Finchley organ removal

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

Martin’s spent his life playing and building pipe organs; nowadays he dedicates his time to rescuing them – “It’s a real crisis [in the UK]. There are around fifty churches closing every year and half the organs in them are worth saving.” Beautifully made and historically important pipe organs are being scrapped in their hundreds. Once at the centre of British culture, pipe organs now largely neglected and unloved.

Often just one step ahead of the bulldozers, Martin and an intrepid band of organ “anoraks” travel the country on rescue missions. In one ex-mining village in the north of England he discovers a fine very rare nineteenth century organ. In another he’s amazed to find a large 980 pipe beast whose salvage and “rebirth” is the redemptive story at the heart of the film.

Weaving through the documentary are stories of pipe organ devotees and rescuers. Sprightly 95-year-old Blanche Beer, who played the organ at her local Chapel for 80 years, describes life as a pit-village organist. It’s a wonderful glimpse into a musical world that is disappearing.