A New Interior for Cleckheaton Methodist Church

Did you know the poor church mouse was originally a hungry one?

The saying was originally said to be hungry as a church mouse. Churches in the 1600’s had no kitchens to cook meals and no storage or pantries to store food. A mouse that was so unlucky to take up residence in a church would find no food there. The lucky mice would find a place to live in the cellar of a house, kitchen or shop, not a church. As time went on, the saying was changed from hungry to poor.

Cleckeaton Methodist Church has some very new and special mice of its own having undergone a major refurbishment with new furniture by the famous ‘Mouseman’ company of Robert Thompson’s Craftsmen Limited  Now mice are traditionally the enemy of both pipe organs and digital ones. They can eat the leather work of traditional instruments and nibble on cables of the electronic ones, so we are not usually happy to see mice about a church.

However, here above you see them as endearing and amusing embellishments on the fine new church furniture. I am sure they will capture the imagination of the younger members of the congregation who may well play a game of find the mice during some part of the service. I particularly like the one who has nibbled his way through the corner  of the new pew.

Our contribution to the refurbishment was a new Envoy 35-F instrument installed with  4 external speakers. The instrument is our standard medium oak finish which matches well the colour of the new furniture. The final voicing of the instrument was done by Anthony Bogdan of Anthony Bogdan Organs Ltd  who worked with us on this customers installation.

Our customer commented:-

“Many thanks for the time, care and attention you have given to the installation and voicing of our new Viscount Envoy 35F organ, installed as part of our church refurbishment programme. We have received friendly, courteous and professional service throughout, and I would have no hesitation in recommending you to others looking for a digital organ.”

– Alan Littlewood, Organist Cleckheaton Methodist Church

 

The organ specification is as follows:

Pedal		Great		Swell
Sub Bass	32	Double Diapason	16	Geigen Diapason	8
Open Wood	16	Open Diapason I	8	Chimney Flute	8
Open Metal	16	Open Diapason II	8	Echo Gamba	8
Bourdon	16	Claribel Flute	8	Voix Celeste	8
Principal	8	Stopped Diapason	8	Geigen Principal	4
Bass Flute	8	Principal	4	Wald Flute	4
Choral Bass	4	Harmonic Flute	4	Flageolet	2
Mixture	IV	Twelfth	2-2/3	Sesquialtera	II
Trombone	16	Fifteenth	2	Mixture	IV
Trumpet	8	Mixture	IV	Contra Fagotto	16
		Trumpet	8	Cornopean	8
		Clarinet	8	Oboe	8
				Clarion	4
Great to Pedal		Tremulant		Tremulant
Swell to Pedal		Swell to Great