The craftsmen at Brownes are continuing to work hard on our organ, and the photos below show how things are getting on. The console in particular is very close to being finished and will be brought to church in the next couple of weeks or so. Click on the thumbnails for full size images with a description of what is shown.
I’ve wanted to cycle Britain end to end for a long time, but being a rebel I decided to do the it North-West to South-East rather than the more usual Land’s End to John O’Groats route. Its a bit shorter and as I live in Kent the end point is only 20 miles from home. The only drawback is that the nearest railway station is 70 miles from Cape Wrath and unless I can get a lift I’ll have to cycle to the starting point!
I aim to cycle about 30 miles a day, so the whole trip will take about a month. I’m booked on the train to Thurso on May 2nd, so all being well the trip will start on May 4th and end around June 5th. But weather, technical problems and the strength of my legs may lead to some slippage on this!
The trip works out at a little over 850 miles, so to reach my target I need sponsorship of just under £12 per mile. You can donate a lump sum on here (and gift-aid it if you pay UK tax) or you can email me petertoon@aol.com with a promise of sponsorship so much per mile or a fixed sum, or fill in one of my paper sponsorship forms.
I’ve been aware of the importance of homelessness, particularly for single people since I worked at Centrepoint as a medical student and later at St Botolph’s when I was a GP. If you are homeless then solving the problems which led to homelessness in the first place, be it unemployment, relationship breakdown, mental health, drug or alcochol problems becomes much harder. It’s like falling down into a pit – and charities like Catching Lives drops down a rope to help people climb back up again.
Catching Lives runs a day centre which offers advice and support to homeless people in Canterbury as well as a hot meal and a warm place to sit. Alongside local churches they also run a night shelter throughout the months of December, January and February.
Please give generously to support this worthwhile cause which really does catch those whose lives have fallen through the safety net of the welfare state.
Peter Toon
You can sponsor Peter by clicking here to visit his Just Giving page.
A concert of varied vocal music at 7.30pm on Saturday 3 May, in St Stephen’s, in aid of the organ appeal. Sung by Quodlibet, a quintet of professional singers led by Dr Peter Giles, and including Neil Richards who is known to many of us as our usual soloist in the Fauré Requiem on Remembrance Sunday. The programme will include both sacred and secular music from across the centuries. Admission is by programme, available from Steve Barker, or by emailing {This email is obscured. Your must have javascript enabled to see it} – £5 each. If you know of other people who would be interested, please spread the word and help us fill the church for what promises to be an outstanding concert – don’t miss out!
On Maundy Thursday, Christians Together in Canterbury will be on the High Street Outside Marks and Spencer from 10am – 4pm offering free shoe cleaning to everyone in town on that day as a modern version of foot washing to remind us all that love and service to others is the heart of the Christian message. We need need people to sign up to come and clean shoes on the day – you only need to spare 30 minutes. There is a sign up sheet online where people can sign up, or you can call Hannah Thomson on 01227 451963, or speak to Christiana Crabtree or Martin Gardham our CTC reps, or to Peter Toon.
As you’ll be able to see from the photographs below, the console is now very nearly finished – all that remain to do is the drawstops, which are being turned by hand, so will be unique for our organ, not mass-produced!
The new pipe chests are being made, and will shortly be fitted with electro-magnets. Once this is completed, attention will turn to reassembling the instrument and voicing the pipework so that it blends together as a single musical instrument made up of many parts.
I took the opportunity to visit Browne’s workshop again today to see how things were getting on; have a look at the photos below to see what’s been happening over the past couple of weeks!
Visiting Browne’s today, I had the opportunity to see how the new console was coming along. It is crafted out of solid oak and consequently should outlast all of us! There are, however, a couple of items that have been included from our previous organ console – in particular the pedal board which was already very high quality and has been stripped down and refinished.
There are a few photographs below – click on the thumbnail image for the full size picture.
Congratulations to Sophie and Mark for a wonderful Gala Dinner in aid of the organ fund. The menu had an Italian theme, with anti-pasta, Lasagne, profiteroles and Winter Berry Mess.
The photos below give a ‘flavour’ of the evening.
I had the opportunity to visit Browne’s workshop again today to get an update on how things were progressing. You’ll be able to see a number of things from the pictures below, in particular:
Over the next couple of weeks, the new console will be assembled and wired up. Once this is done it can be connected to the soundboards, and the pipework carefully put back in. New soundboards will need to be made for the additional pipework.
It’s now over two months since Browne’s removed our organ and took it to their workshops for repair. All of the pipework has been cleaned, with dents rounded out and splits repaired. The photographs below show repairs to the casework, where wood with active woodworm had to be completely removed. There are also photos of repairs made to the pneumatic motors that let air into the pedal pipes.
Work is now progressing with the construction of the new console and platform, so I will be returning to the workshop in a couple of weeks to see how things are going. Once this is constructed, pipework can be put back into place and we will be able to hear our organ sing again!
With thanks to Stephen Bailey, Director of F H Browne & Sons, for permission to reproduce his photographs.