Choir to sing praises of revamped organ

A CONCERT to mark the completion of a three-year campaign to raise funds for the refurbishment of a church organ will be held at St Peter's Church in the Capital.

The St Peter's Organ Refurbishment Appeal Concert will take place on Friday at 7.30pm.

St Peter's Church choir will stage a programme of church, which will be a celebration of the church year from one Advent through to the next, and will include anthems and other sacred pieces.

St Peter's organist, Sheila Robertson, will put the new instrument through its paces, with the 35-strong choir performing under musical director Rupert Forbes.

The refurbishment, carried out at a cost of 280,000 by Principal Pipe Organs of York, has taken more than two years to complete and, subject to final last-minute fine tuning, the organ will be ready for the concert.

A total of 46,825 has already been raised towards the refurbishment and fundraisers are confident that the 50,000 target will be met.

The original organ was completely removed in March 2009 and the new one completed earlier this month. A new wind system was fitted, all the soundboards and actions were fully restored and the internal pipe layout was completely changed to help improve the tonal projection.

Entry to the concert is free. There will be a collection for the refurbishment appeal.