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THE SCOTTISH CHURCHES ORGANIST TRAINING SCHEME (SCOTS) ;
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here to view Issue 6 – March 2006 SFO News October
2005 Issue 5 Letter
from the President of the SFO Dr
Philip Lyon, M.B., B.S. When I was installed as President of the SFO, it occurred
to me that very few people would have any idea as to who I was. Living as I
do on the Isle of Skye, 120 miles from the nearest affiliated association – I am a retired GP who looked after the Dunvegan practice
for ten years before my retirement and I have continued to live in the
village and play the organ in I moved up to Skye in 1978 and soon after
retiring, I went on a ‘Music of Bach’ tour of Greetings
from the Silent Society! You may have noticed that in the last SFO News every
Society had reported on its activities during the last session – except
Stirling & District. This was
entirely due to an email glitch. Rest
assured, the Actually, you won’t want to hear at this late stage about
what we did last year. More
interesting is what is coming up this session. We are having two or three recitals, a talk
from Alan Buchan about organs’ innards, and a social event, but perhaps worth
highlighting because of its unusual title is the demonstration to be given by
Robin Bell of SCOTS, ‘Improvisation for the Terrified’. SCOTS is making quite a big thing of improvisation just
now, and it’s amazing how many people, even some experienced organists, are
afraid to have a go. Yet being able to
improvise is such a comforting skill, because you know you will never be
stuck. Buskers like myself can’t do
without it. The only time that I felt
at a loss was when a bridegroom fainted in the middle of his vows. I thought it might appear a bit callous if
I improvised while they were frantically resuscitating him, but once he had
regained consciousness they actually asked for some calming music before
proceeding with the wedding! Robin’s talk is on Saturday 18 February 2006 in St
Michael’s RC Church (which is not the famous St Michael’s, but has a very
special Hill), Evelyn (Dr Evelyn Stell) President, Stirling & District Society of Organists Everything Else an Organist Should Know by Robert Leach & Barry Williams “Too many clergy use organists as “human jukeboxes”,
demand impossible working hours, and refuse to bow to their superior musical
knowledge when it comes to choosing hymns, according to a study this week.” This is the first paragraph of an article that appeared
in The Times on 22nd September. It
goes on to say that though there are about 30,000 qualified organists an
increasing number refuse to work with difficult and demanding clergy. The article goes on to say that organists
spend at least £3,500 learning their art and have little or no training in
theology, while the expense of training clergy is church based and has very
few hours training in music. A book called Everything Else an Organist Should Know has
just been published. It gives advice
on what to do when relations break down, and indeed on how to prevent them
breaking down in the first place. The authors describe an occasion when one organist was
told by his vicar that tradition was out and he had to use ‘happy clappy’
music from Mission Praise. His fully
robed choir was instructed to stand and mouth the words, which they did! Organist Publications Ltd - £15.00 SFO
Website Members who make use of the SFO website may have noticed
a few enhancements that have taken place over the past few months. Three new pages have been uploaded onto the
site. We now have reviews of books and concerts/recitals. The first to appear were three perceptive
reviews of CH4 and these were followed by news of some organ recitals. We also now have a page of redundant organs where details
of instruments possibly suitable for “re-homing” can be posted along with
contact details. Contributions for either of these pages would be welcome
and details should please be sent to Donald Maclagan at the usual address. Thirdly, by the time you read this there should be full
details available of the Advisers who serve on the Organ Advisory
Committee. Although contact by Church
of Scotland congregations is normally made via “121” George Street, the
committee is keen to help any denomination needing assistance and in that
case contact can be made direct. In the year and a half since out website was given a new
lease of life it has become highly regarded and widely used as a source of
information for members and non-members alike. Annual
conference of the SFO - 2006 Make a note in your diaries now that the 2006 SFO
Conference will be held in Details have still to be finalised but it is hoped that
we shall have music from Musick Fyne and from Corronach as well as a recital
by Edward Barbieri on the new four-manual organ in St Andrew’s Episcopal
Cathedral. During the day we shall
hold the AGM and Saturday afternoon will end with Choral Evensong in the
Cathedral. Some of you will be aware that the new organ in St
Andrew’s Cathedral is a “pipeless” instrument and some may find this
controversial. However, we sincerely
hope that as many of you as possible will make the effort to travel to There is good public transport, both rail and coach,
connecting Inverness to Anyone who had planned to miss the conference in favour
of attending the RSCM Scottish Triennial Choirs Festival in St Michael’s
Church, Linlithgow originally planned for that day should note that the RSCM
has kindly moved that Festival to Saturday 4th November 2006. Beer
(Barrel) Organ??!! Following on from previous snippets about organs
made from bamboo and from marble, I have now learned of one made by Petersen
of Illinois, ***** SFO
News
June
2005 Issue 4
45th
Annual Conference Editor
Around
630 members of the SFO missed a thoroughly enjoyable day at our Annual
Conference hosted by the Glasgow Society of Organists on Saturday 14th
May 2005. The
71 members who did attend gathered in Sherbrooke St Gilbert’s Church for the AGM which was
followed by a Masterclass by Gordon Stewart of After
an excellent lunch we moved to Following
tea and sandwiches to sustain us on our homeward journey Matthew Hynes,
President 2004-05, installed Dr Philip Lyon, M.B., B.S., as President
2005-06. Stewart
Alston had intimated some time ago that he wished to retire from being SFO
Secretary and Dr Philip Ross had agreed to take over. Philip’s sudden and sad death while on a
lecture tour in It
being Lanarkshire’s turn to nominate the Vice-President, it was fitting that
Stewart Alston was appointed. Iain
Galbraith reported on the work of the Salaries & Contracts Committee, in
particular mentioning that work is in course to finalise recommended salary
increases from January 2006. Some
clarification will also take place in the model contract. Donald
Maclagan spoke on the work of the Publications Committee while Robert
Lightband’s report on the Organ Advisory Committee was submitted via the
Secretary. Robin
Bell advised that SCOTS is in a very healthy state with a total of 40
students enrolled. He mentioned the
new syllabus, training days and “improvisation for the terrified”! It
was agreed that Norman Marr of Regrettably, lack of space prevents me from describing our masterclass, our lecture and our recital. I could fill a complete issue with these. However, our sincere thanks are due to Gordon Stewart; his pupils for the day: Hannah Gibson, Alasdair Sim and Andrew Caskie; Gordon Thorne and Andrew Bryden. They all contributed to a Conference to remember – of which the Glasgow Society can be AAAAA The
main aim of the SFO News is to distribute information around our 700
members and so in this issue we are focusing on what the various member
societies have been doing over the past season. Tayside Organists’ Society Elizabeth
I. Atkinson
Our
programme for the winter started by visiting Sandy Edmonstone’s Forgandenny
workshop and seeing bits of organs and hearing how they are voiced. At the time he was working on the
instrument for AAAAA The Allan
Ritchie The
ADAO completed their 2004-2005 season with three quite significant and varied
events. In
March there was a visit to see the Early English Organ Project housed in
Kings College Chapel, Old Aberdeen. The two sixteenth-century English organs,
the Wingfield Organ and the Wetheringsett Organ, were very ably illustrated
and demonstrated by Dr. David Smith of The
April meeting was held at The
final event was the annual country organ crawl. This year we visited AAAAA Lanarkshire
Society of Organists Mary
A. Smith Although
we are a small Society, we manage to accomplish a lot, and continue our
outreach especially to new and inexperienced organists. In
October 2004, we had a recital by Kerr Jamieson, including the Baird-Ross
winning pieces. In November we had our annual joint meeting with Stirling
Society, with a programme of Scottish Classical music. In
December, we had a lecture and demonstration by Matthew Hynes on "How
the Organ Works". January 2005 saw our yearly ecumenical Songs of
Praise. In February we held another SCOTS Training Day at Uddingston. In
March, we shared ideas for accessible anthems. At
the AGM in April, we expressed our thanks to James McRae, who is retiring
from the Council after 43 years, having been a founding member of the LSO.
Our new President is Jean Schofield. AAAAA Bridget
Black Our
meetings this year have been varied and interesting. We started off with a Members' Night Quiz,
which amazed us all with how much (or how little!) we knew. In October we held our customary Christmas
Repertoire evening, with 4 members presenting some of the music they play
during the Christmas period. It is
quite a good idea to have this early on as it gives members time to buy and
practise new music. Angus Bethune,
Gordon Tocher, Ian Livingstone and Donald Maclagan played some of their
repertoire and other people had brought music for folk to try. The Repertoire Evening is always a good
evening, whether specific Christmas or any other music is demonstrated. Our November meeting had to be altered as
it had been intended to have an evening in St Andrew's Cathedral but there
were still certain modifications to be made to the new organ installed there
– not to mention the cold! Instead of
this, we had an evening of 78s, which Gordon Tocher very kindly organised. How recordings have changed over the years
with the improvement of technique. We
had an excellent dinner in January at the Glen Mhor Hotel with a good
representation of members and then in February, Archie and I presented slides
and a talk on AAAAA Jane J. Stirling
The
2004/5 season got off to a good start in October with an organ crawl in Later
in October it was a great pleasure and privilege to be in Glasgow Cathedral
to hear a most enjoyable recital for voice and organ by Susan and John
Turner. In
December we headed off to After
recovering from the Christmas and New Year celebrations, we enjoyed a relaxed
afternoon in January listening to Members favourite CDs. In
February Graham Mark Scott gave a very fine recital on the Cavaille Coll
organ in In
March Duncan Mathews of Harrison & Harrison came north to St. Columba’s
Church in the centre of This
was the final meeting before our Annual Business Meeting and the SFO
Conference which our Society hosted in Pollokshields. We
are now looking forward to an Outing in early June to hear organs in the AAAAA Chris
Johnson ESO
members have enjoyed another successful year beginning in St. Mary's
Episcopal Cathedral with a demonstration of the "The Early English Organ
Project" by John Kitchen back in September followed by several meetings,
outings and workshops over the year. Our social lunch took place in AAAAA Borders
Guild of Organists Sarah
Aitchison AAAAA Unusual
Editor Following
on from the item in the last issue about the organ built from bamboo, I
recently came across information about an instrument built entirely from
marble. It was built by Ivan Larrea in
There
is a single 4-foot rank of stopped pipes on a 49-note manual and the only
parts not made of marble are the pull-down wires, guides and loops, pallet
springs and pipe stoppers and the electric motor. There
is a lot more information at www.blackiris.com/organs/iof/iof9
where the builder points out that stone pipes are
impervious to humidity and temperature changes and last much longer than
either wood or metal! SFO News
February 2005 Issue 3
Since the launch of SFO News in its present form in June last year it has been
gratifying to receive many comments from people who have enjoyed reading it
and have found it useful. A number of
people did, however, find the use of different fonts and print sizes
difficult to read and so in this issue we will print in Times New Roman 10pt
throughout. Please do let the Editor
know how you like this. SFO committee members are
reminded that the committee meeting traditionally held at the beginning
of March will this year be on Saturday 2nd April in the Ramada
Jarvis Hotel, Tayside Organists’ Society had a wonderful recital from Robert
Quinney, sub-Organist at Westminster Abbey, on 9th November on the
newly refurbished organ of Our Lady of Victories, January 2005 was a special month
for Aberdeen & District Organists’ Association and their
President, Donald Hawksworth. A
lunchtime concert on 15th January given by Donald and Friends in
the Cowdray Hall celebrated the 50th anniversary of Donald’s first
recital in that hall and included two works from the original programme – the
Piano Sonata in E (Cortege) by Scarlatti and Brahms’ Intermezzo in
A, op. 118. Then Donald’s birthday
was celebrated on 25th January at the ADOA Burns Supper. All present took part in an ad hoc
performance of the Burns Fantasia by … … Donald Hawkesworth! New International Organ
Competition Wolfgang Rubsam has announced a
new competition for organ performance in July 2005 in Landsberg am Lech,
southern Now in its seventh year, this
scheme aims to train ‘reluctant pianists’ who have been persuaded into
playing the organ for services.
Candidates should be ABRSM Grade IV or equivalent and are given one or
two years training. Contact Elizabeth
Atkinson on 01738 552144 for more information. Copyright
Compliance In the past some churches
have paid scant regard to the law governing copyright. When the choir needed photocopies or
the congregation needed a hymn sheet then it was just done without
thinking about copyright. This is
no longer an option and the penalties for disregarding the law are
severe. We therefore give the
following guidance, but please be aware that this is guidance only, based
on our understanding of the law.
Definitive advice and rulings should be obtained from Christian
Copyright Licensing Ltd, PO Box 1339, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 4YF,
Telephone 01323 417711 or at www.ccli.co.uk
At present, churches may
perform copyright music and play a professionally produced CD, video,
cassette etc (but not a film or film clip) during Divine Worship
without a licence. Virtually every
other activity requires a licence. There are six main types of licence available: CCL = Church Copyright Licence MRL = Music Reproduction Licence PRSCL – Performing PPL = Phonographic Performance Licence CLACL = Copyright Licensing CVL = Church Video Licence The CCL allows churches to
use overhead projection of hymn words, store and retrieve hymn words
electronically, create words only hymn books and service sheets for
congregational use only, and create audio/video recordings of services including
copyright music for limited circulation. The MRL allows churches to
photocopy copyright words and music of hymns and songs for congregational
use only. It is an addition to the
CCL. The PRSCL is required if
the church plays or permits the use of almost any type of music in the
church or church hall outwith Divine Worship. Where the use of music is strictly
confined to Divine Worship a PRSCL is not required meantime. A PPL is required in
addition to the PRSCL if you play music from any professionally produced
CD, video, cassette etc. outwith Divine Worship. Contact PPL, The CLACL allows churches
to photocopy non-music copyright material from books (including Bibles),
journals, periodicals and magazines.
It does not cover the words or music of hymns and songs; they are
covered by the CCL and MRL. A CVL allows churches to
show film clips of a few seconds right up to complete films both during
Divine Worship and at other times.
However, it does not permit the use of material copied from other
sources or from television and you may not charge an admission fee. So when does copyright
material become “Public Domain”?
This is not straightforward but in simple terms Copyright in a literary, dramatic, musical
or artistic work (including a photograph) lasts until 70 years after the
death of the author. The duration of copyright in a film is 70 years
after the death of the last to survive of the principal director, the
authors of the screenplay and dialogue, and the composer of any music
specially created for the film. Sound recordings are generally protected
for 50 years from the year of publication. Broadcasts are protected for
50 years and published editions are protected for 25 years. St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh It was announced in November
2004 that Simon Nieminski has been appointed Master of the Music at St Mary’s
Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh where he is currently Assistant Organist. Simon will succeed Matthew Owens who moves
to Wells Cathedral as Organist and Master of the Choristers following the
appointment of Malcolm Archer to In Memoriam – Herrick Bunney St Giles’ Cathedral, Wood, metal or bamboo! Most of us think of organ pipes
being made of wood or metal although I do have a book of instruction on how
to make them of paper! The organ was built in 1816 by
Fray Diego Cera de la Virgen CH4 The latest statement from
SCM-Canterbury Press is that the full music edition of CH4 will be
published at the end of March 2005, the melody + words edition will
appear at the end of April 2005 and a large print words only edition will
be available in June 2005. Through the years the organ has
been damaged by typhoons and earthquakes and Fr. Cera and the locals whom he
trained made repairs. However, by 1972
a major restoration was needed and this was undertaken by Johannes Klais
Orgelbau. In 1989 the bone overlays of
the keyboard were replaced by Helmut Allgauer. Two years later the reservoir was
releathered. In November 2004 Diego
Cera Organbuilders Inc. completed further restoration by repairing cracked
pipes, windchests, keyboard, rollerboard and toeboards. The blower was replaced and the whole organ
voiced and tuned. For lots more information and a
sound clip of the organ go to http://bamboo.diegocera.com
It is with great sadness
that we have to report the death of Dr Philip Ross, Secretary of the A date for your diary. The 45th Annual Conference of
the SFO will be hosted by the It will take place at Sherbrooke-St.
Gilbert’s Parish Church and Pollokshields Parish Church and the GSO is
delighted to welcome Gordon Stewart, who
will conduct a Masterclass, architect Gordon Thorne who will present
an illustrated talk on the History of the Organ Case and Andrew Bryden, Director of Music at Ripon Cathedral (and former
student of Aberdeen University Music Department), who will give the Celebrity
Recital. All members of the SFO (and
therefore its constituant societies) are strongly urged to come to RCO Scottish Recital and
Workshop Hoping that this issue of SFO News will be in your hands before then, 25th and
26th February are the dates of the 2005 RCO Scottish Recital and
Workshop in SFO News
October 2004 Issue 2 In this
issue of SFO News we are focusing on the activities the SFO carries out on behalf
of members. The order that these
appear in here does not imply any order of importance, all are equally
important. General news is to be found after these articles. Publications
Committee
Over the past six months the main
tasks of this committee have been to resurrect the Newsletter (SFO News) and
to get the website running again after being offline for some months in early
2004. Both of these have been
achieved. Issue 1 of SFO News appeared
in June 2004 and was well received.
You are now reading Issue 2. It
is planned to publish three issues per year with Issue 3 being available in
February 2005. Our website, www.scotsorgan.org, is available again
and now includes, amongst much more, Daily
News and Notices, updated virtually
every day. Please visit the site
regularly and also let us have news etc for inclusion. Those of you who use our website may
not know just how technologically complex this project is! It is not writing
the site that is so difficult. Keeping all the component parts of a large
site working together is technically quite tricky, but more difficult is
finding economical ways of allowing more than one person to update the site
without always involving the web master. (Hence the existence of so many web
sites out there that are badly out-of-date.)
There are lots of commercial systems available to solve this problem -
but at prices we couldn't even contemplate. We are in the process of
developing an approach that we hope will allow several people to take
responsibility for updating web information and thus making the maintenance
burden on any one person bearable. Stay with us. If it works, we might be
able to give you guidance for similar sites (perhaps your church?) where a
number of more-or-less computer literate people want to share a
workload. We are working on this and
at the same time plan to take the opportunity to modernise the appearance of
the site. If you have good quality pictures of your organ pipe
racks/consoles/etc. for inclusion on the developing web site please send them
in. If you give us a little potted history of the instrument, we can build in
a pop-up acknowledgement and information panel. Pictures can be in almost any format, but
e-mailed electronic formats (PC not Mac) would be handiest and cheapest. The next project we have in mind is
the possibility of producing an SFO
Yearbook. The two existing committee members have the technology and
experience to get this off the ground but not the time to spend on it in
addition to their present workload. We
need at least one and preferably two more people to help get this under way. If you feel you could help here, please do
volunteer. If the project goes ahead
we would hope to have the first edition ready for SFO Conference 2006. The Organ
Advisory Committee This committee is in reality about
eight very active advisers, who meet in committee once or twice a year. We are a daughter body of the Committee on
Artistic Matters of the Church of Scotland. In most cases an enquiry or appeal
for help will go to Douglas Galbraith at Then the reports of the organ
builders come in. These will often
differ widely in their diagnoses of faults and recommendations of what is to
be done. This will often require a
second visit from the Adviser. Usually
this ends with a result for better or worse, though we do our best, having
explained the estimates, to leave the choice of a builder up to the
church.. There are occasions when we
will advise that further investment in an instrument would be unwise and
recommend a digital replacement. We
will even advise on these. If quite a lot of work, inevitably
expensive, is envisaged, we usually recommend the appointment of a
Consultant. This may or may not be one
of us, but experience has shown that even the best of organ builders work
better with a second pair of eyes and ears.
At this point the congregation in question takes over the
responsibility for the expenses and a small fee for the Consultant. The vast majority of organ builders work
well with this system and have been more than helpful in the training of new
Advisers. Our experience is that most organ
building, past and present, is of a very high standard indeed, but that there
are one or two operatives, again, past and present, that have or do try to
slip through the net. There is
unanimous agreement, I believe, amongst the Advisers, who are the sheep and
who are the goats. There is much still to be done, but
we take pride in what has been achieved, and it is a credit to the SFO that
such a service is provided, with much cooperation from a variety of other
people. Scottish Churches Organist Training Scheme SCOTS was born in 1997 when discussions were held in
Dunblane between the SFO and the Knowledge of
improvisation is increasingly desirable as a skill. This is given
appropriate emphasis in the new Syllabus and at training days which are
held in various parts of the country. SCOTS training days are very popular
and are open to all organists. Those seeking
more information about SCOTS
should contact the Membership Secretary: Dr. Evelyn Stell, Email:
evelynstell@scotsorgan.org org The Alfred Hollins Memorial Fund The Alfred Hollins Memorial Fund was
established in 1943 to perpetuate the memory of Dr. Alfred Hollins, the
distinguished blind organist and composer who died in The Fund exists for the purpose of
making awards as follows:
The value of the award is determined
by the resources of the Fund and may be varied from year to year. Over the past 60 years the Fund has helped
several blind organists in the furtherance of their musical careers. Applications are invited in writing from individuals and
from educational establishments on behalf of any blind students who would be
eligible under the conditions listed above.
They should be sent to the Honorary Secretary: Mr Stewart Alston,
e-mail stewart.ferguslea@tinyworld.co.uk and should include full details of the applicant’s
musical ability and career objectives. Salaries
Committee The Salaries Committee exists to produce and keep up to date
guidelines on Organists’ Salary Scales, Contracts of Employment for
Organists, Organists’ Duties and advice on Income Tax matters. These guidelines are available to members
in the publication “Quartet”, as updated from time to time, and are also
available on the SFO Website. The
present scales will have effect until January 2006 and it is encouraging that
more churches continue to take cognisance of the recommendations. Individual enquiries are also taken and help and assistance
given on scales, fees and contractual matters. Dialogue is presently taking place between the committee and Scotland’s
Churches Scheme Organ Playing Fund The
Inches Carr Trust wishes to encourage the playing of organs and has provided capital
funding to assist churches in having their organs played more than at
present. Churches should be members of
More
information is available from The Director, Email:
fraser@duneden67.freeserve.co.uk
Marnoch Johnston has been Secretary of the Aberdeen Association
for over twenty-six years. He now
feels that the time has come to step down and so with effect from 1st
September 2004 the new secretary id Allan Ritchie. We welcome Allan and wish Marnoch a
very happy ‘retirement’ and are confident that we will continue to see
him at organ events. The 3-manual Lewis organ in the Community Central Hall,
Maryhill, After fourteen years as Secretary of the SFO Stewart
Alston has intimated that he wishes to retire next year. More will be said later, but meantime
Philip Ross has agreed to be nominated to succeed Stewart. There can be few organ
enthusiasts who don’t know that Mander Organs, earlier this year, completed
the rebuild of the ‘Father’ Willis organ of the Royal Albert Hall, The
The Editor recently came across an old issue of Console –
the magazine of the Edinburgh Society – dating from July 1986. Among other things, there is a mention
that the second issue of The Scottish Organist (the SFO Newsletter)
was in preparation, and an appeal for material for publication! Plus ca change, plus
c-est la meme chose! The IAO Congress
2005 is to be held in We are
happy to report that Dr Philip Lyon, Vice-President of the SFO who earlier
this year suffered what was thought to be a mild heart attack did not in fact
have a coronary. He is now restored to
good health. Further to the article in SFO News Issue 1 the opening
recital on the Binns organ moved from Crosshill Queen’s The organ of A book originally published
by Ward, Lock & Co Ltd in 1887 has been re-typeset and reprinted with
all the original illustrations and diagrams. Organ Building for Amateurs – a
Practical Guide for Home-Workers by Mark Wicks has been republished
by Bardon Enterprises of Southsea, Hampshire at a cost of £27.50. Members of Eddleston Parish Church Junior Choir have been presented
with RSCM “Voice for Life” certificates and badges during a special service
celebrating the choir’s first ten years.
Trained by Mrs Lorraine Mulholland, Organist at Eddleston, the choir
takes a full part in the church’s life and worship. Millport Cathedral on the Isle of Cumbrae has a
new organ. It was installed earlier
this year following restoration by Wood of Huddersfield, having been discovered
in a redundant church just outside Brechin.
It was built in 1867 by Frederick Holt of During excavations
of a building site earlier this year near Greystones six wooden pipes were
found by archaeologists. The pipes have been carbon dated to between 2,120 BC
and 2,085 BC. They measure 30 to 50 centimetres long, and are tapered at one
end, having no perforations or finger holes. Made of yew, they are thought to
be the earliest wooden instrument yet discovered in SFO News
June 2004 Issue 1 Wondering when CH4 will
appear? We are informed that all
the work has now been completed and all that is holding it up is
copyright clearance. A publication
date of St Andrew’s Day has been heard.
|
|
Fast Fact from the
“Before the mechanical clock was invented in the 14th
century, the most complex machine was the pipe organ, installed about 950
by Bishop Aelfeg in his cathedral in |
The Stirling & District Organists’ Society plan to
make their AGM a bit different this year by having it in the midst of their
outing to Oban on Saturday 22nd May. Either this will encourage members to
attend the AGM or it will discourage them from going on the outing! Six organs will be visited during the
course of the day.
Did
you know? For five and a half years
from 1919 to 1925 the merged firm of Lewis and Willis traded as “Henry
Willis & Son and Lewis & Co Ltd” because a partnership could
not legally take over a limited company.
Willis still retain Lewis’s old company registration number to this
day.
The
New
SFO President In a short ceremony at the end of the Annual Conference on
Saturday 8th May, Matthew Hines of The nomination by Inverness that Dr Philip Lyon of
Dunvegan,
The Hymn Society of Great
The
President of the
It is good to report that not every redundant organ goes to the
scrap heap. Crosshill Queen’s
In September Stuart Muir of
In September 2003 the Borders Guild of Organists celebrated
twenty years since its foundation with a lunch and recital given by Brigitte
Harris and Chris Achenbach. In October
there was a composite recital by students of the
(The Secretary of The Alfred Hollins
Memorial Fund asked me to include details of the fund so that it might become
more widely known. I am pleased to do
this and in the next issue will be including details of other SFO activities.
– Ed.)
The
Alfred Hollins Memorial Fund was established in 1943 to perpetuate the memory
of Dr. Alfred Hollins, the distinguished blind organist and composer who died
in
The
Fund exists for the purpose of making awards as follows:
The
value of the award is determined by the resources of the Fund and may be
varied from year to year. Over the
past 60 years the Fund has helped several blind organists in the furtherance
of their musical careers.
Applications are invited in writing from
individuals and from educational establishments on behalf of any blind
students who would be eligible under the conditions listed above. They should be sent to the Honorary Secretary:
Mr Stewart Alston, e-mail: stewart.ferguslea@tinyworld.co.uk and should include full details of the
applicant’s musical ability and career objectives.
See also SFO Daily News and Notices