Organ Conservation and Restoration Project
It feels good, if a little daunting too, to report that the St John’s Organ Conservation and Restoration Project is now in progress!
The formal launch of the Project took place in November 2022 with a community event in Northington Village Hall, and a concert in St John’s by local a cappella choir, Vox Lucis. These events got us off to a very good start and were attended by some 120 people.
The work on the organ itself started in early January. It’s both exciting and terrifying to see the organ emptied of its entire inner mechanisms, with pipes and other parts temporarily stored in the aisles, while other items have been taken away by the Organ Builders, JW Walkers and Sons Ltd, to be worked on in their workshop in Devizes . Early reports from Walkers have indicated that as they took things apart there was no doubt that this work needed doing and urgently too.
Alongside the work on the Organ, our integrated education and community programme is also in progress. Starting with Heritage Open Day events in September last year, we have now also successfully appointed both our Organ Project Animateur, Neil Valentine, and our Project Evaluator, Padmini Broomfield, And this week, students from Perins School. Alresford, will be visiting St John’s to start work on their cross curricular English, History, Film, and Creative Arts programme, which, when complete, aims to result in a new, young people-led, digital guide to the heritage of the church. Exciting times!
None of this would have been possible without the brilliant support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and its grant towards this important and stimulating heritage project. It is with thanks to the money raised by National Lottery players, and with additional support through a successful fundraising campaign, including grants from the Hampshire and the Island Historic Churches Trust and generous private donors, this will not only ensure the conservation of our heritage instrument, but it will also deliver the associated inspiring and creative education and community programme.
The PCC is immensely grateful to you all.
Further instalments of the blog will follow!
For further information - do contact Jane Bryant, St John’s PCC Organ Project Lead info@stjohnsnorthington.org or any other member of the St John’s PCC.
