About the Organ

The Pipe organ at St Mary and Giles Church, Stony Stratford is a 3 manual Willis, which came from the Church of St George in Edinburgh* (now a register archive office) and was installed in our Church in 1967. It plays an important part in our acts of worship every week and is also used regularly for rehearsals of the Parish Singers, concerts, weddings and funerals.

Pipe organs need major refurbishment every 25 – 30 years because leathers perish and some moving parts wear out. Our organ has been maintained over the years and has had some parts replaced, but is now overdue for major refurbishment. We have had a quotation of £124,000 to have all the necessary work done and will seek a faculty as soon as we have 60% of the funds needed. We need 20% of the necessary funds to be able to place an order for the work to be done.

The organ consists of five major sections – the Choir, the Great, the Swell, the Pedal and the Console (which contains some very out of date wiring which needs to be replaced because it has become very unreliable). All the sections need refurbishment, some more than others.

The instrument has great potential as a recital or teaching instrument, if in good working order. It has a wide range of stops providing rich tone and colour. It is currently playable and is being used for recitals, but the action is increasingly unreliable so it is not currently used for regular teaching of local organ scholars, although is being used as a practice instrument by one young organ scholar.

* special thanks to Bill Strang of the Open University who put together this short article about St George's Church, Charlotte Square, Edinburgh.