 11 a.m. admission free. Tea & Coffee served, bring your own sandwiches. MARCHFriday 11 Tomoko Yoshioko (Soprano) Saturday 12 Students from Trinity Laban Friday 18 Mayumi Shigenaga (Piano)Saturday 19 Bryan Jenner & Joan Taylor APRILFriday 1 Peter Chester (Organ) Saturday 2 Orlando Shamlou & Joanna Arnold Friday 8 Nicholas Mannoukas (Organ)Saturday 9 Isabella CheeversFriday 15 Avis McIntyre (Organ)

Friday 22 Bishop EnsmbleCont. over

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Saturday 23 Wakana Gong (Soprano)Friday 29 Luke Welch (Piano)Saturday 30 Katie Buzard (Soprano)

Bromley Parish ChurchSaturday Morning Concerts take place at 11.30 on 3rd Saturdays - coffee and biscuits, toast and cakes are served beforehand. - These events are free with a retiring collection. Please look at the Events section on the church website for more details on each concert.Saturday 19 March Teatime OperaSaturday 16 April Bromley Boy SingersSaturday 21 May Laurence Long – 0rgan, Royal College of MusicSaturday 18 June ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning - A recital of clarinet music and poetrySaturday 16 July Arianna Firth – SopranoSaturday 17 September Bromley Parish Church ChoirSaturday 15 October Saxophone and Marimba Duo - students from the Guildhall School of Music & DramaSaturday 19 November Fumi Otsuki – violin, Petra Hajduchova - piano

Bank Holiday Monday Celebrity Organ Recitals Admission is by programme at a cost of £10, This includes refreshments served from 11:00amMonday 28 March Paul Derrett, Concert OrganistMonday 02 May Francesca Massey, Durham CathedralMonday 30 May Daniel Moult, London Monday 29 August Claire Innes-Hopkins, Rochester Cathedral

Organ Recitals at St John’s Upper Norwood 2016: Thursdays at 7.30pm19 May Adrian Adams and Bridget West [St John’s, Upper Norwood] 23 June Daniel Moult International Organist] 14 July Jacob Ewens [Organ Scholar, Keble College, Oxford] 13 October Paul Hale [Cathedral Organist & Rector Chori, Southwell Minster]

Christ's Chapel DulwichSunday evenings at 7.45p.m. Admission is free with a retiring collectionMarch 13 Ourania Gassiou (Athens and London)May 08 Douglas Tang (Haileybury College)June 12 Douglas Hollick (Birmingham Conservatoire)July 10 Andrew Benson-Wilson (Basingstoke)September 11 Matthew Power (London)October 09 Carl Jackson (Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace)November 13 Eleni Keventsidou (Rugby School)

ORPINGTON PARISH CHURCH (All Saints', Bark Hart Road, Orpington. BR6 0QD)Sunday 13th March 7:45 pm: Haru Ushigusa (violin) and Yoko Misumi (piano) will give a programme of music by Bach, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, and Fritz Kreisler. followed by drinks and a retiring collection

Saturday 19th March: All Saints' Festival Choir and Orchestra (conductor: Raymond Lewis)Haydn Nelson Mass; Charpentier Magnificat; Charpentier Te Deum

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I hope to see many of you on Saturday in Leatherhead. Do please invite guests and let me know who will be coming. Members of neighbouring Associations will also be most welcome.

Yours sincerely,

Christopher Town

Hon. Secretary