The new organ in St Nicholas Tackley

As previously reported in this blog, since early last year a new pipe organ in St Nicholas Church has been under construction by the long established firm of J W Walkers & sons. This is one of the oldest organ building firms still in business in England, having been founded in the 1820s. They have built many instruments of all shapes and sizes during their long history, including large organs for cathedrals in Bristol, Blackburn and Birmingham (St Chad’s) and the London Oratory. The new organ in Tackley is much smaller, of course, but has been designed and built to the same exacting standards as these larger instruments, combining traditional craftsmanship with modern digital electronic technology.

The project has been made possible thanks to the amazingly generous legacy from former organist Bob Clow, together with grants from the Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust, the government Listed Places of Worship scheme and other donations and local fundraising. The good news is that the installation is now almost complete and the instrument is already being used to accompany weekly services in the church, although a little more work is still needed to finish off some technical details and the front face of the instrument.

The new organ is actually bigger than the instrument it replaces, currently with 17 stops (representing different sounds or “voices”) and more than 700 pipes of many shapes and sizes (see the photos above)! Despite this, it has been designed to fit almost exactly into the space occupied by the older instrument. The range of sounds it can produce, however, is a huge improvement on the older instrument, allowing the organist to play a much wider repertoire of organ music as well as supporting the singing of even a full congregation. So Tackley is at last blessed with an instrument that is able to provide beautiful music to support church worship, village occasions, weddings and funerals, as well as for concerts and musical events which all are welcome to enjoy.

There will be a number of special events during the coming year to highlight the new organ, to which villagers will be very welcome to come along and celebrate. These will include

(i) a meditation on the Passion of Christ with organ music on Sunday 6 April at 5.30pm,

(ii) an inaugural concert of organ music on Saturday 17 May at 7.30pm and

(iii) a service of Choral Evensong and Dedication on Sunday 20 July at 5.30pm with the Bishop of Dorchester and the Cathedral Singers of Christchurch.

But you don’t need to wait until then to hear the organ since it is played for each Sunday service.