Disability Policy

"The King of Instruments" Could we be accused of exaggeration if we used Mozart's famous description of the organ - "The King of Instruments" - to describe our instrument in St. Saviour's? After all, it is quite modest in size. The organ in St. George's Church, Stockport, for example, has 3 keyboards (manuals) plus pedals and 52 different tone colours (stops). But even that is small compared to the majestic instrument in Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral. The largest in the UK, it has 5 manuals plus pedals, 152 stops and 10,268 pipes. Truly: "the King of Instruments".

By comparison the organ in St. Saviour's has just 2 manuals plus pedals and only 9 stops. Yet it is simply a delight to play each Sunday. Surprisingly versatile despite its compact nature, I relish the opportunity of sitting down at its console to set, through music, the atmosphere before our worship, leading us all in song during our service to the glory of God and then sending us on our way with a spring in our step. I've played much larger instruments which have become surprisingly boring to listen to. By contrast, the care that has been taken by the builders over the exquisite sound and blend of the organ in St. Saviour's means that, in the three and a half years I've been organist, I've never tired of playing and listening to it. In that time, I've been fortunate to be able to call upon the friendship of four cathedral organists to deputise for me when I've been away. They too have been impressed and delighted by the little gem that resides in our organ loft.Each of the 9 stops has been "voiced" beautifully. At my disposal, I have flute sounds and string sounds and a bright "full-chorus" which sings out across the church from its lofty perch to lead even the largest of congregations.

One would think the instrument had been designed especially for the building. Yet the organ we have now was never intended for St. Saviour's. By the time the present church building began to be used for worship in 1918, funds were depleted. The original plans for a window at the east end of the church above the chancel were shelved (if you go outside to the east end of the church, you can still see the rough brickwork where it was intended the building would continue) and there was no money left to commission an organ. A short-term solution was found: the church would rent an instrument from Jardine's, the Manchester-based organ builders who still tune and maintain the organ to this day. In fact, the church rented the organ from the company for so many years that, in the end, an amicable arrangement saw the organ remain in its loft; to all intents and purposes, that rented organ is the one we still hear today.

Over the years, the St. Saviour's organ has had one or two major overhauls, the addition of a new pedalboard and the generous gift of a new stop. Yet it is now over 30 years since it was last cleaned. It has and still continues to be a very reliable instrument. But like anything that contains delicate moving parts - even the modest organ of St. Saviour's contains over 400 pipes and all the leavers and pullies required to make each one individually sound - every few years, the dust and dirt which naturally gathers in the hidden corners of any church building must be carefully and professionally cleaned away by dismantling the instrument. Only in this way can we continue to guarantee the steadfast service we are used to hearing each Sunday.

Before this grime begins to hamper our use of the organ - after all, there is still no better way of accompanying many of our most well-known and well-loved hymns - the PCC of St. Saviour's has decided to set up an organ fund to raise money for a complete cleaning of the instrument sometime in the next 2 or 3 years.

Simon Vivian

Organist, St. Saviour's Church