Saturday 12 March 2016 at 7:30pm – Concert of music for Passiontide and Easter by the Liverpool Festival Choir, in aid of the Organ Fund.

Admission is free; there will be a collection in aid of the Organ Fund

Once more, we welcome the Liverpool Festival Choir to Ormskirk Parish Church.  The programme is as follows:

Programme

On the way to Jerusalem                                                                J. Maunder

O Saviour of the World                                                                        J. Goss

Ave Verum Corpus                                                                     W A. Mozart

Deep Peace                                                                              S. Burtonwood

Reading

Thy Perfect Love                                                                     S. Burtonwood

Panis Angelicus                                                                                C. Franck

*

Hymn:     Praise to the Holiest in the Height                   T: Sir A. Somervell

*

Our Lord is Risen from the Dead                                                   H L. Sartin

The Strife is O’er                                                                                   H. Ley

Easter Song of Joy                                                                        R. Shephard

Organ Solo:   Joseph Wakefield  –  Organ Scholar

Mighty Glorious is God the Father                                                   J S. Bach

I am Alpha & Omega                                                                        J. Stainer

Reading

Surely                                                }

Since by Man came Death                } Messiah                            G F. Handel

Alleluia  Chorus                                }

Hymn:     Thine be the Glory

*

Tea / Coffee etc Served

Liverpool Festival Choir is made up of Christian singers from all walks of life and denominations. The choir sings ‘Church Music’ past and present, old and new and always for a particular charity, usually about six times a year at ‘Festival Times’  in various churches including both of Liverpool’s two great Cathedrals.

Over the past 14 years or so, the choir has helped to raise over £39,000 for various charities.

The choir was rejuvenated by Colin Porter when he was asked to take over the then ‘Liverpool Praise Choir’, a choir which was then ailing.

It was agreed to combine with the forces of the Mossley Hill Parish Church choir with a change in the repertoire. The choir these days enjoys a fine reputation making return visits to many of the venues it has sung in.

The Choir rehearses at Mossley Hill Parish Church each week with the church choir on Friday evenings and non-church choir members on a Wednesday evening.

New singers are always welcome.

 

The care of our instrument is once more in the capable hands of David Wells Organ Builders of Liverpool.  Following the sad death of our previous tuner, Keith Edwards of Tattenhall, Chester, it has been decided to ask David Wells to look after the organ.  David has built his firm up over a number of years, having worked with both Henry Willis and Son, where he was trained, and later Harrison & Harrison of Durham.  For many years, he has been responsible for the maintenance of the organ in Liverpool Cathedral, and he currently looks after a number of cathedrals and large concert halls.

In 2014, we were hit with two episodes of failure of the blowing plant, which had been installed by Watkins & Watson in 1927.  Overall, the repairs, carried out by the original manufacturers, cost something in the region of £4000, which was an unexpected outlay!  There are two linked blowers, situated in the chamber below the Choir Vestry; wind is conveyed through an enormous trunk, running through the vestries, into the organ above.

 

  The twin Watkins  & Watson blowers, deep in the bowels of the Earth!

In October of both 2013 and 2014, the St Petersburg Resurrection Choir, under the baton of Jurij Maruk, visited us in aid of our appeal.  Their sound filled the building and was appreciated by a small but dedicated audience!

   2014                                                                  2013

 

Visit their website at:

http://voskresenije.blogspot.co.uk/p/in-performance_9282.html

 

It was  a very interesting experience to eat and socialise with the members of the choir, following the event. Broadly speaking, the choir was composed of two different categories of members, separated by age; a few, like myself, had been brought up during the Cold War, when we regarded the Russians as ‘the enemy’ and they us likewise. But what lovely people they were! The majority were far younger, however, and had no real conception of this conflict of attitudes which lay in our common history. They. too, were a delight to have with us. I am updating this post to the background of Russia’s on-going conflict in Ukraine but it just shows that we have far more in common than that which is seen from the political ideals which separate and polarise us!

On 23 June 2013, Marshside Brass Band played a concert for us in aid of the Organ Appeal, conducted by Peter Leary:

Conductor of Marshside Brass Band, Peter Leary was, before retirement, Principal Trombone of the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra (now the BBC Symphonia) and leader of the Northern Brass Ensemble. But more than that, he taught our Organist, Mark Rawsthorn, to play the trombone whilst he was still at school, at what was then UpHolland Grammar School, now transformed into Winstanley College. More recently, it has become apparent that Peter was a school friend of a gentleman who, for the last 25 years or so, has been a friend of Mark’s!

The Appeal was launched with a recital by David Poulter, Director of Music at Liverpool Cathedral, on 3 November, 2012:

 

Launch Programme

 

Our Sponsor-a-Pipe scheme allows you to put your name to one of nearly three-and-a-half thousand pipes inside the organ.  Following sponsorship, you will receive a certificate detailing which pipes have been sponsored and, if applicable, any dedication attached to the sponsorship, such as that at the link below:

Sponsor a pipe cert template

We are currently attempting to raise the enormous sum of £150,000 to completely restore the instrument.  Whilst it still sounds well, there are many issues inside with the ‘action’, that is, the mechanism which controls wind getting into the pipes.  Most of these issues arise from leather parts cracking and splitting, allowing high-pressure wind to leak out, and causing moving parts to fail.

Click below for a Powerpoint used to highlight some of these issues at the launch of the Appeal:

Presentation1

The details of the fascinating history of this instrument are covered in the ‘History’ page; however, a printed version with additional photographs is now available from the church, for a modest donation to the restoration fund.

 

Let us keep you updated on everything to do with the project to maintain this superb instrument!