February 2023

Bernard Novell (local photographer) has been taking pictures at various stages during the organ rebuild. They can be viewed on the Elvendon Images website.

January 2023

The organ rebuild is almost complete!

 Saturday 28th January 2023

We have had a busy weekend.  On Saturday morning our organ consultant, Paul Hale, came to Goring to sign-off the organ rebuild.  Although very pleased with the sound of the organ, Paul was only able to partially sign-off the organ as there are still 12 pipes to install and one or two minor issues to sort out.  These should be fixed in the next week and Paul will return mid-February to finally sign-off the organ

On Saturday afternoon, we had a ‘Try Out The Organ Event’ for young people.  It was very successful with 12 participants aged between 5 and 25 with a range of experience between only having started to learn the piano a month or two ago to diploma standard.

Today, Sunday 29th January 2023, we had a benefice service during which the rebuilt organ was re-dedicated.  A choir of almost 40 singers, accompanied by Bryan Almond, sang for the service – choosing Purcell’s Rejoice in the Lord alway as the anthem.  A wonderful chocolate cake was made to go with the after-service coffee. The next few weeks will continue to be busy as the organ rebuild is completed; the compound is dismantled; and the church tidied and cleaned ready for an opening recital by Thomas Trotter on 11th February and, a week later, our Gala Event with Paul Hale giving us the opportunity to thank all those who contributed in different ways to the success of the project. Our focus will then continue to move forwards with the wider life and mission of the church, in which our music-filled worship of Almighty God plays a vital part.

 

November 2022 

Since the previous update we have received a further donation of £5000 from the Ian M. Foulerton Charitable Trust. There have also been a continuing series of challenges and successes as noted below.

Challenges

1. One of the key components of the organ, the console, is being manufactured by a specialist sub-contractor and the delivery for this has slipped by four weeks.  This has had a knock-on effect for other works as it was on the critical path.
2. When the organ builder started up the blower to test some newly installed equipment, a quantity of debris was blown out indicating a possible rupture to the underground pipe between the blower room and the organ chamber. Specialist drain consultants, using a remote camera, confirmed that there was a partial collapse of the pipe possibly due to ground shrinkage during the very dry weather. A repair procedure has been identified, requiring a faculty to enable excavations to take place in the churchyard (see picture below indicating route of pipe). Lack of availability of the blower caused by the pipe failure has impacted the work schedule.
3. Calculations indicate that the existing blower should be sufficient to supply the rebuilt organ but there is an element of uncertainty to this.  We are currently investigating options if an increased wind supply is required.

Successes

1. In spite of the problems encountered, the technical progress on rebuilding the organ has been good with the three new soundboards in place, the wind trunking and bellows refurbished and much of the pipework cleaned and replaced in the soundboards.
2. Although the failure of the blower supply pipe was a setback, we were very pleased and grateful that our application for a faculty to undertake the excavation and repair work in the churchyard was granted so quickly, enabling repair work to be undertaken without undue delay.
3. The appetite for music in church is still strong as evidenced by a very well supported event in the church in October. This was an open ‘come and sing’ event to honour the memory of HM Queen Elizabeth through music. Around 60 participants attended a rehearsal in the afternoon and then performed the tribute event in the evening. The programme included Faure’s Requiem and other music played at key events in the Queen’s life.  
4. We are excited about the impending recruitment of a new Director of Music and we can already see a ‘pipeline’ of potential candidates for the organ scholarship which would keep the scheme busy for the next several years.  Using the temporary electronic organ, we have already involved a young local musician in playing for services and practices, providing him with experience of playing a pedal board and the appropriate use of stops. 

The project is running a few weeks behind the original plan, and there have been a number of challenges to overcome. Nonetheless, it is looking likely that the organ building work will be complete by January 2023 and we will have laid the foundations of the musical outreach work through the appointment of a Director of Music and implementation of the organ scholarship scheme by April 2023. We are still actively fund-raising to complete the project.




The image (left) shows some of the refurbished pipes replaced in new soundboards.

 

July 2022

The dismantling is complete and most of the components have been refurbished or replaced. Now work has started on the rebuilding process in the organ chamber. The photos show the three new soundboards in place as well as some of the larger wooden pipes together with the narrow access door for maintenance and tuning. 
Thank you for your flexibility last week while St Thomas' was closed. Most activities could continue as normal but we were blessed with a beautiful Sunday service in the vicarage garden with the music led by Goring Primary school choir. In the evening, our benefice Evensong was held at St Mary's with the youth choir, St Mary's and St Thomas' adult choirs combining.

Thank you for your continued support for this project. As originally planned, the organ should be rebuilt before the end of this year when our focus can move forwards onto the wider life and mission of the church in which our music-filled worship of Almighty God plays a vital part.
 

April 2022

Information about the Organ Rebuild and temporary weekday closure of St Thomas' during dismantling

As planned, we will shortly be dismantling the organ. Church services will continue to be held as normal throughout.

Whilst work is in progress, for safety reasons, the church will need to be closed to visitors. We expect the church to be closed at times between the following dates: Tuesday 26th April to early morning Wednesday 18th May. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. St Mary's in Streatley and St Andrew's in South Stoke will of course be open as places for peace, prayer and sanctuary during these times.

The organ will be out of action until the autumn. We will have a temporary digital organ and the use of the community piano which will be moved to just in front of the pulpit. From May until the rebuilt organ is installed, part of the north aisle will be partitioned off for storage and safety.

March 2022

With components for the organ coming from different countries around the world, there have obviously been difficulties caused by Covid, Brexit and, now, the Ukrainian situation. However, good progress has been made. The new sound boards are being made at the Renatus workshop in Bideford, Devon (see photo above) and Anthony, our organ builder, has started work on the detailed design of the new console.

Grant Awards

In February, we were delighted to hear that we had been awarded a grant by the The Prince of Wales' Charitable Fund.

Fundraising

Bryan Almond's recital at the end of January raised over £400 and we have two more recitals planned for May and June. More details coming soon.

January 2022

The organ at St Thomas' Church, is a three-manual instrument built in the 1870s by Alfred Monk of London and rebuilt by Bishop and Son in 1930. The pipework is still of excellent quality but many parts of the organ, including the 1886 windchests and slider sound boards are starting to fail and so a project team was set up to plan for a rebuild of the organ, retaining the quality pipes and rebuilding the old worn-out or redundant parts. Now, after several years of planning and fund-raising, we are delighted to announce that St Thomas' Church signed the contract for the organ rebuild work with Anthony Hall of Clevedon Organs on 1st November 2021.

We are so thankful for all the enthusiasm, support, effort and contributions which have been vital for this. They reflect the value and blessing music gives in our worship of God and in our lives.

The design and manufacture of sections of the organ will happen between now and Easter 2022. Dismantling of the organ will take place after Easter. Some of the pipes will remain at St Thomas' while some pipes and other sections of the organ will be taken to one of Clevedon Organ's workshops to be cleaned and mended.

In the autumn of 2022, the new and restored sections of the organ will be brought back to St Thomas' and the organ will be rebuilt ready for Christmas 2022. While our pipe organ is being rebuilt, Clevedon Organs will loan us the use of a digital organ.

Thank you to all those who have supported our project so generously. To the many individual donors; to those who have given their time and talents to give recitals in aid of our organ project; and to the trusts and charities (listed below) who have helped us reach the position of being able to sign the contract.

• The Greys Charitable Trust
• Allchurches Trust
• The Goring Gap News Association
• The Gatehampton Trust
• George Michael Legacy Project
• Barbara's Shop
• Lucy Woodward Charitable Trust
• The Englefield Charitable Trust
• Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust 

Our focus can now continue to move forwards onto the wider life and mission of the church, in which our music-filled worship of Almighty God plays a vital part. We will try to give regular updates of how the rebuild is progressing over the next year. We will also be continuing to hold fundraising events for the rebuild and part two of our project, using the rebuilt organ to serve both the church and wider community.

The project is going well. Anthony, our organ builder, has completed the sound board design and production has started at the Renatus workshop in Bideford, Devon. The next stage in the design is planning the new console. Fundraising is going well too. Since we signed the contract at the start of November, over £34,000 has been raised towards the project. This was raised through:

• Fundraising lunchtime concerts given by Goring Chamber Choir;
• A fundraising concert in memory of Michael Howell given by the Thameside Singers;
• Several very generous donations from private individuals;
• Grants from several trusts including one from The Foulerton Charitable Trust.

November 2021

The organ, at St Thomas' Church, is a three-manual instrument built in the 1870s by Alfred Monk of London and rebuilt by Bishop and Son in 1930. The pipework is still of excellent quality but many parts of the organ, including the 1886 windchests and slider sound boards, are starting to fail. Because of this a project team was set up to plan for a rebuild of the organ, retaining the quality pipes and rebuilding the old worn-out or redundant parts. Now, after several years of planning and fundraising, we are delighted to announce that St Thomas' Church signed the contract for the organ rebuild work with Anthony Hall of Clevedon Organs on 1st November 2021.

We are so thankful for all the enthusiasm, support, effort and contributions which have been vital for this. They reflect the value and blessing music gives in our worship of God and in our lives.

The design and manufacture of sections of the organ will happen between now and Easter 2022. Dismantling of the organ will take place after Easter. Some of the pipes will remain at St Thomas' while some pipes and other sections of the organ will be taken to one of Clevedon Organ's workshops to be cleaned and mended.

In the autumn of 2022, the new and restored sections of the organ will be brought back to St Thomas' and the organ will be rebuilt ready for Christmas 2022. While our pipe organ is being rebuilt, Clevedon Organs will loan us the use of a digital organ.

Thank you to all those who have supported our project so generously. To the many individual donors; to those who have given their time and talents to give recitals in aid of our organ project; and to the trusts and charities who have helped us reach the position of being able to sign the contract:

• The Greys Charitable Trust
• Allchurches Trust
• The Goring Gap News Association
• The Gatehampton Trust
• George Michael Legacy Project
• Barbara's Shop
• Lucy Woodward Charitable Trust
• The Englefield Charitable Trust
• Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust

We continue to receive generous donations by local people who are keen to support our organ rebuild project. We have also received many donations in memory of Michael Howell, Ann Marshall and Myrna Anderson. Thank you.

Our focus can now continue to move forwards onto the wider life and mission of the church, in which our music-filled worship of Almighty God plays a vital part.

We will try to give regular updates of how the rebuild is progressing over the next year. We will also be continuing to hold fundraising events for the rebuild and part two of our project, using the rebuilt organ to serve both the church and wider community.

June 2021

Fund raising has continued and the total now stands at over £100,000.

A faculty has been granted by the Diocese of Oxford to enable the work to be undertaken.

More active fund raising has begun again with the preparation of grant applications with the ambition of securing sufficient funds to place an order for the work by the end of this year. 

April 2021

As we enjoy the new growth of spring and there are promising signs of the possibility of further lifting of restrictions, it seems appropriate to review progress with the organ project and look forward to future plans.

Before the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the project had made good progress in developing plans through consultation with the relevant advisory bodies, the church community and professional experts. Fundraising had also been making good progress with over £75,000 raised in gifts and pledges, 11 grant applications in various stages of progress, 28 further possible sources of funding under investigation and 25 possible sources of funding reviewed but rejected for reasons of eligibility.

It would have been hard to foresee the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic back in March 2020 and we are all still coming to terms with this, individually and collectively. The organ project is no different and many of the planned activities for the last year have had to be postponed. In addition, the church community has recently suffered the sad loss of Michael Howell who was a central figure in the project and it is appropriate to leave time and space to mourn, take stock and review the way forward.

In this regard, we have been fortunate that Bryan Almond, who lives in the village and has long association with our church, has kindly stepped in as our local technical expert in place of Michael. He has much experience in overseeing an organ project which recently happened at Primrose Hill, where he is the assistant organist.

At two recent funerals, the families have kindly asked that donations in memory of their loved ones should be given in aid of the organ fund. Both of these dear church members are a sad loss: Ann Marshall who was a faithful member of St Thomas' church choir for many years and who felt the joy of singing as a part of worship; and Michael Howell who was a consummate musician, organist and choir leader, who faced his illness with courage and grace as moving witness to his faith.

We are also grateful to George Michael fans and Nikki at Barbara's Antique and Bric-a-Brac shop who are fundraising for our organ project as part of their fundraising for charities in memory of George Michael. Nikki and the fans have raised a fantastic £800 for our organ fund so far.

The Oxford Diocesan Advisory Council (DAC), having carefully considered the project proposals over many months, have recently given their response. This has enabled the Parochial Church Council (PCC) to display public notice of the project, allowing 28 days for consideration and comment, following which they can apply to the Chancellor for a faculty. Granting of a faculty is a key step in that it gives permission for the project to proceed and it also makes it possible to approach funding bodies for whom grant of a faculty is a necessary precondition.

The organ is a unique instrument, so complex and mechanical but capable of producing a wonderful range of sounds! Who has not been moved or uplifted at some time in their lives by the sound of the organ: accompanying a bride down the nave, leading the congregational singing, providing a gentle background at points of reflection or giving solace where music speaks more clearly than words? The vision remains to maintain this cherished element of church community life in the worship and praise of God for generations to come.