Did you realise that Evedon Church was once home to a pipe organ with a special history? In 2013, one of our PCC members was told the extraordinary tale by Richard Shireby of Ireland-Shireby Church Organ Builders:
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The pipe organ was discarded by the church around 1991 & was removed by
amateur organ builder Rowland Lee (yes THE pre-eminent composer &
conductor). The organ had not only suffered from years of neglect but had
received water leaking through the roof onto it for about 20 years & so had
been unplayable for many years. Rowland took numerous photographs & the are
on one of my YouTube channels here:-
http://youtu.be/9JkyKWciF1Y
Shortly before Mr Lee moved from Osbournby to near Woodall Spa, I bought the
untouched organ from him & transported the thousands of parts making up the
4-ton instrument to my storage sheds here, it being just one of ten
instruments I own; three being in the workshop (finished, nearly finished &
just started!)
The organ is very very special indeed & was built in 1864 I seem to remember
by Lloyd & Dudgeon of Nottingham. It is only one of 4 know to survive. One
lives near Nottingham & is a small one manual overhauled by Aistrup & Hind a
few years ago. The second (at Great Ponton) is a larger 1-manual & has also
been unplayable for decades. The third got modified out of all recognition
in the 1940's & had recently had a very thorough overhaul costing circa £70K
& lives at Stoke Bardolph I seem to recall near Nottingham......& I own the
fourth - the ex-Evedon one. Not only two manual but above average in size (14
ranks I recall) & in totally original condition (& totally knackered too!)
Mr Lee & others believe the organ was built for Haverholme Priory, replacing
a 1-manual instrument there. As you know Haverholme Priory 'folded' about
1914 & we believe that the organ was given/sold to Evedon Church....because
Mr Lee & others believe it was physically too big for the church...not that
that bothers me, and the kind of stops it has are more likely to be found on
a residential organ than a church organ,....not that it matters either.
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Evedon Church was blessed in 2021 with the donation of an Allen MDS-16, kindly donated in loving memory of David Scott OBE, former church organist for the Carr Dyke Group of Churches (and grandfather to PCC Member, Amanda). Organ music fills our church once again!
The congregation is extremely grateful to Carole Wright for taking on the challenge of playing the instrument for our monthly and celebration services.
Psalm 150 (21st Century King James Version)
150 Praise ye the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the firmament of His power!
2 Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
3 Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with the psaltery and harp!
4 Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and organs!
5 Praise Him upon the loud cymbals; praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals!
6 Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord! Praise ye the Lord!