ORGAN OF THE MONTH 36: June 2005
St
John the Baptist, Kidderminster |
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Click on the thumbnail to obtain a full-size image |
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Not included in BOA's "organ crawl" earlier this year, but I am grateful to Chris Stickland for information and the opportunity to visit the fourth and final example of this year's "organ tour" of Kidderminster.
The organ occupies a West End position on a large gallery which also includes the console, choir stalls and storage space. The church choir has recently been relocated at ground floor level and Chris is considering the possibility of doing the same with the console, which has solid-state keying & coupling action supplied by Trevor Tipple during the latest rebuild. The present spacious location for the pipework means that features elsewhere often hidden from view are here clearly visible, eg the huge mouths of the mighty wooden Double Diapason 16ft (just visible to the right of the central photo) fill your field of vision on entering the organ gallery via its broad staircase.
The case bears a brass plaque (just visible in the central photo) proclaiming that it was "erected by parishoners & friends... to commemorate the completion of fifty years' service as organist of this church by William E Wadely FRCO, 1877-1927", and there is further evidence that Mr Wadely remained in post until his death at the age of 88 in 1943. Can anyone out there beat 66 years of continuous service as organist of the same church?