In late May the team from MC Thompson arrived on site to install the Choir organ (the section of the organ that is played from the third and lowest of the organ’s three keyboards). This was due to be done in 2017, but Mike Thompson was taken ill and the work had to be postponed until he was fully recovered and his team had completed other projects which were ahead of us in the ‘queue’.

We also asked Mike and software house, Sonic Services, to upgrade our registration software and install a ‘stepper’. This has increased the divisional memory (the system which memorises pre-set stop selections for each division of the organ, so that stops can be changed on each division at the touch of a button) from 30 to 99 channels. Each division has six buttons, so each division can have up to 594 stop selections programmed into the memory. The general memory (which memorises stop selections for the whole organ) has been given 199 channels. There are eight general buttons, so we can now programme up to 1,592 stop selections into the memory.

The ‘stepper’ is a very useful gizmo – it enables the player to be able to scroll forward and back through the general stop selection. The ‘forward’ button for this is operated by a toe piston to the right of the swell pedal, and the ‘back button’ has a toe piston to the left of the swell pedal.  These are duplicated by forward and back buttons on the right hand side of the keyboards which can be operated by an assistant if a piece of music is too complex for the player to operate the stepper.

The organ has come through its first Holy Week and Easter with flying colours – with occasional moments of applause from ‘downstairs’! After a low key Palm/Passion Sunday we had a big improvisation for the Gloria on Maundy Thursday, the back to Lenten low key for the rest of the Mass and for Good Friday. At the Easter Vigil on a wet and windy Saturday night we had a few bars from the beginning of the Finale of the Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony to welcome the full organ back with a big flourish at the Gloria. At the Offertory, after the hymn, we had a lively improvisation based upon the Easter Alleluia and, at, at the end, Litanies by Jehan Alain.

On Sunday morning at Mass we had another lively improvisation at the Offertory, based on Victimae Paschali, with that Toccata (Widor) at the end.

On Monday we had a special Mass at St Osburgs for the Coventry Deanery in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. It was a bitter-sweet occasion for me. Nice to be back at St Osburgs among some old friends, but shocked by the terrible state of the organ that I grew up with – for years one of the better organs in Coventry, and a major part of the liturgical and musical heritage of the Deanery and the Archdiocese. It is very sad that, now that the Church has been restored, the organ is now quite rapidly falling into decay – and in the year of its 50th anniversary.

When Archbishop Bernard Langley blessed our organ he used a prayer which was accompanied by an improvisation on the organ:

“Awake, O sacred instrument, intone the praises of God, our Creator and Father! You will celebrate Jesus our Lord, dead and risen for us, sing of the Holy Spirit whose breath animates our lives, carry our songs and our supplications to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, fill the assembly of your people with gratitude to Christ, sustain the prayers of believers, and proclaim the glory of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.”

Several people have asked me where it came from. The answer is that it is an old prayer, originally used in France. I found this version of it on display in the church of St Aignan, Chartres (which has a stunning polychrome interior), when Annette and I visited it last summer on  our holiday. I decided that we should use it for the blessing and tracked down the full version. The translation is mine!

The name of the organ builder is misspelt – the church has a Merklin that was installed in 1897, and it has been kept in good repair. Merklin was the main rival to Cavaille-Coll in France – between them I would estimate that they built over 90% of the organs in French cathedrals and large churches.

Members of the Coventry & Warwickshire Organists Association visited us on Saturday. After I finished a presentation about the history of the organ and the restoration/rebuilding project our visitors settled down to the main business of the afternoon – putting the organ through its paces!

It was a particular pleasure for me to listen to the organ from the body of the church for the first time. It really does sound terrific. The voicing has created a real blend, which has recreated the tone of a classic Hill organ of around 1900 – 1920 (the Nelson on which the organ is based was first built in 1915) – a real classic “English” tone.

Comments such as “brilliant” and “remarkable” were heard from several of the visitors. The afternoon finished with a super performance of Bonnet’s ‘Variations de Concert’, which really did show the organ at its best. Someone even timed the reverberation period in the church – just over 2 seconds, and everyone remarked on the church’s superb acoustic.

The organ was worked quite hard over Christmas and the New Year and it has exceeded all our expectations. It has proved to be excellent for accompanying all of the liturgy and has produced some particularly nice soft tones for accompanying cantors, as well as having some real oomph for the big groups. It has a lot of tonal variety, which is excellent for improvising, which I usually do before Mass at the Offertory and, occasionally, at Communion after the Communion Chant.

Last night our organ was blessed and dedicated by the Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Reverend Bernard Longley, at a wonderful Mass concelebrated with the Dean of Coventry, Canon Thomas Farrell and priests and deacons form our arise and city. We were pleased to welcome our organ builder Mike Thompson and his team, who had spent most of the day making sure the organ was fully in tune and ready for the occasion, as well as the choir from our parish school.

The organ’s next “big event” will the its opening recital in the early part of next year, once the tuning has settled down and the organ has “bedded in”.

The booklets are printed, the psalm is written, the food is organised, and the wine has arrived! The organ is being tuned tomorrow morning, and then all we need is the Archbishop!

The invitations have been sent, the parishes notified, the liturgy almost planned. The blessing of the organ next Friday (20 November at 7pm) by our Archbishop will be a parish event encompassing all aspects of parish life…and we are really looking forward the the party afterwards! We have been waiting a long time for this – we look forward to seeing as many parishioners and friends as possible to make it another great parish occasion. More details will be provided as the planning continues. Watch this space!

The Archbishop of Birmingham, the Most Reverend Bernard Longley, will bless and dedicate the organ on the evening of Friday 20th November. More details will be provided as soon as they become available.

On Friday the organ will receive its first public outing, as Keith demonstrates it to our local christian community at 7.45pm as part of our local ‘How Great Thou Art’ Festival, Visitors will also be able to see the display of ikons set up in church, and any visiting organists will be given the opportunity of putting the organ through its paces.

On Saturday the organ will be back at work accompanying Sung Vespers, which will be one lf the liturgies of the festival, at 5.30pm before its gets back to its regular role accompanying Sunday Mass at 11.15am.

Friday night’s programme: Programme Notes