2025 started with quite a challenge filming our latest Regent Classic instrument at Selby Abbey. The camera resources were once again provided by my cousin whose company Air TV has created ‘Bangers & Cash. Audio skills were from our great friend Ken Blair so the regular team assembled in a very cold Abbey for the session just a couple of days after Dr Joseph Nolan flew in from Australia.
You can enjoy Josephs performance of the Messerer arrangement of the Bach Chaconne.
Straight after Joseph and I were then off to Dudelange in Luxembourg where he was recording the complete works of Alkan with me turning pages, well actually poking at an Ipad and assisting with registration changes. This was the most complex task assisting Joseph so far. Much of the music insanely technically challenging with 61 pieces to record over a 4 night session. The first of 3 albums will be released in March this year on the Signum label.
Regent Classic hire instrument for St John’s College
In February we were asked to provide a temporary organ for St Giles Church in Oxford who have finally arranged for a new pipe organ to be built by Mascioni in Italy. The old organ has now been removed, and our instrument will bridge the approximate two year gap before the new instrument arrives.
Later in February, my 70th birthday was spent in Cambridge commissioning the hire instrument provided to St John’s College while work on installing a refurbished Willis instrument took place by Harrison & Harrison. This Regent Classic instrument is a sonic copy of the new 4 manual that will grace the chapel in 2026. As we seldom sell 4 manuals in the UK the Regent’s solo department is floating without a dedicated 4th manual. It also allows the music desk to be a little closer to the musician, a feature with my advancing years that I find very helpful!
A project four years in the making
April finally saw us complete our installation in St Michael & All Angels in Farnsfield, a project that we worked on for over 4 years. The installation was delayed by a faculty requirement to find a new home for the failing pipe organ before our replacement could be installed. After over a year of trying to satisfy this requirement, it was finally dropped so a reliable alternative is at last now in the church.
In contrast in the same month we installed an instrument in the Royal Garrison Church in Aldershot. A project that took no more than two months as the church sits outside the faculty regulations.
Installing an instrument from our new Ensign range
Later on we upgraded the instrument at Magdalen Chapel in Bath. They had a Viscount 3-manual Prestige 80 which had served them well for some 25 years. Although, still working well, the organist and church members had decided they wanted to swap for a new instrument to see them will into the future. They selected a new Viscount Ensign Compact 45 organ with 2 external speakers for the manuals and a powered bass speaker for the pedals.
Continued support for young organists in the summer
The summer saw a number of instruments heading their way to schools funded through the RCO scheme. I am delighted to witness increasing numbers of young musicians taking up the instrument, and we are always happy to support younger players where we can.
The summer holidays saw an Envoy 35-F instrument replace the rather limited pipe organ in Bancrofts School chapel. A west end division was included that allowed a far better distribution of sound not possible from the pipe organ that was hemmed into a north side alcove.
Organ hire business continues to grow
Our organ hire business has developed substantially over the years with many families choosing to hire while the child works out if they have a long term affinity with the instrument or have a more convenient practice facility than any local church can provide. There are of course demands when major pipe organs are temporarily out of use while being repaired or restored as was the case in Bristol Cathedral and St John’s College Cambridge during 2025.
Musical events also generate demand often when the church organ can’t support the repertoire to be performed. In July we provided an instrument for one of the Proms concerts at the Glasshouse in Gateshead where no pipe organ yet exists even though provision of space was made when the hall was designed.
Installing a new organ at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford
Finally after some 10 years of hopeful anticipation, we were asked to provide a new digital to replace the increasingly unreliable Bradford electronic instrument in the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. There is hope that funds will eventually be raised to rebuild a new pipe organ within the case but this project may take a decade of so to come to fruition. That seems a long time but in the context of a building built in the 1680’s it is but the blink of an eye.
We have taken huge care to try to create an instrument that respects the pipe case in which it sits but has the power to support its role in entertaining the audience in a full building. You can read all about that in detail in the series of blogs that we have published.
The Director’s Challenge 2025
St Cecilia’s day saw a massive organ and choral event taking place in our Bicester showroom. Organised by the Royal School of Church Music Hugh Morris the CEO undertook a 25 hour organathon with guest choirs invited in to provide some intervals of accompanied singing. Our team were in the building in relays and also joined in at times to allow Hugh rest breaks during the long and rather cold night.
The end of the year as usual proved a busy time driven by the Christmas deadline that sits over many orders at that time of year. 2026 started with a huge cathedral project and the full team are back at work with a vengeance. That project was completed in the first week of January so you can read all about the voicing of the instrument and perhaps again in next years review!
I have had a passion for church organs since the tender age of 12. I own and run Viscount Organs with a close attention to the detail that musicians appreciate; and a clear understanding of the benefits of digital technology and keeping to the traditional and emotional elements of organ playing.
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