St. Mark's Florence

The present organ and the plans for a replacement organ.

The present 2 manual organ was built in the 70's by Bevelaqua using electropneumatic cone valve chests and some second hand material. The leather is now failing and many leather puffers have already been replaced. The electric switching in the console is also unreliable as it dates to the 1950's. None of the ranks of pipes have a beautiful tone, although the Great Principal chorus (8,4,2) is able to lead hymn singing by virtue of its somewhat forced upper harmonics. The two reed ranks are quite the most hideous sound I have ever heard; the musette sounds like a bag-pipe and the Clarino sounds like a frog stuck in a drain pipe.

The organ has suffered from several building projects around it, one involving the builders being asked to move the blower to the front of the organ. The resulting plumbing they carried out made tuning access even harder. The noisy blower was placed in a wooden box that sits between the organist and the organ and can easily be heard by the congregation. During the move the builders disposed of the stones that had been used to create the pressure on the blower reservoir. The organist decided to place a full 25 l plastic bottle of water on the reservoir. This worked fine until 2017 when the bottle somehow split and water leaked out. The result was that the organ was slowly running out of wind and eventually did not play at all. The reservoir was damaged by the water, but somehow the motor below survived!

The following images show the condition of the inside of the organ.

The Church would be happy to replace it with a more reliable mechanical action instrument, possibly second hand, suitable for the Anglican liturgy.

The pipes in the Swell have suffered from misplaced feet and many years of incorrect tuning.

A thick layer of dust and debris waiting for a spark from the high current transformer!

Copious amounts of plastic tubing, the orange sewer pipes being added by the builders!:

The 800 leather puffer membranes are failing at an ever increasing rate and are being replaced when they fail:

The console electric switching dates to the mid 1950's. I have very carefully cleaned the oxide of the many contacts and for the moment it is all working. However, the copper wires are insulated with cotton and sparks are generated during normal operation, so if smoke is seen rising from the console an extinguisher would be handy.

Fascinating, but neither safe nor reliable

A new Organ for St Marks

A beautiful organ by Sweetland of Bath (1880) has been offered to the church, but the removal of it from the now closed Methodist Chapel in Cornwall is in the process of discussion with Historic England who would prefer it to stay in the building - probably to prevent any profitable use being made of the building.

No other church wishes to purchase the building and the current owners may not be able to fund the necessary restoration of the organ if it had to stay put, or restore the building if it is not allowed to find a new use. The process was also slowed down by a legal battle over who actually owns the building. This was settled in September.

The local Methodist circuit is in the process of gaining permission to remove the organ. I hope to be able to report good news soon about the plans to relocate the Sweetland to St Marks church.