Leatherhead Parish Church - Thomas Parker Organ Inaugural Concert, Saturday 24 Nov 2007

Canon David Eaton's introduction

Chairman of the Council, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, may I very warmly welcome you to this evening’s concert.

Tonight is a landmark occasion as we celebrate and inaugurate the newly restored Thomas Parker Organ.

I would like to thank tonight’s musicians:

James O’Donnell is Organist and Master of the Choristers at Westminster Abbey. It is a huge honour that he is playing for us tonight. Happily, his Mum lives in Leatherhead nowadays. Earlier this week he was playing at the Queen and Prince Philip’s 60th Wedding Anniversary service. But tonight he has really gone upmarket to be with us here.
We also welcome the Brandenburg Sinfonia under the direction of Robert Porter, who also lives in Leatherhead and was married to Pippa in this church.
David Oliver is Director of Music here, a greatly talented musician and composer. It is a privilege for me to work with David and his enthusiasm has been integral to the whole project.

please click for the Concert programme (pdf file)

Please click the image for the programme: NB in the first part the Albinoni piece was moved to be just before the Interval.

But it wouldn’t be possible for the musicians to strike-up if others had not expertly paved the way.

Initially this meant the planning and hard work of an in-house team which has included:

We were expertly guided by advisors from both the Guildford Diocesan Advisory Committee and Ian Bell, organ advisor to the Heritage Lottery Fund.

At the time our application to the Heritage Lottery Fund felt like a very long shot but as we now know it came good. They have been our principal funders and we acknowledge a debt of gratitude to them and their staff.

The Friends of the Parish Church, initially under Ron Presley’s chairmanship and now Chris Evans’, have spearheaded this side of the fund raising. And it is to them and to the many donors, many of whom are here tonight, we also say a very big thank you. Please look at the Friends photo display of the organ under construction, and letters from visiting school children.

So finally when all was complete we knew we had to have a concert and a party.

Jill Goodchild, Calligrapher, in her skilled way, produced the invitations and now a plaque which has been placed by the organ.
Linda Heath has completed her booklet on the history of organs in this church, with colour illustrations, and on sale in the Hall after this concert.
Frances Presley and Bernard Salsbury and the Concerts in Church Committee have laboured night and day in preparing for tonight and all the arrangements that entails, to make this a memorable occasion.

To all of them a very big thank you.

So now let us begin. David will firstly play the opening piece on your programmes and then introduce the rest of the evening’s music.

Photos of the evening

Assisted by Bernard Salsbury and Ron Presley, in whose Chairmanship the Friends of Leatherhead Parish Church
committed to raise the 10% of the restoration costs not provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund

large flat-screen monitors enabled those who could not see directly to follow the playing

some of the invited audience; middle row Mike Lewis, former churchwarden, who worked so
hard on putting the submission for Heritage Lottery Funding and on dealing with the Diocese
and the restorers Goetze & Gwynn (Dominic Gwynn is next to Molly Lewis):
also shown, Chairman of Mole Valley District Council, Councillor Mrs Jean Pearson.

James O'Donnell and the Brandenburg Sinfonia play GF Handel's Organ Concerto in D Minor

after the concert, it was possible to view the inside of the organ;
here one of the two hand-pumps can be seen

This month sees the inaugural concert of the restored 18th century Thomas Parker Organ in the Parish Church. The installing of the organ quickly demonstrated what a fine piece of craftsmanship is displayed in this instrument. Whether you are an organ buff or not it is easy to see the amazing quality of the workmanship, which has brought together the original pipework, manual and sound board with a reconstructed case and other additions.

Our thanks go to our contractors, Goetze & Gwynn, the country's leading organ restorers; to the Heritage Lottery Fund for their generous grant for this work; to all other donors who have contributed to the local share of costs; to Michael Lewis who has led this project and brought to it the best in good management and fiscal control; to the churchwardens for their support and watching brief; to David Oliver as Director of Music and Linda Heath as archivist, for their guidance and enthusiasm; to Bernard Salsbury as Treasurer and to the Friends of the Parish Church, under Ron Presley and now Chris Evans' chairmanship who have backed the project and raised the local funding.

The inaugural concert takes place on November 24 and invitations have been distributed to all known donors and other supporters. These in themselves will account for a large number of people who will fill a substantial part of the church. However, it may be possible to extend invitations to others who would like to be present. If you are one of these, B Salsbury (375468) or F Presley (372049) should be contacted who will put your names on a reserve list on a first come first served basis. We are particularly fortunate that James O'Donnell, organist at Westminster Abbey, has agreed to play at this inaugural concert.

This organ project matters because it recreates an instrument, which is a joy in itself, like a piece of fine jewellery or an Old Master painting. It reminds us of a period of English church music, which was distinctive and described by one commentator as sung "lustily and with good courage". It also gives us a sense of continuity with the past. We are people who stand in a continuum. If we have no contact with, or appreciation of, the past we will be for ever trapped by the topical and trendy in the present.

Westminster Abbey organist James O'Donnell played in Leatherhead on Saturday to celebrate the reintroduction of an 18th century organ in the town.

Mr O'Donnell, who performed at the celebrations for the Queen and Prince Phillip's 60th wedding anniversary, was playing on the recently restored Georgian Thomas Parker organ at St Mary and St Nicholas Church, in Church Street.

More than 200 people attended the concert. The guests and Mr O'Donnell had been invited to the concert by a committee of parishioners who set about finding funds for the restoration of the ancient musical instrument after it was discovered by Rector David Eaton.

Funding for the restoration project, which was carried out by Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn, eventually came from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Friends of the Parish Church.

It is believed that Thomas Parker built several other organs around the same time as the Leatherhead one, including one for composer George Fredrich [sic] Handel.

Highlights of the concert were four pieces of music written by Handel. The concert was the first of many that have been planned for the church.

from the January 2008 Leatherhead Parish Church magazine
Organ Inauguration Concert
On Saturday November 24 2007 a concert was held in the parish church to a large invited audience to celebrate the rebuilding of the pipe organ made in 1766 by Thomas Parker, a celebrated English eighteenth century organ builder. And what a celebration it was! An evening of pure delight and real professionalism from James O'Donnell, organist and choir master of Westminster Abbey, with the Brandenburg Sinfonia under Robert Porter. Not only were we very fortunate to have James to inaugurate the organ, but also with great generosity he donated his fee to the organ fund, which was very much appreciated. Thank you James.

David Oliver opened the concert with a short piece called In Nomine by Richard Alwood to set the scene and then we heard Handel's Organ Concerto in D minor played by James and the Sinfonia with great verve and vivacity. This was followed by two eighteenth century organ pieces and the first half concluded with a lovely performance of Albinoni's concerto for two oboes. The second half opened with Albinoni's well known Adagio for Strings and then another two organ pieces.

What made everything extra special was that David Oliver had set up two TV screens so that everyone in the church could see the organ manuals, which greatly enhanced our enjoyment of the music. The official programme ended with another Organ Concerto by Handel, the one in B flat, a lively and rousing piece and then, by way of the icing on the cake, we had a spirited performance of Handel's Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.

Perhaps it would be in order here to explain why this organ was rebuilt and why it is here. It was in Watford parish church from 1766-1841 and came to our church in 1843 and was situated in a gallery in the tower where it remained until 1873 when it was decided to install a larger organ to be placed in a specially built organ loft over the newly built clergy vestry behind the north transept. Parts of the Parker organ were incorporated into the new organ built by Walkers & Sons and the old keyboard was retained and for many years hung on the door of the clergy vestry. Eventually, in 1980, just over 100 years after its installation, it was decided that the cost of carrying out necessary repairs to the Walker organ would be too expensive, and so an Allen electronic organ was bought to replace it.

The pipe organ remained in the organ loft until 1989 when a fire broke out in the floor boards under the Allen organ causing a great deal of damage and destroying many things, including the Allen organ. Luckily the fire was discovered in time for the fire brigade to extinguish it before the whole church caught fire, but the pipes from the organ loft crashed to the floor below - the noise must have been deafening.

It was then decided to dismantle the Walker organ and in the course of this, the remaining parts of the old Thomas Parker organ were discovered, although the maker was not known at that time. But it was apparent that the eighteenth century parts were worth preserving in the hope that maybe one day it could be restored.

For a long time this seemed but a pipe dream (!) but in due course David Eaton had the vision to set things in motion and three organ builders were approached to tender for the work of rebuilding the organ. The firm chosen was Goetze and Gwynn, specialists in Baroque instruments. David asked Mike Lewis to go through the time-consuming process of applying for a Heritage Lottery Grant. As we now know, to our surprise and delight, we received a grant for 90 per cent of the cost of rebuilding the organ, still leaving a considerable amount to be funded by the church. The Friends of the Parish Church guaranteed to raise the balance so that church funds would not have to be used for this purpose.

The whole enterprise has been a team effort with many people taking part. The actual rebuilding has taken about six months by dedicated craftsmen working with Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn - everything has been handcrafted and one can see why it all cost so much. There are photographs of all aspects of the work while it was being carried out, so there is a superb record of the whole process.

It was not easy to find a suitable site for the organ, about 16ft tall, 9ft wide and 4ft deep, it could not just be "tucked away" somewhere. It was important that it should be where it could be heard properly and convenient for use at services. So eventually the north transept was the site chosen. In October the organ was installed - it looks marvellous with its carved woodwork and gilded pipes and when we were able to hear it played at a service by David Oliver in November we found that it sounds as good as it looks. We hope that we shall be able to hold more concerts for the organ and that it can be used to enhance our services and to provide pleasure to many for generations to come.
Linda Heath

Leatherhead Parish Church, the most historic building in the community and recognised as the local landmark, welcomes enquiries about the use of the church as a venue for appropriate events, and about the use of the Thomas Parker Organ. The use of this instrument and of our Hammond organ is at the discretion of our Director of Music.

Leatherhead Parish Church Thomas Parker Organ Inaugural Concert, Saturday 24 Nov 2007

Canon David Eaton's introduction

Photos of the evening

Leatherhead Parish Church
Thomas Parker Organ Inaugural Concert, Saturday 24 Nov 2007