East Garston

On the 18th of July 1877 an appeal was made
for funds to replace the old organ.

-"the wretched old grinder which has been revolving for many a long year the same old tunes over and over again, excepting a few tunes that could be played on a very limited keyboard. The new organ built by Gildersleeve of Kentish Town, is a complete instrument with one row of keys and two and a half octaves of pedals".

Even after the contributions of the vicar's friends and the offertory of £9-5-4d (approx £9-27 pence) were taken into account, there was still a deficit of £20-00. An amount for which the vicar made himself personally responsible. One hundred and twenty eight years later in 2005 that same organ although still working, finds itself in need of specialist attention. As before, funds are again needed to meet the cost, funds to the tune of £19,000 !! ~ Local firm Foster-Waite Organ Builders were awarded the contract for the refurbishment. www.foster-waiteorgans.co.uk

Craftsman Paul Bowers pictured in the workshop. Paul has been with the company since 1989.

The business was started by Tony Foster-Waite in 1968. Tony has worked on many prestigious organs and, when still very young, he was given, among many others, St. Paul’s Cathedral to look after. A different section of this had to be tuned every Friday evening after the Cathedral closed to the public and this organ became very special to him. One of his few claims to fame is that he played for part of a Service there once. As part of his apprenticeship, Tony was taught the skills of voicing and this has remained one of his favourite aspects of organ work ever since.

Work started on the rgan in mid-summer and one of the first discoveries was that of mice nests and a comprehensive food store situated at the base of the console.

This was duly dealt with and it wasn't long before Tony and his crew had the organ stripped down totally, with the parts stacked against the walls looking like some giant, extremely complicated construction kit.

With the the main frame stripped out and the various components stacked in their respective lots, the organ was by now, completely unrecognisable.

A period of time passed before the crew returned to All Saints' during which time, new replacement parts were crafted at the workshop. A new windbox was also commishioned, as over the years woodworm had devoured a high percentage of the original box.

While Tony and Ted busied themselves with the console, Paul was again back at the workshop.
This time producing new organ pedals for the next stage of the refurbishment.

Slowly the organ began to take shape, with the completion of the console imminent, attention was turned to the windchest and the refitting of the pipes....pipes that ranged in size from two metres in length, to those that were small enough to fit comfortably in the palm of a human hand.

Paul and Tony carry out the final voicing checks and with restoration now complete there is only one remaining job for Tony Foster-Waite ~ and that is to put the organ through it's paces.