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COVENTRY & WARWICKSHIRE ORGANISTS' ASSOCIATION
Mid Warwickshire Organ Exploration and evening & buffet September 5th
The September meeting of the association was a visit to two unique Pipe Organs.
Starting at 3.00pm a visit to All Saints Sherbourne near Warwick took place.
This is a Gilbert Scott Victorian church built in 1864. The Church sited where previous
churches had been - back to Saxon times.
The 2 Manual walker Organ performed well and despite the ravages of the recent hot
weather, other than one or two quiet ‘runnings’ with no stops out, the organ was mainly
well in tune with no noticeable action faults. All three members attending played and
appreciated its wonderful Walker sound.
The instrument is rated top class as it has a Grade 1 BIOS listing.
More information is on NPOR Survey: https://npor.org.uk/survey/D03159
At 4.00pm members moved the 3 miles into Warwick to go to St Mary the Immaculate
RC Church.
This is another unique 2M instrument made by W. Hawkins and Son from Walsall -
They are still in business. The organ was in the rear Gallery and in the good acoustic, it
made a surprisingly good sound. Unfortunately it is NOT recorded on the NPOR but
pictures were taken and attempts to get it on NPOR will be made. Briefly it has:
On the Right Hand Stop Jamb
Great: Open D 8’, Claribel Flute 8’ & Octave 4’ with Pedal: Bourdon 16’
On the Left Hand Stop Jamb
Swell: Violin Diapason 8’, Lieblich Gedact 8’, Flute 4’ & Cornet 3 rank
Couplers: Sw to Gt, Sw to Ped & Gt to Ped
The 3 rank cornet was excellent and the 16’ bourdon made a good sound throughout.
Members then retired to the nearby ‘Old Fourpenny Shop Hotel’ for refreshments including a Buffet Tea - all this was very well arranged by our president Adrian Moore.
Sherbourne - side view
St Mary Immaculate console
Sherbourne console
Y Org 26 - Web Report - FINAL W.pdfA recording of the concert may be listened to here.
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On 17th July, five members of CWOA, John Wilderspin, Peter Harris, Philip Johnson, Dr Paul Williams and Che Gayton gave a composite organ recital at St Mary, Warwick. The audience of approximately 35 people showed each recitalist their appreciation with well deserved applause.Their programme and recitalist details are here.
A recording of the concert, made by Peter Lock, may be listened to here.The timings of each piece of music are:
John Wilderspin 0.00
Peter Harris 6:58
Phil Johnson 14:00
Dr. Paul Williams 18:50
Che Gayton 26:20
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The Annual General Meeting of the Association took place on 14th March at the Hinckley United Reformed Church, attended by a small but select number of members. After the meeting had concluded we enjoyed refreshments, followed by the customary excellent organ recital on the famous Holdich organ by our President Adrian Moore. The programme may be viewed here, timings here, and the recital, recorded and made available by Peter Lock, here. A copy of the church's informative leaflet about the organ and its history is reproduced here.
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Adrian Moore
Adrian and his 'registrant'
Ed Goldsmith
On May 30th CWOA organised a concert for the Rugby Musical Union in Rugby School Chapel. Five CWOA members accepted the opportunity to play this magnificent organ (details of organ below).
Firstly, Alexander Hooton - organist at St Mark's Bilton, with his own composition 'Trumpet Tune', an 'Own Piece' for his Grade 4 Trinity Exam in 2025, in which he obtained a Distinction.
Michael Spencer - organist at Rugby Baptist Church and St Leonard's, Ryton gave a spirited performance of the Percy Fletcher 'Festival Toccata'
John Wilderspin from Wellesbourne gave a very polished performance of the Bach Passacaglia and Fugue BWV 582.
Geoff Cowley - organist at St Peter, Higham-on-the-Hill in south Leicestershire played his own arrangement of 'Dance of the Blessed Spirits' by Gluck.
Sam Horton - a young organist from Weedon near Rugby played the Leon Boellmann Suite Gothique, ending with a note-perfect, brilliant performance of the Toccata.
Interspersed between the organ pieces there were performances from
Miles Beddows - a guitarist from Lichfield who played 3 Venezuelan dances,
Mini Sine - a brilliant choir directed by Andy Cope, based in Rugby but who sing in cathedrals around the country, sang
Sing Joyfully - William Byrd
Mother of God, here I stand - John Tavener
Pader agan Arloedh - Russell Pascoe
Three English Folk Songs - Ralph Vaughan Williams
Rosemary Robinson and Laura Cope from Rugby and Bolton played a Sonata of Scotch tunes by James Oswald on Spinet and Voice Flute.
Together these performers provided an enthusiastic audience with a varied, entertaining and very professional concert. The organists who played all said how they enjoyed playing this wonderful organ in such a beautiful setting.
Details of the Rugby School Chapel Organ
This Cathedral Sized 4 Manual pipe organ was made and installed by Kenneth Jones and Associates in about 2002.
This was mainly 'Tracker Action', but the Solo manual did have EP Action. In early 2019 the instrument had a significant overhaul and upgrading where the tracker action was scrapped,and Electro-pneumatic action supplied for Swell, Great and Choir Organs. The Current NPOR spec is NOT up to date; the correct specification as in use now (2026) is here. Note the * pipe ranks 2024 all changed after water damage, also the Bombarde section is all brand new.
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