Wednesday 10 June 2009

Organ update

In recent weeks this has been a familiar sight: organ builders silhouetted against the Te Deum window. They have been in working on the instrument every day of late, and it has become a heartening sound to hear the organ being tuned. While there is still a little way to go finalising some of the electrics and ironing out minor problems, the organ is now for the most part playable and will be used at Mass in the very near future.

This - it should be pointed out - is not the new console! This four-manual electronic organ is a replica of the instrument at St George's Hall in Liverpool. It has been loaned to the Cathedral by Henry Willis & Sons for the last few months, to fill the gap while work continues on our own instrument. Today it is being removed from the Cathedral - an encouraging sign of progress on our pipe organ, and also a remote preparation for the Flower Festival which takes place in a couple of weeks (26th-29th June).

This is where the organist has been seated for the last few months; in future he will have to make do with a more distant view of the altar!