Vox Lancastria

Caught at the Console

Robert Rowley - see page 25

Michael Holmes - Mary Ann Wootton - Joyce Alldred - Michael Baron - Ian Gough

PatronVacant

TrusteesDon HydeDavid AlldredColin Smith M.I.C.M.Bill McNallyD Quentin BellamyEverson WhittleBob Jones

Honorary PresidentFrank D Read

Honorary Vice PresidentsJoyce Alldred L.L.C.M.Doreen ChadwickNigel OgdenLen Rawle

Honorary CommitteeChairman Don HydeVice Chairman Walter BakerHon Secretary Robert J PierceTreasurer Colin Smith M.I.C.M.

House Manager Ron Whalley C.Eng.,M.I.E.E.,M.I.E.I.E

Media Production Kevin Grunill. B.A.(Hons)

Committee MembersMike Dawson A.C.M.A. - Sales OfficerRoger Fisher - Heritage Centre ManagerVic Matthews - Maintenance ManagerMarion Read

Head of Technical TeamEric Halsall C.Eng.,M.I.E.E.

Membership SecretaryMichael Holmes.

Editor Vox LancastriaBob (AKA Robert "No Hope") Jones

Assistant Editor Vox LancastriaPosition Vacant

Technical AdvisorsDon HydeRon Whalley C.Eng.,M.I.E.E.,M.I.E.I.E.

Honorary MemberTony Fenelon OAM

Past ChairmenLes Barlee, 1968 - 1973Frank D Read 1973 - 1996

WEB PAGEShttp://www.voxlancastria.org.ukhttp://theatreorgans.com/lancast/

email addresses:Chairman: don.hyde@zetnet.co.ukSecretary bopa@taxa12.orangehome.co.ukEditor Vox Lancastria bob.jones25@btinternet.com

VOXLANCASTRIAJournal of The Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust

Registered Charity 261487

ContentsCaught at the Console CoverFrom The Chair 2The Secretary's Report 2Your Letters 3AGM Notification/Accounts 11-14New Members 24

FeaturesEstrelita 4The World Around Hope Jones 5The Silent Choir Organ 15News From the Heritage Centre 18Pictures of the Heritage Weekend 19Concert News and Reviews 20Spotlight on Michael Baron and Ian Gough 23Tony Fenelon Inside Back CoverFarny Wurlitzer - the missing section Inside Back Cover

Contributions and Letters to the EditorBob JonesWarwick House4 Stanley PlaceChesterCH1 2LUemail bob.jones25@btinternet.comTel 01244 310547

Membership Secretary Hon SecretaryMichael Holmes Robert J Pierce26 Stocks Gardens Horwich End BungalowStalybridge Chapel RoadCheshire Whaley BridgeSK15 2RD High Peak

SK23 7JZLTOT Chairman Tel 01663 719692Don Hyde8 Headlands RoadBramhallStockportSK7 3ANTel 0161 440 8070

2007 AutumnEdition - 025

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www.voxlancastria.org.uk

Vox Lancastria

The year rolls on as always and already, at the time ofwriting, autumn has arrived with a vengeance and wehave experienced a mild frost. Concerts, both at StockportTown Hall and the Heritage Centre, Peel Green, continueto provide excellent entertainment to the audiences.A new venture, at the request of a member, has been theWurlitzer Club, meeting every other Tuesday, 11am to1pm, at the Heritage Centre. A handful of us attending,under the leadership of Peter Taylor, seek to find our wayround the Wurlitzer console and generally enjoy asociable couple of hours. Subscriptions are £2.50p eachper session. Any interested person is welcome to join us.19th July saw our first evening concert, “Welsh Night atPeel Green,” featuring our Vice-President, DoreenChadwick and the Welsh Wizard, Byron Jones. The nearcapacity audience showed great appreciation of themusical fare provided. Such evenings must be repeated!We continue to be open to the public on Fridays andSaturdays but, apart from private bookings, the lack ofvisitors is heartbreaking. We are most grateful to thosevolunteers who give up their time to man the Centre.Civic Trust Heritage Open Days was considered a greatsuccess, with Don Hyde, Walter Baker and myselfsupporting the Town Hall Tours at Stockport, on theThursday. Don demonstrated the Wurlitzer; Walter and Iwere on hand to answer any questions, etc. At theHeritage Centre, Peel Green, we were open 11am to 3pmon Friday and Saturday, with tours of the organ chamberand continuous free organ concerts by a panel oforganists.Jack Jones was in attendance on the car park, with hisStreet Organ and we attracted nearly one hundred visitorsover the two days, raising almost £150 in donations, salesand refreshments. Grateful thanks to all who supportedand helped.Our Anniversary Concert with Nigel Ogden at the consoleof the mighty Wurlitzer, will be on Sunday, 25thNovember, at 2.30pm, again at the Town Hall.Elsewhere in this edition you will find the official noticeof the Annual General Meeting of the Trust on the 1stDecember 200717th November.An extra event will be Salford Museum Local History,Family Fun Day on 18th November. At this, ourHeadquarters building at Peel Green being situated inSalford, we have booked a stall to publicise or activities.To judge by last years event, a really good day out is to beexpected. Anybody who is able to help, please contactRoger Fisher.30th November sees the centenary of the building whichis now our Headquarters. On the nearest Sunday, 2ndDecember, our friends at Patricroft Methodist Church areholding their morning service in the Centre, at 10.30am.The minister, Rev. Rosemary Nunn, will conduct theservice and preach the sermon; the church organist, David

From The Chair

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From The Secretary

Firstly we are coming to the end of yet another year inthe life of the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust and as inprevious years it has been a very rewarding one,especially in the number of interested groups that havevisited Peel Green as well as those regular and newpeople who have attended our regular lunchtimeconcerts.There is one thing I keep bringing to your attentionhowever and that is the ex Gaumont organ that we havein storage and which is costing us quite a bit of money inrental. I have asked, and I make no excuse for askingagain; does any member know or can help with findingsponsored storage. I do know that we have had someresponse but unfortunately actual storage area availableseems to be a problem. For the record, to store this organwe are looking for an area of approx. 1200 squarefeet or something like 35 x 35 feet. The cost of thepresent storage is beginning to tell on our finances.Now to turn on to other matters. Next year is the fortiethanniversary of the founding of the Lancastrian TheatreOrgan Trust and obviously we want to have some sort ofspecial celebration. So I'm putting the question to all ourmembers - What sort of events would you like to see?Have you any other ideas? The dates will be betweenOctober and December 2008, so either put pen to paperor email me at the address on the contents page.Also next year is the Centenary of the opening ofStockport Town Hall and during the first two weeks inJuly 2008 there will be a series of events to celebrate this.The LTOT will be very involved and we shall be puttingon at least three events during that time. These willconsist of a special Lunchtime event at the beginning ofthe first week. Also due to the fantastic response to thesilent movie event ww presented this year with DennisJames, we are going put on a repeat event. Finally, weintend to stage a joint event with the StockportSymphony Orchestra, details still have to be worked out.As you all know we have put together at Peel GreenHeritage Centre what is acknowledged to be the world'sfirst museum to Robert Hope-Jones. What has amazedme is the interest from all round the world that this hascreated, I have had many contacts and we have hadvisitors from all over. We have also been asked tocontribute to a display to Robert Hope-Jones at a newmuseum in Tonawanda where of course the WurlitzerFactory was. As a result of the interest we have puttogether a 20 minute dvd documentary on this researchwith the same name as the paper produced for theSimonton Literary award. Hopefully this will be availableas a sales item in the not too distant future.In the last issue I mentioned that this paper would bereproduced in this issue so I hope you will enjoy part oneof "The World Around Hope-Jones".

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Your LettersHello Don,

Just received my July-August copy and delighted to seethat you have won the Simonton Literary Prize - verymany Congratulations. Good to see an article from the UKin the book.It’s a shame that nobody on our Rye Committee hassufficient technical information to be able to write aboutour Opus 999 - I’m sure it would make a good article asthe oldest playing Wurlitzer in the UK. Americans wouldbe very interested.We are booked to come next week to the Wednesday andThursday concerts and look forward to seeing you againthen.Best regardsMichael Ward

As was this email

Well he might then be interested to hear that funding isbeing sought to restore the large HJ designed organ atBattersea Arts Centre, formerly the Town Hall. I thinkthis is the largest and most complete/original HJ organ inthe country and is well worth restoring.In fact I have already managed to get the Swell dept inmoderately good shape, although there is a huge amountof work to do to the rest of the organ.

Peter Hammond

The following is an email posted to the UK CinemaOrgans Internet chat group .......

HiI hear that Don Hyde of LTOT has won this years’ prizefor his work on the life of Robert Hope Jones. It waspresented to him in New York during the recentconvention there. The amount of data that Don hasaccumulated on RHJ is quite amazing and new facts arebeing uncovered all the time.Set-up in the year 2000, the award was named after thelate Richard C Simonton who was one of the founders ofthe original ATOS organisation way back in the 1950’s. Itrecognises excellence in the field of literary research andpublication of information on theatre organ related topics.We are fortunate that Don has devoted so much time andeffort into this. Some of the results can be viewed in theLTOT museum at Peel Green, Manchester.So congratulations Don and keep-up the good work.

Regards - Ian Macnaught

And this was posted in response ...

Yes indeed & reproduced in the current Theatre Organ,well worth a read, congratulations Don if you read this..

Best wishesGordon Crook

Dear Bob

I would like you to pass on my congratulations to DavidAlldred for the brilliant article on the Tooting WurliTzerre-opening. Letting my imagination run riot, I felt asthough I was there with them, this can only be acomplement to the writer. You can tell your friends etcall about a day/weekend out, putting these experiencesdown on paper is another thing.

David Wild - via email

Don,

I completed reading your winning article several weeksago and really enjoyed it. It’s an impressive amount ofdetective work that you’ve been doing. If you continueworking on these projects you may be in the running foranother trip to the next convention in Indianapolis, and amuch less expensive place to stay and a place where it isfar easier to get around. I have not made plans that far inadvance yet but it’s an area that has some niceinstruments to see and hear.

Dee, in Colorado

This letter was sent to Stockport Town Hall and passedon to me via Don Hyde.

Thank you so much for putting on that organ concert onthe Wurlitzer at Stockport Town Hall on July 15th. Itwas so good to hear in one programme five organists allvery competent and each with their own style.For me, Ian Goughs playing was outstanding, hismusicality lit up the whole event and my friends in theaudience were captured. Could I ask you to find a slotfor him in your future plans for a full concert played byhim? His is a wonderful talent and he is a greatentertainer. Thank you.

A Evans L.G.S.M., L.R.A.M., A.R.C.M.

Joyce Alldred has penned a few words - see page 23

Part One of Don's article is

on page 5 of this

edition of Vox Lancastria

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A rare photo of Charles at theconsole of the Gaumont,

Manchester

deceased relative when amongst all the rubbish and junk Icame across an old oil painting and an old violin.Thinking they might be worth something I went to theChester office of Sothebys and left the items with them. Afew weeks later I was invited to call in and was told thatwhat I had was a Rembrandt and a Stradivarius .. mydreams of spending the rest of my life on a sin kissedCaribbean beach were shattered when I was told that theviolin was by Rembrandt and Antonio Stradivari wasrubbish at painting.

Thanks go to Gordon Crook for the photo of Charles atthe Gaumont, Wayne Ivany for the photo of Charles at theOdeon and the late Tommy Cooper for the joke. TheLTOT archives are short on pictures of Charles - if youhave any that you would like to share please let me know- ed.

Estrelita

Charles in more familiarsurroundings at the Odeon

Manchester

For so many years the strains of Estrellita meant thatCharles Smitton was arising from the depths of the Odeoncinema so it was wonderful to hear that melody played onthe violin at this years Last Night of the Proms.

Estrelita means little star and followers of Spanish

Grammar will recognise that the “..ita” suffix generallymeans small a bit like “..let” in English with a streamletbeing a small stream.

Estrellita was composed by the Mexican composerManuel Ponce and although it was written as a song itwas much better known as the 1927 violin arrangementby Jascha Heifetz. The piece was performed at the AlbertHall by Joshua Bell. Joshua resides in New York City butwas born in Indiana. He plays a 300 year old Stradivariusmade in 1713 - considered to be Antonio Stradivari'sgolden era. Apparently this violin had been stolen twicefrom the previous owner but was recovered each time.Joshua Bell had held and played the violin and then, bychance, discovered that it was up for sale. He sold histhen current Stradivarius added a considerable sum ofmoney to the proceeds and bought the violin which isknown as the ”Gibson ex Huberman”.

Antonio Stradivari lived a relatively long life from 1644to 1737 with the Latinized form of his name Stradivarius -and simply “Strad” - being used to refer to hisinstruments.

A few years ago I was going through the attic of a

Don't Forget!

L.T.O.T.Annual general Meeting

Theatre OrganHeritage Centre

Saturday 1st December 20072-00pm

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in books.Over the years the Trust has collected quite an amount ofHope-Jones heritage material and put it into safe storage.It was therefore essential that this heritage wassafeguarded and the details of it recorded for the benefitof future generations just in case some of the originalreference material was lost for some reason in the future.After all Robert Hope-Jones is acknowledged throughoutthe world as the father of the Theatre Organ.Robert Hope-Jones, the third son of William Hope-Jones, was born at Hooton Grange, Eastham on theWirral, Cheshire, in 1859. The birth was recorded byJohn Jones the local registrar as entry number 317, andtells us that Robert was born on the “Ninth February1859, at Hooton Grange, Eastham”. The birth wasn’tofficially recorded until a month later on the 11th March1859 (see figure 1). Robert’s Baptism is recorded astaking place on the 27th March 1859 (see figure 2).Hooton Grange was quite a spectacular mansion whichwas built for Robert’s father William, a person whoseoccupation is recorded as “Landed Proprietor” or in

The purpose of this paper is to record the recent researchthat has been carried out into the world of RobertHope-Jones and the people who lived and worked in hisenvironment and whom he met during the course of someof the work he did during his organ manufacturing timein Great Britain before he emigrated to the United States.The Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust has been troubledfor some time that almost all of the original pipe organsbuilt in Britain by Hope-Jones have been totally rebuilt,dramatically modified over the years by various organbuilders, or have been scrapped.Since its foundation in 1968 the Lancastrian TheatreOrgan Trust has been acutely aware of its close proximityto the birthplace of Robert Hope-Jones and to the area atBirkenhead on the Wirral in Cheshire where he startedhis ground breaking work on pipe organs. Also, becauseone of Trust’s first vice presidents was Farny Wurlitzer,(see appendix) who was one of the persons in control ofthe Wurlitzer Factory at the time Hope-Jones wasworking there, we had a duty to preserve as much of thisheritage as possible, before it was too late and was all lostfor ever to become something that one only reads about

The World Around Hope-JonesThe Simonton Literary Prize was established in Honour of Richard Simonton who was a founder of the American

Theatre Organ Enthusiasts which enventually became known as the American Theatre Organ Society. The purpose ofthe prize is to encourage and reward original research and writing in the area of theatre organ history, restoration

and conversation.Our chairman's work on the new research into Hope-Jones and the people he made contact with has entered new

grounds in the history associated with theatre organs. This, plus a little bit of arm twisting resulted in the chairmanwriting a paper that was submitted for the Simonton prize this year - 2007. The prize was awarded to chairman Don

Hyde at the American Theatre Organ Society Convention in New York in July.

On the left Don is being presented with the prize by Vern Bickel, Chair of the ATOSEducational Commitee and on the right Don is being congratulated by the President of the

A.T.O.S. Ken Double

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other words he was quite wealthy. The mansion wasdesigned and erected under the control of ArchitectCharles Verelst. It was designed in a Tudor style ofArchitecture and was built in stone and light colouredbrick. The mansion had a long driveway with a Lodge ateach of its two entrances. Hooton Grange was abouthalfway between Chester and Birkenhead.The architect Charles Verelst was born in 1814 asCharles Reed, who at some time later and for anunknown reason, changed his surname to Verelst. He wasalso the architect for Saint John’s Church in Birkenheadwhich is famous in its own right as being the home of aRobert Hope-Jones pipe organ, once thought to be thefirst pipe organ Robert built, but now known to be thesecond such organ. The later Saint John’s organ havingan electric action designed to what afterwards becameBritish Patent number 18,073 and was officially taken outin 1891.During our researches we looked in many archivesaround the area of South West Lancashire and other localareas in the hope that some record or pictures could befound of Hooton Grange. The answer was always thesame, as far as anyone could tell us there were noexisting pictures of Hooton Grange and no one couldeven tell us what the mansion looked like. Then by asheer stroke of luck, while carrying out some of theresearch into this area where Hope-Jones lived, a visitwas made to see if any foundations of Hooton Grangewere still in situ. We found that one building, the originaltack house where horse riding gear was kept, was still inexistence and of course any remains of the housecouldn’t be too far away from this building.While we were on this site looking at some stonework, anold gentleman came up and asked what our interest was.On replying it was found out that he had taken a numberof photographs in the early 1950’s just before the housewas knocked down (see figure 4). We were fortunate tobe given a set of these photographs and although theirquality was not too good the full splendour of thebuilding could be seen. From other research in searchingarchives around the country it would now appear thatthese are the only surviving pictures of Hooton Grange.Using a bit of modern computer technology it has nowbeen possible to restore some of these photographs togive a view of Hooton Grange in its former glory (seefigure 5).During our research investigating the design of HootonGrange we located another similar mansion at 26 - 28Palm Grove in Oxton, Birkenhead, designed by the samearchitect, Charles Verelst, and looking very similar toHooton Grange (see figure 6).Directly opposite 26 - 28 Palm Grove was originally ahouse with the name “Montana” now rebuilt asapartments. This house was once the home of a certainThomas Brassey. Brassey was one of the unsung heroesof Victorian times and he worked for Charles Verelst as aContractor. Brassey could be claimed to be the world’sfirst contractor. He built quite a number of these largehouses for Verelst and he also built Saint John’s Church,

Birkenhead.Thomas Brassey, born on 7th November 1805, was theson of John and Elizabeth Brassey. The Family ownedand farmed some 300 acres of farmland near Chester inCheshire. Thomas was educated at a school in Chesterand at the age of sixteen he became an apprentice to asurveyor. When the apprenticeship finished he became apartner in the business. Along the way Brassey wasinvolved in a quarry on the Wirral and then started in thebrick making business where he became well known forhis light coloured bricks. It was these light colouredbricks that were used in the construction of HootonGrange and which gave the mansion its spectacularlooks.Brassey became much more famous for his railwayconstruction work. This all started when he was buildingthe Chester Railway Station main line terminal and wasintroduced to the famous railway engineer GeorgeStevenson. Stevenson said he was greatly impressed byBrassey’s contracting work and as a result employedBrassey’s company to lay railway lines for him. It can besaid that Brassey laid more railway lines than possiblyany other contractor. At this time Brassey employedsome 85,000 men and when he died in December 1870 inhis will left £3,200,000.Thomas Brassey’s achievements included most of therailway lines laid in Britain and railways in France, ParisRouen railway 1841, Spain, Barcelona and Mataro 1848,Holland 1852, Italy, Turin 1854, Eastern Bengal 1858,Mauritius 1862, and Australia, Queensland 1863, plusmany others. Some of Thomas Brassey’s descendantsstill live in Queensland Australia.Just a short distance from “Montana” on Palm Grove is aroad called Charlesville which has a junction with a roadcalled Reedville, both roads named after Charles Verelst(Reed). Interestingly, at this junction stands the firstParsonage of Saint John’s Church Birkenhead.At this point in our research it was imperative that spacewas made available to put on public view our Hope-JonesHeritage items and Historic findings. So in 2002 theLancastrian Theatre Organ Trust decided that premiseshad to be found to create this small museum for thebenefit of the interested public. An old Sunday schoolwas found and purchased in Eccles on the western side ofManchester with sufficient space to build a small theatreand with space to create our very special Museum.When the official deeds for this Sunday School were firstviewed an interesting fact came to light. The SundaySchool was built in 1907 on land originally owned by SirCharles Legh of Adlington. Sir Charles Legh lived atAdlington Hall in Cheshire where his descendants stilllive today. This hall has a piece of unique heritage in thatit houses the oldest playable pipe organ in Britain. Theorgan was built sometime just after 1500. This was anorgan on which George Frederic Handel played andcomposed some of his music and in the safe at AdlingtonHall is still held an original handwritten manuscript byHandel which states “The Hunting Song, music

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have now been placed on indefinite loan to the Hope-Jones Museum by the Church of England Diocese atBurton-on-Trent, who we now thank most sincerely forletting us preserve them for posterity.Both these consoles are from complete organs that weremanufactured by The Hope-Jones Electric OrganCompany. The oldest of these consoles dates from 1894and is from the Church of St. Paul’s. The St. Paul’s organis a unique instrument being the first completecommercial organ built by Hope-Jones after his Companywas formed in 1892, and it is identified as Opus 70. Thereason for this high Opus number is because Hope-Joneshad been counting his Opus numbers on all organs builtunder license to his patents and these licensedinstruments had been built from 1888 until 1893 whenRobert Hope-Jones set up “The Hope-Jones ElectricOrgan Company” as his first commercial organ buildingCompany. The second console, dating from 1900 is fromSt. Modwen’s, this is identified as opus 145. This wasbuilt just 3 years before Robert Hope-Jones emigrated tothe United States of America and where he eventuallyjoined the Wurlitzer Company.As previously mentioned, Hope-Jones is credited asbeing the Father of the Theatre Organ, but it has beensaid that Hope-Jones didn’t make any Theatre Organs assuch before emigrating to America. A carefulexamination of these two Hope-Jones consoles puts aslightly different light on that situation.On both consoles the stops are not drawstops as onewould expect at that time to find on Church organs, butconsisted of two types of stop tabs. On the earlier consolefrom St. Paul’s the stops are a type of ivory rocker tabsthat were specially manufactured for Hope Jones by the

composed by George Frederic Handel, words by SirCharles Legh”. The organ was restored by the Britishorgan builder Mander in 1959 and is still playable today.A fantastic and interesting link to our worthy cause.The Eccles Sunday School was not in a good conditionwith broken windows and water pouring in. It also hadnot been used for some 30 years except as a depositoryfor unwanted items of rubbish, so a great deal of workwas required, firstly to just empty the building and thento bring it back to a useable state so it could be convertedinto the requirements for our project. After four years ofhard work totalling some 17,000 hours by our volunteersthe building was fully restored and converted into theTrust’s Heritage Centre with its unique Hope-JonesMuseum. This Museum has already been acknowledgedto be the world’s first Museum dedicated to the work ofRobert Hope-Jones.Since our project started we have been contacted by agreat number of various interested persons who haveeither come forward and donated Hope-Jones artefactswhich have now been added to our collection or whohave supplied information about the possiblewhereabouts of other potential artefacts. This informationhas been followed up and in many cases has led to otherimportant finds.A great many of these artefacts have been found andadded to the collection, two of them, in particular, arevery important from a heritage point of view. These aretwo original and unaltered Hope-Jones consoles (seefigure 7). These were found stored out of view in twochurches in Burton-on-Trent in the Midlands area of theUnited Kingdom. Following some negotiation with theChurch authorities, the two consoles were rescued and

Endolithic Ivory Company Limited of London, whoseadvert states “Sole makers of Ivory Keys to the Hope-Jones Electric Organ Company Limited.” The laterconsole from St. Modwen’s, manufactured just six yearslater, has stop keys of a completely different design. HereHope-Jones has completely changed the appearance ofthe stops. These later stops look almost identical to thoseused some years later on the Wurlitzer theatre organ andas were also used on virtually all Theatre Organs.The two consoles are both four manual units with therows of stops across the top of the backrail. Also boththese consoles have on their right hand key cheeksadditional rocker tabs which control the tremulants whichwere fitted to these organs. The pipe ranks and stoparrangements of both these consoles are showing atendency towards the stop arrangements appearing on thelater theatre organs, Stops like Tibias, Strings, Oboe,Gamba etc. plus of course those tremulants. The embryoof Hope-Jones’ colour coding for theatre organ tabs isalso evident here for the first time; white for flue stops,red for reeds, and black for couplers. So all the elementsof what we consider today to be a Theatre Organ wereactually present on this first Hope-Jones commercial pipeorgan built in 1894. One can say in all honesty that thisfirst Hope-Jones commercial organ was most definitely atheatre organ in all but name.Another major item also acquired and on display is whatwe now know to be the earliest surviving originalHope-Jones electric action. This electric action wasdiscovered along with other Hope-Jones items undermuch rubbish in the attic of a Funeral Director, where ithad been in store for many years (see figure 8).The action consists of a series of multiway switchesoperated by stoptabs which were intended to couple keycontacts to pipe magnets. Each switch consisting of a rowof two wire contacts, one wire contact being joined to akey contact, the other wire contact being connected to apipe magnet. The contacts were operated by shortingtogether each pair of contacts with a short bar fastened invertical rows on a wooden actuator. In many ways similarto the later Wurlitzer relay system the major differencebeing that the effective roller switches on this system arevertical, whereas the later Wurlitzer roller switches are

horizontal. The Trust is not aware of any other electricactions of similar age that are still in existence, althoughsome component parts have been found. As far as isknown all the other original complete Hope-Joneselectric actions have been destroyed and scrapped overthe years. Thus to find such a complete and wellpreserved action is not only a very important Heritageitem but a major contribution to our Hope-JonesMuseum.We had always been under the impression that there wereno surviving Hope-Jones tremulants, and again it wasthought that these had been destroyed when theirrespective pipe organs were rebuilt. However through aninterested person creating a lead, one such originaltremulant has been located, rescued, cleaned and is nowin the museum. It is interesting to look closely at thistremulant and observe its operation, and also to observehow later Wurlitzer and other Theatre Organ Tremulantsfollow this basic Hope-Jones design. This unit again iscontrolled by two of the original Hope-Jones actionmagnets, also the pull wire from the operational bellowsinterestingly has the same thread for its leather buttons asthat used on the later Wurlitzers, so Hope-Jonescontinued to use the original British threads whenworking in America.The Museum also has what is known to be the world’soldest surviving Diaphone. This Diaphone is the onlyremaining one of a complete rank found at the back ofthe organ in St. John’s Church Birkenhead. It wasunderstood that these Diaphones had been stored therefor many years following early work during theirdevelopment. They were stored on an unconnectedpipechest at the rear of the organ. The Diaphones wererescued by Trust Technical Team members just as St.John’s church was about to be finally demolished. Thecomplete rank of Diaphones was put into storage in afarm out-building in Winwick near Warrington, butunfortunately disaster struck when all these pipes exceptone were destroyed in a fire caused by an electrical faultin the building where they were stored. Fortunately theone pipe and its base had been removed from storage tobe photographed and was thus saved. This pipe with itsbase support and its tuning slide, with Hope-Jones' own

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9

Hooton Grange - taken in 1953just before the house was

demolished

Hooton Grange and Palm Grove

A computer restored image ofHooton Grange.

Taken from an old black andwhite photograph to show off theoriginal splendour of this house.

26/28 Palm Grove

A house designed by Verelstin similar style to Hooton

Grange and still standing today

Vox Lancastria

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hand writing impressed upon it is now on display in ashowcase in the Hope-Jones museum.It is generally considered that St. John’s Birkenhead wasthe church where the first complete organ built by RobertHope-Jones was situated. However research has shownthat this is not so and the credit for that first organ shouldnow go to St. Luke’s Tranmere, Birkenhead, an organwhich was rebuilt in 1884 by Hope-Jones then aged 25.The organ had originally been built by William andFrank Hall, organ builders in Birkenhead. The remains ofthis organ have also been acquired, restored and are nowreduced to a diminutive two octave version with threestops, which is working and on display in the museum.This organ from St. Luke’s was first played by Robertwhen he was just 23 years old. It is interesting to notethat a certain Mr. Laird was a sidesman at the Church andwhen Robert started work his first job was as anapprentice at Laird’s Shipbuilders in Birkenhead, ownedby the same Mr. Laird.Starting in 1886 Robert Hope-Jones built the organ forwhich he became most famous, that being the organ ofSt. John’s Birkenhead. He built this organ assisted onlywith the help of volunteers from the church choir,because in 1886 he was still working as a TelephoneEngineer with the Lancashire and Cheshire TelephoneCompany in the position of Chief Electrician. It shouldtherefore come as no surprise that he used the electricalknowledge gained in this job in the early days ofelectrical engineering to design and subsequently patentan electric action for pipe organs. With this electricalknowledge and the experience gained through his job itwas always thought that Hope-Jones would have woundthe coils for the electromagnets in his electric actionhimself, however again recent research carried out hasnow shown beyond all doubt that these coils were woundin Hulme, Manchester by a certain Henry Royce, wholater became famous in his own right as the co-founder ofthe Rolls- Royce car company. A fact and link that haslain undiscovered for 100 years.Just before this time Henry Royce was working as thefirst electrician for a company that was installing the firstelectric street lights in Liverpool. The firm Royce workedfor was undertaking all kinds of electrical work using thisnew technology of electricity, it is known for instancethat they also undertook the electric lighting of the Princeof Wales Theatre in Liverpool. This particular contractwas very successful and as a result a new subsidiarycompany was formed in October 1882 called theLancashire Maxim-Weston Electric Co. Ltd. of PetersLane, Liverpool.At this same time, Robert Hope-Jones was the ChiefEngineer of the Lancashire and Cheshire TelephoneCompany and was controlling the installation oftelephones in Liverpool. We have often wondered, that asHenry Royce was involved in laying power cables forstreet lighting in Liverpool streets and Robert Hope-Jones was laying telephone cables also in Liverpoolstreets, if they had met each other in this environment? Apossibility still looking for clues.

Unfortunately, the Lancashire Maxim-Weston ElectricCo. Ltd. that Henry Royce was working for wentbankrupt and it is recorded that “friends” suggestedRoyce move to Manchester to form his own companymanufacturing electrical items. A move which took placein 1884.The fact that Royce moved to Manchester and shared partof a building with an organ builder adds to that questionabove - did Henry Royce already know Robert Hope-Jones? Had they met during their work in Liverpoolstreets? Was it even Hope-Jones who suggested thatRoyce share a factory with Benson’s Organ Builders?What is certain is that at that time George Benson, ownerof the Company, was manufacturing pipe organs with anelectric action manufactured under licence from theHope-Jones Patents, so George and Robert were certainlyacquainted.There is now no doubt that this Royce connection withBenson’s Organ Builders has uncovered some evidenceto identify a surviving early electric action coil from St.John’s Church Birkenhead as the world’s oldest HenryRoyce artefact. Prior to this evidence coming to light theHenry Royce Foundation told us that the world’s oldestknown Henry Royce artefact had been dated at 1898. Ourresearch has now moved this date backward to 1886 (seefigure 11).The documentary evidence that proves this fact iscontained in a company profile written by John DeLooze. John De Looze was the Company Secretary ofF.H. Royce Ltd. from 1893 until 1943. The documentlists early items manufactured by F.H. Royce and Co. andin the document is the following important statement:‘inter alia’ Electro Magnetos for the Hope-Jones organmanufactured at Birkenhead, the work was not of such anature as would call the attention of the ‘man in thestreet’ who is desirous of making his fortune with littlerisk.”This important evidence came to light in documents thatwere held in the Leicestershire Records Office and werefound for us by the Rolls Royce Historian, Tom Clarke.The Rolls Royce company have given special permissionfor a copy of this record to be made for use in ourMuseum (see figure 10). Later, as his company expandedHenry Royce moved from his first premises in BlakeStreet to the next street in Hulme - Cooke Street, and thento Trafford Park Industrial Estate in a factory directlyopposite Glovers Cables Ltd., (see figure 13). It shouldbe noted that Glovers Cables had invested money in theLancashire and Cheshire Telephone Company as early as1881 (see figure 12). This of course was the Companythat Robert Hope-Jones worked for. Could this beanother connection between Hope-Jones and Royce?It is also significant that Ernest Claremont who was theManaging Director of Glovers Cables became the brotherin law of Henry Royce so there is not much doubt thatRoyce obtained his wire for winding the Hope-Joneselectric action coils from Glovers Cables. It is also factthat Henry Edmunds, who was a major share-holder in

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Being a member of the Chester and North East WalesOrganists and Choirmasters Association means that I getthe opportunity to visit some most interesting, some lessinteresting and some curious instruments in my part of theworld. These range from the occasional blast on the 4manual organ of Chester Cathedral to small WelshChapels from Churches that are acoustically dead to thosewhere the best stop on the organ is the building in whichit is situated. The organ of St Mary the Virgin falls intothe category of curious, all is not as it appears.St Mary the Virgin, Aldford is situated on the Estate ofthe Duke of Westminster and is built within a stonesthrow of a motte and bailey castle. Its parishioners areeither estate employee or tenants. The houses are all ofthe same design with the last one being built in 1897.The Church is quite ornate with one of its most interestingfeatures being the pulpit built out of blue Derbyshiremarble with the pews being made out of English oak. Theoriginal Church did not have an organ or at least there isno evidence that one was bought and as the Church isadorned with carvings of figures playing individualinstruments it is assumed that music was provided by asmall group of musicians.Thomas Brassey was born within the village and donatedthe pipe organ to the Church. This was a two manual Hill

and cost, wait for it, £250 but it was 1866. Now ThomasBrassey was an architect and built the house in whichHope-Jones lived and when it came time, in 1894, formajor work to be carried out on the organ RobertHope-Jones was contacted and he built a third manual, theChoir organ, that was installed by Whiteley, a localChester organ builder.So here we have an example of Hope-Jones or do wemmmm well not quite well errr I suppose the answer isyes …. but there again …perhaps no….Until recently there had been four organists only. Overthe last few years the Church and another local “twinned”Church have had to rely on a team of visiting organists sofor the first 140 years or so there were but four organistsand over the last 10 years there has been more likeforty-four.About 10 years ago David Wells organ builders fromLiverpool carried out an extensive rebuild andpresumably on the grounds of cost the Choir organ wasnot only not refurbished but it was disconnected from thepipes so the manual is there but makes no sound at all.The console does not contain any Choir stops so it isreally a one off, I suppose it is a two manual organ withthree manuals. The pipes are still there so with money itwould be possible to get the instrument working with itsHope-Jones Choir organ.It is the only instrument that I have ever played with ametal swell pedal and sitting at the console I am notconvinced that everything is correctly located. I don'tnormally miss bottom C on the pedal but I did,consistently, on this instrument leading me to believe thatthe pedal board is not in its standard position. I didn'thave a plumb line to check but as the instrument was builtin 1866 this was a long time before the standardpositioning of pedal boards was set. With this being avisit by the organists association there are always a fewqueuing up to have a go but the general consensus wasthat the instrument is a disappointment. The acoustics of

You can see it - and play it - butyou can't hear it

the story behind a silent Hope-Jones manualBob Jones

Remember listening to Joseph Cooper's dummykeyboard on Face the Music? If you do you'll

recognise the sound of the Choir manual of theOrgan of St Mary the Virgin.

St Mary the Virgin, Alford Nr Chester

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theChurch are very poor. The organ is tucked away andpersonally I prefer an organ to be out in the open so that itcan speak into the Church rather than being built into theside and speaking across the Sanctuary. The action isheavy and inconsistent but the instrument and the Churchare of historical interest but whether this is a good, bad orindifferent example of Hope-Jones … well we'll have towait and see whether the pipes are ever connected to themanual................

The World Around Hope - Jones - Continued from Page 10

Left is part of a documentwritten by John De Looze whowas Secretary of Henry Royce's

Company.

The document gives proof thatRoyce supplied Electro-Magnets

to Robert Hope-Jones

Right is one of the earliest Electro -Magnets made by Royce for theHope-Jones organ at St John's

Birkenhead

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founder member of the Radio Society of Great Britain.Frank went on to invent and patent the Greenwich TimeSignal Pips which are still used today as the time signalbefore the BBC Radio News. An interesting link to FrankHope-Jones is the fact that Lord Egerton of Tatton Hall,Knutsford, Cheshire was also one of the first RadioAmateurs in the country and had contact with severalRadio Amateurs including 6TW - James Noden, the localRadio Society of Great Britain representative. LordEgerton also had interests in radio in London whereFrank was working. Lord Egerton formed a radiomanufacturing Company in Manchester, just about a milefrom where Henry Royce was working at Benson’s. TheCompany was called “Meta”, believed to stand forMaurice Egerton of Tatton Associates. Also LordEgerton was a pioneer in aircraft flying and used radio tocommunicate to his aircraft flying above Tatton Hall inCheshire. A great flying friend of his was Charles Rolls,who of course eventually joined Henry Royce to formthat famous Company.Two interesting events have come to light during ourresearch that show the determination of Robert Hope-Jones to get his own way.The first occurred in 1897 when a confrontation tookplace between Robert Hope-Jones and the Birkenheadbranch of the Organ Builders United Trades Society, anearly Trade Union. The incident took place whenHope-Jones wanted to employ female labour in hisfactory but members of the above Trade Societyinstructed its members not to impart any knowledge tothe girls. It was reported that several members of thework force had been intimidated by members of theTrade Society. Eventually Hope-Jones announces that heis severing all business connections with the TradeSociety. Hope-Jones wins his case and several membersleave his employ. A private letter has come to light thatwas written by Hope-Jones “To the late Employees ofthe Electric Organ Company Ltd. who are members ofthe Organ Builders United Trades Society”. This isanother instance of Hope-Jones heritage material beingundiscovered for possibly 100 years. A full transcript ofthis letter is in the appendix to this paper.The event was also reported in the local newspaper, TheBirkenhead and Cheshire Advertiser on the 18thSeptember 1897 as a “Lock-out at Hope-Jones’ OrganWorks”. There was a response on the 25th September ina letter to the Editor from Robert Hope-Jones denouncingthe report and declaring that there was no Lock-out.The second event was of a much less serious nature, butstill shows Hope-Jones determination. This secondincident took place in May 1898 in a letter to theUniversity of Edinburgh. Basically the Electric OrganCo. Ltd. had supplied a new organ to the McEwan Hall

Glovers Cables, was the person who introduced HenryRoyce to Charles Rolls and thus created that worldfamous company of Rolls Royce.Earlier in this paper there was mention made of a piperank called the Tibia. It had been generally thought thatHope-Jones didn’t invent his Tibia until after he**********Continued on Page 16**********emigrated to America in 1903, however evidence hasnow come to light to show that was not so. A pipe rankcalled the Tibia had been in use for some time in Europe,used mainly by German Organ Builders and was a type ofsimple flute. Hope-Jones completely changed the formatand redesigned the Tibia in 1894. He invented his firstTibia pipes in two forms which were named the “TibiaDura” and the “Tibia Plena.” Both names being of Latinorigin, the word “Dura” comes from the Latin meaning“harsh to the ear” and the word “Plena” from the Latinmeaning “Plump, Stout, or Thick”, Tibia being the Latinfor Flute. One of Robert Hope-Jones’ brothers wasKenyon Hope-Jones, who was a church minister andLatin scholar, so no doubt he helped Robert with thechoice of suitable Latin words for the names of theseorgan pipes. The world’s first two original Hope-JonesTibia ranks have now been located, acquired and are bothon display in the museum (see figure 9).Robert Hope-Jones’ first Company was called “TheHope-Jones Electric Organ Company” and was foundedon 1st July 1892. The factory was made up of a numberof cottages at 11-13 Huskisson Street in Birkenhead, nottoo far from St. Johns Church. It was the intention thatthe Company was formed to act as consultants and tolicence Hope-Jones organ Patents as well as manufacturepipe organs under its own name. Hope-Jones applied fora number of Patents which ran into thirty plus asprovisional Patents, but not all these were granted fullPatent status. Among the archive material our researchhas enabled us to acquire, is a copy of a part of theoriginal Patent register from Hope-Jones’ Patent AgentW.P. Thompson and Co. of Liverpool, Founded 1873.The copy document was acquired just before the originalwas placed in long term storage in a sealed vault. It is ahand written record of all the original Patent applicationsmade by “Hope-Jones R” between October 11th 1889 andNovember 20th 1894. Among the Hope-Jones Patents isone dated April 6th 1891 for a device called a DistanceIndicator. Maybe this could form another interestingsubject for research. Also in this copy register are thenames of several other manufacturers of the time, notableis a Patent applied for by “de Ferranti” for electric cables,a Company which later became the well known electricalCompany (see appendix).For the Hope-Jones Electric Organ Company’s first yearof operation Robert’s younger brother, Frank Hope-Jones, was Company Secretary. After the first year Frankused part of the Electric Organ Company premises to starthis own work which led to the invention of theSynchronome, a first electric clock. Frank Hope-Joneswas also involved in early Amateur Radio and became a

******To Be Continued*****

In Search of Hope-Jones

“Organ of the Month”A new changing display at the Heritage Centre

Notes on a new feature in the Heritage Centre Museum at Peel Greenby Roger Fisher

Now to be seen in the Museum is a new regularly changing information display. Each month one of the approximately150 organs built or worked upon in this country by Robert Hope-Jones is being featured, with a selection ofphotographs, specifications, and other information.

This began on August 1st at our Wednesday lunchtime concert, and throughout the month featured the 1893 Choirorgan added to the existing Hill organ at Aldford Church, near Chester. September sees a display about his 1898instrument in AmblesideChurch in the Lake District. Thedisplay will continue with adifferent Hope-Jones organbeing featured every month.

Alongside this feature isdisplayed a complete Opus listof all Hope-Jones organs builtduring the period 1884 up to hisemigration to America in 1903.This list should be of interest tomany people, and am certainthere will be a number ofvenues, mostly churches, whichvisitors will be surprised tolearn that they contained, andthat some still do, a Hope-Jonesorgan.

It seems to me that the nameHope-Jones only causes amusement to many of our regular local visitors. This is a pity. The further away people livethe more they seem to appreciate what we have in the Museum, and the ever on-going research Don and I are doing.Yes, it is an extremely specialised interest, but we should be proud of the fact that the early work of the inventor of thetheatre organ began in our own area. There are people all over the world, especially in America, who are envious of theheritage we have here. We should appreciate what is on our own doorstep.

Also in the Museum is our Vintage Sales Stall. This makes available all sorts of unusual items for sale, including LPs,cassettes, books, magazines, newsletters, key rings made from original theatre organ tabs, and even some small organpipes. Other items come and go with the ever-changing availability of things. Do keep taking a look at the stall, you'llbe surprised what you might find.

I append a picture of a happy and enthusiastic Hope-Jones addict, seated at the 1894 Hope-Jones console in the earlydays of setting up the Museum. Please call in and see what we have here . . . and enjoy!

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Log on to the L.T.O.T. websitefor all the latest CD releases

www.voxlancastria.co.uk

Membership of the L.T.O.T.makes an idealChristmas Gift

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Two Pictures from the Heritage Weekend

Marion Read - Jean - Colin Smith - Mrs Jones - Jack Jones - Roger Fisher - Pam Pierce - Pat Howarth - Frank Read

Mr & Mrs Jack Jones with Colin Smith (background)

Concert News & Reviews

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The Parish Church of Queens Park High, Glasgow (laternamed Crosshill Queens Park Church) was the location ofa fine three manual pipe organ built in 1926 by the wellknown Leeds organ builder J.J. Binns. The Church wasclosed in February 2000 but the organ was rescued andgiven a new home at St Werburghs Roman CatholicChurch in Chester. The instrument was originally tubularpneumatic but on installation at St Werburghs, GeorgeSixsmith and Son, Organ Builders, Ashton Under Lyne,whilst retaining the original windchest pneumatics,converted the action to electro pneumatic. The detachedoak console is equipped with all modern playing aids andthe solid oak main case housing the Great, Swell andpedal pipes was designed by Andrew Sixsmith andmanufactured in the organ builders workshops.The main case is situated at the rear of the Church as youface the altar the Choir division is housed in a redundantconfessional on the left with the console on the oppositeside.The Church was built in 1933 and was equipped with anaverage sized two manual tracker instrument. For somereason this fell into disuse and a small electro pneumaticinstrument was installed where the Choir division of thecurrent instrument is situated with the console situatedabout three feet away - so at that time there were two pipeorgans in the Church and this was the case when theBinns instrument became available.Now - if you want a programme of light music on aninstrument of this versatility who do you ask? Well NigelOgden is the first name that springs to mind and it was on21 September that Nigel paid his second visit to theChurch. I first heard Nigel play when he made his debut atthe Gaumont Manchester I couldnt remember exactlywhen that was but Nigel informed me that it was in 1972when he rose to the strains of Those Were the Days. By

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coincidence, reading the sports section the DailyTelegraph the following day, there was a review of thefollowing day's Manchester United v Chelsea game andthere was a picture of the programme from the equivalentfixture in August 30 1972 - the programme price was 5pence now those were the days. I also reminded Nigel thatI was there when he made his first appearance at RonCurtis' Paramount Organ studios so I was there at thebeginning and here I am 35 years on not only listening tothe master at work but also writing about it as editor ofVox. A feature of many theatre instruments is one ofdelay between playing the note and hearing sound. Thedelay at Stockport is quite noticeable but this is somethingthat exponents of the instrument have had to master so thedelay at St Werburghs is of no consequence to a man ofNigel's experience. With the Choir division being situatedaway from the main case stereo effects are obtained but inquick passages it doesn't matter which manual you use thedelay is noticeable. What also happens is that the larger

An Evening in Chester with Nigel Ogden

A True Story

A very good friend of mine goes for an Angiogram - his second so he knows what to expect.There he is lying on whatever he has to lie on and he is, of course, very tense and the conversation goes like this:Consultant “Just relax Mr Smith”

Mr Smith “How can I relax with this going on”Consultant “Just think of something nice .. think of your favourite football team”.Mr Smith “Don't like football .. don't have a favourite team..not interested in sport .. I am a musician..”Consultant “Oh that's interesting - what instrument do you play?”Mr Smith “I'm a Church organist”Consultant “Well think of something nice - think of something relaxing - just imagine that you are playing some

nice music on the Church organ.Where do you normally play?”Mr Smith “The crematorium”

I am sorry to have to tell you that Bill McNally's wife has been very ill and as a result Bill hasbeen unable to provide the copy for his usual spot.

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pipes, because they need a greater volume of air, take alittle longer to speak and it is noticeable from the consolethat, when using a combination of stops including thelarger pipes there is another delay the effect being thatwhen the note in pressed initially you hear nothing thenyou hear the smaller pipes and then you hear the largerpipes. This all happens very quickly but personally I findthis a problem as I am resident at St Francis RC Church,the Franciscan Friary, in Chester which houses a twomanual Gray and Davison tracker with instant response sowhen I deputise on the “other “side of the city at the threemanual Binns the delay is apparent and I need a littlepractice to get used to it …. but I digress … back toNigel's concert…The whole of the evening's entertainment was centred onanniversaries. Eric Coates is one of my favourite of thecomposers of British Light Music and with this being 50years since his death Nigel started with MusicEverywhere followed by the third movement of the ThreeElizabeths Suite. Nigel explained that the first movementis dedicated to Elizabeth 1st, the second the late QueenElizabeth the Queen Mother and third to the then PrincessElizabeth and known as the Princess Elizabeth Suite butnow renamed Queen Elizabeth 2nd.Sir Charles Groves recalls that someone once said that themarches of Sousa would make a man with a wooden legstep out but a man would have to have a wooden heart notto respond to the music of Eric Coates. Born in 1886, EricCoates was the youngest boy of five children. His fatherwas a local doctor whose home and surgery were onTenter Hill, Hucknall. As a child Eric would lay awake atnight listening to the Hucknall Old Brass Band practisingin the nearby Plough and Harrow Inn, and when he wassix he became the proud owner of a violin.His mother was a fine pianist, his father played the flute,and they formed an orchestra that included Eric and histhree sisters. By the age of ten, Eric was first violin andwithin two years was writing in a part for any player whounexpectedly turned up for orchestral rehearsal, no matterwhat the instrument was - violin, double-bass, cello orwoodwind. He studied violin and composition inNottingham until, at the age of twenty, he gained ascholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London.There he studied composition under Frederick Corder,and the viola under the well-known virtuoso Lionel Tertis.Brilliant sight-reading ability made up for the pain in hisleft hand and Eric became principal viola with Sir HenryWood from 1911 to 1919. Not fit for service in the1914-18 war,Coates wrote Four Songs of the Air astestimony to the RFC. By July 19, troubled by neuritis inhis left hand and arm, he had to give up the viola anddevote himself to composing and conductingperformances of his own music. Eric Coates died of astroke aged 71 on December 21, 1957, at the Royal WestSussex Hospital. Within hours the BBC was announcingthroughout the world the death of ‘the uncrowned king oflight music.’The funeral took place on Christmas Eve at the Golders

Green Crematorium where the service was attended bysome of the country’s leading musicians. For almost fiftyyears Eric Coates had brought pleasure to millions withhis gay lilting tunes, bright orchestrations and wittymusical portraiture.Sir Malcom Sargent: ‘Here we had a professionalmusician who did his own orchestrations, who was anexpert, who had that rare quality, a melodic gift, whichhardly exists in modern music. He was a charming andmost lovable person, was a master of charm and gentlebeauty in music, while at the same time able to composerousing marches. He has given a great deal of pleasure toa great number of people, the author of the kind of musicthat makes people happy.’

Then followed the 50th anniversary of West Side Story byLeonard Bernstein, (1918-1990), A composer, conductor,and pianist, Leonard Bernstein was born in Lawrence,Massachusetts and educated at Harvard University and atthe Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. He studiedcomposition under Walter Piston and, afterencouragement from Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductingunder Fritz Reiner and Serge Koussevitzky. In 1943Bernstein made his conducting debut, leading the NewYork Philharmonic Society Orchestra in place of theindisposed Bruno Walter. Bernstein was music director ofthe New York City Center Orchestra (1945-1948), taughtat the Berkshire Music Center (1948-1955) and atBrandeis University (1951-1956), and directed the NewYork Philharmonic (1958-1969), with which he mademany recordings, both as conductor and piano soloist. Onhis retirement in 1969 he was made laureate conductor forlife. He was instrumental in establishing the modernpopularity of Gustav Mahler, making the first completecycle of recordings of Mahler’s symphonies, and ofCharles Ives, whose Second Symphony he had premieredin 1952.1907 marked the date of The Merry Widow so we weretreated to the beautiful music of Franz Lehar. There seemsto be a website for everything so if you want moreinformation visit www.merry-widow-centenary.com

Eric Coates

Leonard Bernstein

introduction, a few bars of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, wewere treated to, Top Hat, I Wont Dance, Isnt it a LovelyDay then a hint of Singing in the Rain as a modulationinto Pick Yourself Up, The Way you Look Tonight, LetsFace the Music and Dance and finally Cheek to Cheek.Light classics followed with excerpts from Peter and theWolf, Mozarts Rondo a la Turk, Elgar's Salut DAmour(Elgar born 150 years ago) and Walton's Crown Imperial(Coronation March for George VIth in 1937).Nigel closed the evening with Chinatown, Avalon,Swanee, Windmill in Old Amsterdam, Are you Lonesometonight, Tie a Yellow Ribbon, You were Meant for Meand I Could have Danced all Night.And all without a note of music. ………

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Bringing matters a little more up to date Nigel continuedwith a selection of hits of 1967 including Georgy Girl,Matchmaker, If I were a Rich Man, Puppet on a String, AWhiter Shade of Pale and the Last Waltz. I think that theenjoyment of the evening can be measured not only by thestrength of the applause but also involuntary audienceparticipation and to hear the gentle humming in thebackground is testament to the quality of the music. Iremember my mother in the 60s complaining about themusic of the day not being a patch on the music of herday. Well there must have been a few good tunes about asproved by Nigel's selection now I must be getting oldbecause I feel that there are not the tunes around today tomatch those that were around when I was young. An oldmusician friend of mine said that the test of a good tune isto be able to play it on the piano, the organ and for it to beplayed by an orchestra I can't see many organists in 2047playing a selection of hits of 2007 with the audiencehumming the tune and joining in with the words.It is amazing what you learn at Nigel's concerts DameShirley Bassey is 70 this year I was convinced she wasolder as she seems to have been around for ever - so wewere treated to Goldfinger, As Long as He Needs Me andBig Spender.Nigel ended the first half with a one hit wonder, RichardAddinsell died in 30 years ago in 1977 and is rememberedby the masses for one piece The Warsaw Concertocomposed for the film Dangerous Moonlight in 1941 - wewere treated to the main theme before retiring for tea orsomething stronger. (For the record Richard Addinsellstudied music in Oxford, Berlin and Vienna, wasaccompanist to Joyce Grenfell and later he enjoyed acareer as a composer of light music and he wrote manyfilm scores, musical revues and songs.)Nigel lives in Lytham and started the second half, as hedid the first with Eric Coates and The Seven Seas Marchfollowed by Stranger on the Shore, Donkey Serenade and IDo Like to be Beside the Seaside.Now to my favourite item on the evenings programme.Nigel entitled it Back to the Future, it was Yesterday(Lennon and McCartney) and Tomorrow (from Annie).The arrangement of Yesterday was outstanding. Oneminute we had the melody singing forth and then aseamless transition into a classical mode contrapuntal “a laJ S Bach” and played on a substantial Church Organ in tiptop condition - absolutely superb!Following on from Nigel's excellent arrangement of TheTeddy Bears Picnic and the Ascot Gavotte the Trombastop was coaxed into providing some rather un-Churchlike raspberry sounds in the Elephant's Tango.Back to the educational part of the evening we wereinformed that Fred Astaire had died 20 years ago andcombined with the music of Jerome Kern and IrvingBerlin, Nigel celebrated that fact by playing the evergreenfavourites that will always be associated with the man withthose most famous feet. I seem to remember hearingsomeone recall the story that Fred Astaire had beendescribed in his younger days by one agent as somethinglike “…cant sing but can dance a bit …”. Following the

Stockport Town Hall 15 July 2007A joint concert featuring Joyce Alldred and pupils -

Michael Holmes, Mary Ann Wootton, MichaelBaron and Ian Gough.

This was a very unusual concert with Joyce Alldred andfour of her students. Joyce loves teaching Theatre Organstyling, and has always said that is was her aim to producequality players, and this afternoon this was put to the test.She opened the show with her signature tune - AnotherOpenin’, Another Show, followed by Granada, ANightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, and finally a shortselection from one of her favourite shows - Show Boat.She was followed at the console by Michael Holmes, whocomes from Stalybridge.Michael presented a very nicevaried programme, beginning with the March - FoliesBergere, and following up with a very nice arrangement ofBlack Eyes, then the Poirot Theme, and ending with aselection of songs from the film - 42nd Street.Next came Mary Ann Wootton, aged 13, from LongridgePreston. (I gave a profile of Mary Ann in the last editionof Vox).She made a bright and breezy start with Hey LookMe Over, then Fools Rush In (the Set Piece for theA.T.O.S. Young Organist Competition 2006, which shewon, playing the 3/19 Wurlitzer at Woking), contrastsQuando Quando and Song of the Rose, and lastly theWaldteufel Waltz, Estudiantina. All presented veryprofessionally.Michael Baron from Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, took hisplace at the Wurlitzer and presented an unusualprogramme - Belle of the Ball, (an unusual and very nicearrangement) the Adagio from the Guitar Concerto byRodriguez, (I have never heard this done on Thetre Organbefore, but golly, it worked!) Polly, the sentimental FolksWho Live on the Hill, and finally a very interestingarrangement of Swannee.Ian Gough from Stockport was the final organist and hebegan his programme with That’s Entertainment, (one ofthe pieces he played when winning the A.T.O.S.Competition) followed by Bird Song at Eventide (a lovelyarrangement which appealed very much to the audience),Pretty Little Black Eye’d Suzy and Cry Me a River (really“blue-sy”) and to conclude - a very enjoyable selection ofFiddler on the Roof.

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October brought Robert Rowley back to the console of the Stockport Wurlitzer. I have known Robert for a few yearsnow and I first met him when my local organists association paid a visit to the Granada Studios and I was reunited withthe Gaumont Wurlitzer, an instrument for which I have great affection and the one on which Robert cut his organplaying teeth.Robert started with that superb march Down Your Way by Haydn (pronounced Hay-den) Wood. The correct title of thepiece is in fact Horse Guards Whitehall but I think we all recognise it as the opening piece of the famous radioprogramme. I always look on Haydn Wood as being second to Eric Coates but that it is really unfair it is perhapsunfortunate that both were at their peak at the same time. We were then treated to a bouncy jazz arrangement ofSomethings Got to Give followed by a touch of Strauss and the Voices of Spring this is, in parts, a particularly trickypiece excellently performed with interesting use of the Chrysoglott as Robert's hands flitted between the manuals.Robert is keen on performing his own orchestral arrangements of film themes and today we were treated to Hook,Superman and Star Wars with a hint of Jaws (a gentle nibble rather than a complete bite your leg off) on the pedalorgan as a link between pieces. Now there are selections and there are selections. Some are simply pieces linkedtogether with modulations as the performer moves from key to key but Roberts orchestral arrangements are somethingelse and when you couple that with knowledge of classical music the results can be, and in this case, were impressive.Finger bustin was Robert's description of Smash and Grab made famous by Jimmy Leach and his Organoleans, whowere regulars on Music While you Work (so my granddad told me). Following on from this demonstration of the art ofsyncopation Robert then put his fingers back in their sockets and treated us to a superb rendition, full of feeling,sentimentality and second touch counter melodies, of There's a Place in my Heart for You proving that organists, inthis case Lyn Larson, can be pretty good composers. Robert is actively involved in pipe organ restoration/maintenanceand is spending quite a bit of time working in and around the London area. When he is down there, if possible, he triesto fit in a show so it was the Stockport Wurlitzer in classical mode as we went to the Opera the Phantom of the Opera.We had the sheer power of the Wurlitzer in straight organ mode, chimes, untremulated Voxes and again the classicalelement as Robert used the pedals for the melody with broken, toccata like, chords on the manuals in the manner of theFinal from Louis Viernes First Symphony. The penultimate item was the ballad Not While I'm Around from SweeneyTodd and to end the programme an organ transcription of Finlandia. All in all a superb concert full of variety and,believe me, hours and hours of preparation. Thanks Robert, see you again soon.

The Monday Scene

Following on from Joyce Alldred's report of the joint concert with her pupils she has kindly provided the followingpen pictures :-

MICHAEL BARON

Michael Baron was born in Oldham, and received his early education there. He was a talented pianist, and was veryinterested in music generally. Michael went on to Leeds University where he studied Composition and Harmony withJames Brown, and also Classical Organ, with Piano Accompaniment as a second instrument, obtaining a B.A. (HonsDegree in Music. Subsequently he went into teaching at schools and colleges, including the Royal Forest of DeanCollege, and was Director of Music at Bournemouth School amongst others. At present Michael is Head of Music atthe 6th Form College in Pontefract in Yorkshire, whilst living in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. Recently he was featuredat Liverpool Philharmonic Hall at their Open Day, playing Piano with the Andy Long Orchestra; Andy, who isAssistant Leader of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, came to Peel Green to support Michael at his first jointconcert with Ian Gough. Michael also does the orchestral arrangements for the Andy Long Orchestra. He held theprestigious post of organist at Holy Trinity Church, Hull for some time, and has been featured at Bodelwyddan Castle,North Wales, the Pump Room at Harrogate, and for many years was accompanist to Joyce Sharples, who, along withher husband used to be in the max Jaffa Orchestra at Scarborough, and the Spa Players, who were based in Hyde, buttravelled the country. Michael played for the heats of the Brass Section of the Young Musician of the Year in 1992 atSt. George’s, Brandon Hill, and also at Cardiff, for the B.B.C. and also accompanied the semi-finalists at the RoyalNorthern College of Music, Manchester in May 1993. From his very young days, Michael had always had a yearning tolearn to play the Theatre Organ, but had steadfastly stuck to his classical playing in order to ensure a secure future.However, late in 2005, he was browsing on the internet when he came across the Joyce Alldred Web Page, decided to

Michael Baron and Ian Gough

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Vox Lancastria

take the bull by the horns and rang me regarding lessons on Theatre Organ Styling. We sorted a system out for lessons- the odd full day during College holidays, and between, by using e-mail and telephone to work out arrangements. (Yes,we play and sing to each other down the phone!! - It is surprising what can be done when needs must!) It has workedwell, and Michael is now an accomplished Theatre Organist; he has been featured in several joint concerts with IanGough at Peel Green, and has also given solo concerts there; he has been featured at the Plaza Theatre, Stockport,where he has proved to be very popular, playing just the right type of music from his enormous repertoire, for theprogrammes. He played at Stockport Town Hall in July, when his tutor, Joyce Alldred, went into more-or-lessretirement from full length concerts because of hand and wrist problems, but who is still able to play half-an-hour or sowithout a break. He was featured along with Joyce, Ian Gough, Michael Holmes and Mary Ann Wootton. Hisarrangements on the Wurlitzer were most enjoyable, and are often not only appealing, but interesting and intriguing,and his dexterity is breathtaking. Michael’s wife Chrissie, supports him wholeheartedly, and his mother and father,Margaret and Bill, and his sister Margaret are very proud that he has at last achieved his ambition and always supporthim at his concerts. It is a privilege to have Michael as a student as I know he always gives 100%, whilst still enjoyinghis playing. If you have never heard him play, do watch out for his appearances and if possible, go and listen to him -I am sure you will not be disappointed.

IAN GOUGH.

Ian went to school in Lichfield, and at that time played Bassoon, up to Grade 6; he was in the school windband andorchestra, and also played with the Staffordshire Youth Orchestra. He is very proud of the fact that whilst at school, hewrote a piece of music for the Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra, and this was performed in public at the Town Hall.He also was awarded the over-all prize at school for Musical Achievement. Ian also reached Grade 7 on Home Organ,and gained G.C.S.E. and A Level Music. When he went to University he gave up his musical activities; he studiedGeography at Manchester University, gaining a B.A. (Hons) Degree, and from there, went on to Salford University tostudy H.R. Management. At present he works for British Gas.Ian, like Michael Baron, had always wanted to learn to play the Theatre Organ. Whilst browsing on his computer, hefound the Joyce Alldred WebPage on the Internet, and contacted me to see if I would teach him Theatre Organ Styling.He has made good progress and is enjoying arranging and presenting light and popular music on the Theatre Organ. Hehas played solo concerts at Peel Green, and also joint concerts with Michael Baron. He, like Michael, played at my“semi-retirement” concert on 15th July at Stockport Town Hall, in which I show-cased several of my students, and hepresented a very varied and enjoyable programme, and handled the large Wurlitzer very well. Ian often plays at thePlaza Theatre, Stockport, where he is very popular with the patrons. Early this year, he submitted a CD, featuring a“curtain-raiser” (That’s Entertainment), a ballad (Bird Songs at Eventide) and a Show Selection (Singin’ in the Rain) incompliance with the rules laid down by the American Theatre Organ Society for the Amateur Adult Competition. Theadjudicators were very complimentary about his programme and awarded him First Prize, and he received a lovelywooden plaque, suitably inscribed. If you get the change to hear Ian play, do go along; I am sure you will enjoy his

NEW MEMBERSThe Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust has great pleasure in welcoming the following new JUNIOR

member:-Craig Mann of Astley, Manchester.

Membership Details

Life: £250, Ordinary - £16.50, Junior - £7.50, Associate - £4.

Membership application forms can be obtained from the Membership Secretary, Michael Holmesat the address shown on page 1.

Remember "Phone a Friend". The more members we have the better we can meet the aims of theTrust and help to preserve this major part of our Heritage.

Please remember the gift aid forms.

NB If any member's address details are incorrect on the posting of Vox can you please send acorrection to our Membership Secretary at the address shown on Page 1

Vox Lancastria

Tony Fenelon

Tony Fenelon - a great supporter of the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust was taken illrecently and had to have an emergency operation.

We are pleased to report that what could have been very serious has been dealt withsuccessfully and Tony is well on his way to making a full recovery.

He was in the UK a few weeks ago and following a visit to Peel Green said

"I was amazed at Peel Green! What a difference! And it's great to seejust how much everyone enjoys being there. It's like a big happy

family! You've all done wonders!

"Farny Wurlitzer Remembers" - the missing section

Further to Roger Fisher's transcription of Mr. Wurlitzer's 1964 speech, it seems a crucial section concerning theevents leading up to Hope-Jones' death, was missed out between the two instalments. To put the record straight themissing part is below. For continuity this section should go between those previously published in issues 23 and 24

of “Vox”.

(Continuing on from “Vox” number 23) . . . . . . . He could talk you into believing that black was white, and I think hesucceeded sometimes!Well, at the end of this period of time we decided that the only way we could make a success of the business, was tohave Hope-Jones stay out of the factory and have nothing to do with the actual manufacturing operations. And wetalked to him and also wrote him a letter, and told him that he no longer had permission to come into the plant, that wewould continue to pay him, just as the contract provided for, and he had a percentage of any sales price on all theorgans that we sold. And we told him that as soon as the business was profitable, that we would then establish anexperimental shop for him, where he could do the experimental work, but would not interfere with the current workgoing through, because you just cannot manufacture and make every instrument different than the last one that youbuilt. And that, unfortunately, with his inventive mind, was the only way that he could manage it. So that discouragedHope-Jones, that he could no longer come into the plant. It discouraged him that he no longer was in the public eye asmuch as he had been before, and as many of you know, he committed suicide on September 13th, 1914.It was a great pity. Had he believed in us he would have been well compensated because a little later on the businessgrew prosperous. His wife was, in my opinion, a very wonderful woman. Very kind, and she did much for all of theemployees that she had known for years. Most of these people had come over from England with Hope-Jones. We hadmany many problems, many serious problems in those early days because the loss that we had was a big one for us. Butthroughout it all we never lost faith in what the Hope-Jones organ was, and what he had done. We believed in his work,and we believed that we could be a success in it, and we were.The first outstanding organ, (it isnt by any means the first organ we built in a theater), was the one that we sold to theLiberty Theater in Seattle. We shipped that in late 1914. That was a tremendous success. The theater was builtespecially as a motion picture theater. They had no provision for an orchestra. They depended entirely on our organ formusic, and the theater was quite original. You see, up to that time nearly all other theaters were remodelled theaters.And they had one feature that at that time was unusual, was a ramp to go up to the balcony instead of having stairs.Well the theater was such a tremendous success at the start I'm not exaggerating in telling you this that for three weeksthe Seattle police had to take care of the crowds that stood for three blocks waiting their turn to get into the LibertyTheater.

Well that, of course, was a great help to us . . . . . . . (concluded in “Vox” number 24)

Vox Lancastria

Diary Dates2007

STOCKPORT TOWN HALL2-30 p.m.

Sunday 25th November Anniversary Concert Nigel OgdenSunday 27th April 2008 Phil KelsallSunday 20th July 2008 Nicholas Martin

HERITAGE CENTRE - PEEL GREEN

Showcases each Wednesday, featuring the the Wurlitzer PipeOrgan with guest artists at the Console.

A list of Organists will appear on the Theatre Organ HeritageCentre Web page

Ticket price £2-50p 1-00pm to 2-30pm.As seating is limited to 80, advance booking is highly

recommended.Contact Colin Smith for further details.

Lunchtime Events at Stockport Town HallSMBC Events start at 12.00, £1.50 at the door

Refreshments available from 11-30am.

3rd Dec Andrew Nix7th January 2008 Matthew Bason4th February 2008 Chris Powell3rd March 2008 Byron Jones7th April 2008 Nicholas Martin12th May 2008 Peter Jebson