Pipe Organs of West Sussex

THE COLOUR COVER A Millennium Survey of the Pipe Organs of West Sussex Published in Great Britain by the West Sussex Organists’ Association October 2000 c/o The Cathedral Organist The Royal Chantry Cathedral Cloisters CHICHESTER West Sussex PO19 1PX Copyright © WSOA 2000 Front cover illustration This is a reproduction of a water colour by Nicholas Plumley depicting the following pipe organs: Top left St James, Selham Top right St Michael and All Angels, South Lancing Centre St Nicholas, Poling Bottom left St Mary, Littlehampton Bottom right Christ’s Hospital (organ in Big School) Notice of Liability Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this publication and the West Sussex Organists’ Association and its agents shall not be liable for any inaccuracies which may be contained herein. Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by XPS (Xerographic Printing Services) 11 North Street Portslade Brighton BN41 1DH ISBN 0-9539051-0-1 West Sussex Organists’ Association A Millennium Survey of the Pipe Organs of West Sussex The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, Chichester Contents Foreword 1 Alan Thurlow, President, West Sussex Organists’ Association Preface - How Did We Do It? 2 Liz Alder, Project Co-ordinator The Project Team 3 How to Use This Book 4 Pipe Organs Surveyed 5 Harmoniums and Barrel Organs Surveyed 11 Electronic and Other Keyboard Instruments (listed but outside survey) 12 The Pipe Organs 14 Appendices A. Organ Builders and Restorers Recorded in Survey 305 B. Harmonium/Reed Organ Builders Restorers Recorded in Survey 319 Acknowledgements We are most grateful to everyone who has contributed to this publication, both to those whose names appear as contributors and to those who provided data but who did not wish have their names included. We would also like to express our very grateful thanks to the members of the Crawley and Horsham District Organists’ Association, who helped us with this Project and to Ken Sagar and Francis Knights in particular; to Roy Tricker of the Churches Conservation Trust for SE England; to our Free Church contacts listed below; to the organ builders (also listed below) who gave freely of their time to assist with queries regarding organ histories and specifications and, in this respect, to Robert Pennells, Roland Robinson, Simon Pullen and Patrick Christian in particular; and last, but by no means least, to Tony Bavistock and Tim Carder of XPS who have made this publication possible. Organ Builders Free Church Contacts Bishop & Son John Bailey Wendy Sawyer Haywards Heath Simon Pullen Derek Thorogood Framfield Deane Organs Colin Brice Revd. David Bridge Bognor Regis Morgan & Smith Roland Robinson P M W Christian Patrick Christian J W Walker & Sons Ltd Robert Pennells Woodbrown Ltd Unknown spokesman Foreword by Alan Thurlow President, West Sussex Organists’ Association and Organist & Master of the Choristers, Chichester Cathedral This book is the product of two years’ work by members of the West Sussex Organists’ Association. The Association came into being in 1946 as a body of people with an interest in pipe organs. At that time, the membership numbered 43. Today this number has grown to 92 and almost one third of the membership has been actively involved in the production of this book. Their names are listed at the end of the Preface, together with the names of those members of the Crawley and Horsham District Organists’ Association, and also some non- members, without whose help we could not have achieved this project. The Association, having celebrated its Jubilee in 1996, sought a project to mark the Millennium that would be of interest not only to people today but also to future generations. A survey of pipe organs within the County, which said something about both the instruments themselves and also the way in which they were used at the turn of the century, was thought to fulfil the criteria. To this end a questionnaire was designed and sent to every church within the County and every secular establishment that was known to house a pipe organ. The completed questionnaires, together with photographs and other information provided, will be stored within the West Sussex County Archive from January 2001, where they may be used for research purposes by future generations. Although every effort has been made to check the overall accuracy of the data given within these pages, it has not been possible to check the detail of each individual entry. Some contributors may have completed parts of the questionnaire from memory and it is likely, in such instances, that there may well be errors and/or omissions of detail, for which we apologise. It should perhaps be said that the task was enormous and this ‘Domesday Book’ of pipe organs is unlikely to score any more highly for accuracy than did the original Domesday Book! All Anglican churches within the County were included in the survey, as were all churches of other Christian denominations where a contact address was known. Similarly, non-ecclesiastical establishments (schools, hospitals, cinemas, private houses etc.) were also sent a questionnaire. Many did not respond initially and, while every effort has been made to solicit completed questionnaires, with details re-sent where these had been lost or mislaid, the outcome has not been successful in every case. As stated, the project was a survey of pipe organs within West Sussex and how they are used today. The fact that a large number of churches returned a questionnaire relating only to an electronic organ caused something of a dilemma. However, it was decided that, although the organ could not feature in detail within the book, every church that had returned a questionnaire should be listed and the contributors acknowledged. However, ALL completed questionnaires, regardless of the type of organ, will be forwarded to the County’s Archive to be stored in alphabetical order within each Deanery. Not all churches have a name in the contributors’ column. This is due to the fact that some contributors omitted their names, or asked that their names should not be included. One church felt so strongly about the matter that they stamped this section with the wording ‘Data Protection Act – permission refused’. You will also find that we have included three churches which, although technically in East Sussex, are so ‘on the border’ that they may well find themselves within West Sussex should boundaries be changed in the future. Finally, as President of the West Sussex Organists’ Association, I would like to record the especial gratitude of our members to those whose enthusiastic and hard-working efforts have made the project possible and have brought it to fruition in this book. In particular to those of our members who so readily gave of their time to check, gather and input data; to Gavin Argent for taking supplementary photographs; to Nicholas Plumley for the most attractive cover illustration; to Sam Hall, our Treasurer, for dealing with the finance of the project; to Peter Page for his painstaking efforts on computer work in converting text files and editing photographs; but most of all to Elisabeth Alder who so readily agreed to lead and co- ordinate the project and whose experienced eye and concerted efforts have ensured that this splendid and attractive book has appeared on schedule. © WSOA 2000 Preface – How Did We Do It? Liz Alder, Project Co-ordinator The first thing we did was to draw up lists according to the geographical boundaries of the County’s twelve Deaneries. This was achieved with the aid of the Diocesan Directories (both Anglican and Roman Catholic) and contacts within the Free Church. A questionnaire, designed by the Project Committee, was then despatched in an enormous mailing. This was at the beginning of January 1999 with recipients being given until 30th April 1999 to complete and return their questionnaire. Each one, which was returned with a contact name and address, was acknowledged and requests for photographs and documents to be returned, noted. The names of contributors (unless withheld) were recorded for inclusion in the publication. Then, when the majority of questionnaires had been returned, a social gathering was arranged, hosted by the Cathedral Organist and his wife, when all ‘Data Gatherers’ were briefed by the Project Co-ordinator and received their ‘Deanery packs’ of returned questionnaires. Where possible, Data Gatherers had been allocated to the Deanery in which they live, or an adjacent Deanery, so that they might use their local knowledge to check details and also to add any church or building known to house a pipe organ but which had previously been omitted from their list. One problem which the Committee faced was the existence of another organists’ association within the County, namely the Crawley and Horsham District Organists’ Association. This meant that the West Sussex Organists’ Association had very few members in the northern part of the County, making it difficult to cover this fairly substantial area. Fortunately the Secretary of the CHDOA, together with others (one a non-member who later joined the WSOA) very nobly volunteered to gather the necessary data which, without their help, would have proved to be an extremely difficult task. Data Gathering was far from easy. When recipients were telephoned, it was discovered that questionnaires had been ‘mislaid’ or ‘lost’ or ‘had never arrived’ and had to be re-sent. In many instances the Data Gatherers found that they had to complete the questionnaires themselves because there was no one available at the church to undertake this task. This they did by making a visit to the church (finding many locked and having to telephone to make another visit) then talking, if possible, to the organist and other church members and taking photographs where necessary.

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