At the end of week 2, much of the framework is up and it’s clear to see the front of the casework beginning to look as it did before, albeit about 2 feet further forward in order to accommodate additional pipework. Much of the winding is now in place, with the larger blower alongside our original smaller one, providing ample wind to the different departments via the sets of bellows and regulators. One or two of the larger pipes have also arrived, notably pipes from the pedal Trombone rank which will be split at the rear or the organ, one half behind the Swell and the other behind the Great.
Finally, after being away for 10 months, our organ started to return today! The first job is to rebuild the main structure, beginning with the newly enlarged Swell on the right. The photos below show progress on day 1 (bearing in mind that the morning was spent loading, transporting, and unloading). The captions to each photo give some more information.
On Monday 1st September, a new chapter began in the life of St Stephen’s with the Licensing and Installation of Reverend Kevin Maddy as Priest in Charge. The service was led by the Bishop of Dover, and Kevin was Installed by the Archdeacon of Canterbury.
Those of you reading this who are regular worshippers at St Stephen’s, I hope you have had a chance to look at the craftsmanship in the console which is now in the north transept. Work is still progressing and the photographs below show the brand new Bassoon pipework that will go on the Swell, details of the rewirinng that is being done to the 1960s chests and some of the new chests ready to take their pipework. The build is heading towards the final assembly in the workshop before moving everything into church where the final work will be completed on site. We are so nearly there now!
The craftsmen at Brownes are continuing to work hard on our organ, and the photos below show how things are getting on. The console in particular is very close to being finished and will be brought to church in the next couple of weeks or so. Click on the thumbnails for full size images with a description of what is shown.
I’ve wanted to cycle Britain end to end for a long time, but being a rebel I decided to do the it North-West to South-East rather than the more usual Land’s End to John O’Groats route. Its a bit shorter and as I live in Kent the end point is only 20 miles from home. The only drawback is that the nearest railway station is 70 miles from Cape Wrath and unless I can get a lift I’ll have to cycle to the starting point!
I aim to cycle about 30 miles a day, so the whole trip will take about a month. I’m booked on the train to Thurso on May 2nd, so all being well the trip will start on May 4th and end around June 5th. But weather, technical problems and the strength of my legs may lead to some slippage on this!
The trip works out at a little over 850 miles, so to reach my target I need sponsorship of just under £12 per mile. You can donate a lump sum on here (and gift-aid it if you pay UK tax) or you can email me petertoon@aol.com with a promise of sponsorship so much per mile or a fixed sum, or fill in one of my paper sponsorship forms.
I’ve been aware of the importance of homelessness, particularly for single people since I worked at Centrepoint as a medical student and later at St Botolph’s when I was a GP. If you are homeless then solving the problems which led to homelessness in the first place, be it unemployment, relationship breakdown, mental health, drug or alcochol problems becomes much harder. It’s like falling down into a pit – and charities like Catching Lives drops down a rope to help people climb back up again.
Catching Lives runs a day centre which offers advice and support to homeless people in Canterbury as well as a hot meal and a warm place to sit. Alongside local churches they also run a night shelter throughout the months of December, January and February.
Please give generously to support this worthwhile cause which really does catch those whose lives have fallen through the safety net of the welfare state.
A concert of varied vocal music at 7.30pm on Saturday 3 May, in St Stephen’s, in aid of the organ appeal. Sung by Quodlibet, a quintet of professional singers led by Dr Peter Giles, and including Neil Richards who is known to many of us as our usual soloist in the Fauré Requiem on Remembrance Sunday. The programme will include both sacred and secular music from across the centuries. Admission is by programme, available from Steve Barker, or by emailing {This email is obscured. Your must have javascript enabled to see it} – £5 each. If you know of other people who would be interested, please spread the word and help us fill the church for what promises to be an outstanding concert – don’t miss out!
On Maundy Thursday, Christians Together in Canterbury will be on the High Street Outside Marks and Spencer from 10am – 4pm offering free shoe cleaning to everyone in town on that day as a modern version of foot washing to remind us all that love and service to others is the heart of the Christian message. We need need people to sign up to come and clean shoes on the day – you only need to spare 30 minutes. There is a sign up sheet online where people can sign up, or you can call Hannah Thomson on 01227 451963, or speak to Christiana Crabtree or Martin Gardham our CTC reps, or to Peter Toon.
As you’ll be able to see from the photographs below, the console is now very nearly finished – all that remain to do is the drawstops, which are being turned by hand, so will be unique for our organ, not mass-produced!
The new pipe chests are being made, and will shortly be fitted with electro-magnets. Once this is completed, attention will turn to reassembling the instrument and voicing the pipework so that it blends together as a single musical instrument made up of many parts.
I took the opportunity to visit Browne’s workshop again today to see how things were getting on; have a look at the photos below to see what’s been happening over the past couple of weeks!
