All My Hope On God Is Founded

Richard Shireby plays the 1877 Conacher tracker pipe organ in the workshop of Ireland-Shireby church organ builders (Lincolnshire, UK) as the organ nears the completion of it's restoration.

This item was recorded off the workshop's internal CCTV system as an experiment & an alternative of using a camcorder.

We had this hymn yesterday at Heydour church (UK)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Shireby
• Conacher
• pipe
• organ
• G0OJF

[secondtimeround]

Great little organ, unashamedly English in tone - nice contrast to today's neo-baroque screachers. Howell's tune 'Michael' is really catchy, I've had it in my head for days! The score for this hymn is near impossible to find listed in any hymn book, do you know where I might look?

[PipeOrganHymnsG0OJF]

It's 63(ii) in the hymn book aimed at the Methodist church 'Hymns & Psalms". I bought mine off Amazon (used) for 99 pence!

Yes, the Conacher organ was totally unaltered, apart from an electric blower, when we bought it for restoration & is all-tracker including pedals. However, I may have spent 29 years as an organist & an organ builder, but I'm afraid this organ has the heaviest action I've ever come across, in spite of our £35,000 rebuild!

[PipeOrganHymnsG0OJF]

The next organ we are currently working on is an 1890's Bishop. Unfortunately, it got heavily altered in the 1930's and put on pneumatic action, so I will take that a stage further & put it on electric action; it's already had the 'kiss of death' as far as originality is concerned. The Bishop organ is 4+4 & doesn't have a Fifteenth. I will have to add one on a direct electric chest, but it won't get it's specification messed up with neo-baroque stuff! It's organ R00771 if you look it up on NPOR.

[secondtimeround]

Well, I have never played on a tracker organ,

only electronics and one or two electric action, so I can't even relate, but I congradulate you on your efforts of preserving these fantastic instruments and making videos for everyone to see. Best of luck with the Bishop organ, hope to see it on youtube soon! There are a few old trackers where I live (Bahamas), but they are inevitably rarely or never used.

[PipeOrganHymnsG0OJF]

I installed a tracker organ in 1982 at Mt Moriah Baptist church. I was also shown a brand new walker tracker organ at another church, which had electric stop control. The organ we installed was quite similar & the same make as this Conacher one, though we had put the pedals on electric action as it had been pneumatic. Richard.

[secondtimeround]

I am glad to hear we have one or two of these instruments in regular service, I recall the one in St. Mathew's Parish Church being lovely.. Once these hurricanes and tropical storms have had their say, I will make an effort to go and see that organ and maybe even hear it play. I think the Walker to which you refer is in St. Agnes (Anglican) on Blue Hill Rd - if it is the same, it has an en chamade a right over the organist's head!