Five accomplished organists will attempt to play the Bearwood College chapel organ in a 24-hour relay from 4pm on Friday 13th May. The talented musicians will be taking it in turns to play an improvised programme of traditional organ pieces in a bid to raise funds for the restoration appeal as the instrument is desperately in need of repair.
Playing in 2 hour slots the organists will be sponsored to fill the chapel with wonderful music and it is hoped that there will be additional donations from the audience. Free parking is available on site, refreshments and merchandise supporting CORA (Chapel Organ Restoration Appeal) will also be on sale.
The team of five consists of Chris Enston, Bearwood College’s Director of Music, Stuart King, the school’s Chaplain, Martin Barnes, ex-Bearwood pupil and CORA Secretary, Edward McCall, a talented organist who has previously played in an organ recital for the College and a mystery guest player, known as ‘Paul’.
The chapel was built in 1934 as a gift from Lord Inchcape, one of the great merchant shipping magnates of the time to the Royal Merchant Navy School. The organ within the chapel was part of this gift and was installed in 1935 by the now extinct organ building firm of Compton. It has 688 individual pipes and the front and back sections are connected by 1930s electrics. CORA Secretary, Martin Barnes, explained "There are three main jobs to do; 1. clean out the dust and dirt accumulated over the last 75 years, 2. replace the electrics with new co-axial cable, and 3. replace the leatherwork which is cracking either side of the valves."
Restoring it to its original glory is a huge job requiring funds in the region of £70,000. Whilst this may seem expensive, even a basic new organ would cost upwards of £300,000. There have been 4 Saturday morning organ recitals to date and around £27,000 has been raised towards the target. “We’re really stepping things up by playing continuously for 24 hours,” said the College’s Director of Music, Chris Enston, “It isn’t going to be at all easy; especially the graveyard slot from 12am-6am”.
It is hoped that the sponsored Organ-A-Thon will help raise awareness of the needs of the Chapel organ and generate even further contributions to the appeal. All are welcome to the 24 hour recital which starts at 4pm on Friday 13th May in the Bearwood College Chapel.