The
church organ Note
by Shirley Bayley
It is clear that it was intended that
the church should have an organ from the beginning. In 1838,
The Architectural Magazine, writing about a "new
church for Staley Bridge" notes that "there
is, also, ample room for an organ of adequate size without diminishing
the number of sittings".
A two manual organ was a gift to the church by James Wilkinson,
the owner of Copley Mill. It was built by Hill and Sons of Londonand
the Hill Letter Book (1838-61), gives the estimate for Stalybridge
(14 September 1843) for an all enclosed 2 manual organ with
15 stops as £350, carriage excepted - no account books
survive to show what was actually paid. It was originally installed
at the back of the church in the gallery until relocation in
its present position in 1874 when it was refurbished by Hill
& Sons at a cost of 750 pounds (paid for by 3 donations
of 250 pounds each). It was then said to be the finest in the
borough. To commemorate the refurbishment, a recital was given
by Mr W.T.Best, the organist at St. Georges Hall, Liverpool,
who played 10 pieces including works by Haydn and Rossini.
Up to 1911
the organ had to be hand blown by bellows but on the installation
of electricity in the church an electric motor was fitted. Since
this date the organ has been refurbished on several occasions,
very extensively during the last 1980s.
Click
here for Roger Firth's detailed account of the organ at St Paul's
church.
In 1851 the Earl of Stamford generously gave a plot of land
in Richmond Street and six houses were buiilt with the aid of
a mortgage which was repaid in full in 1866. The rent for each
house at the time was nine pounds per annum and the net proceeds
were to pay for an organist and choir.
Since then
many fine organists have been connected with the church and
choir. For many years as well as singing each week in the church,
such works as Handel's "Messiah" was performed at
Christmas and Stainer's "Crucifixion" at Easter to
appreciative audiences. In 1927 the choir was increased to 150
for the annual "Messiah" and it was estimated l,000
came to listen. More recently the choir has been of a much more
modest size and there are no longer any boy choristers involved
but there has always been a choir. In more recent times The
Staley Singers have given pleasure to audiences both during
church services and at concerts.
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