- 31st August 2020
New Organ Gallery being constructed in St Mary's Church
It’s taken twelve and a half years but St Mary’s Church is finally about to get its new pipe organ.
Over the summer, Punch Construction of Tollesbury has been busy digging the foundations and putting together the steelwork manufactured by Maldon Marine. St Mary’s Director of Music, Colin Baldy, said “it’s been a really long process getting to this point. Once we finally had the funding in place, and in view of the fact that it’s been a big community project throughout, we were really keen to keep the local element by involving as many local firms in the construction of the gallery as possible.”
The gallery has been designed by architects Freeland Rees Roberts of Cambridge. St Mary’s is a grade one listed building and it was important that architects were chosen who had a record of working in such sensitive locations. The surveyors were the Morton Partnership; conservation specialists based in Coggeshall. One of the difficulties that faced the architects, surveyors and builders was the fact that nothing can damage the historic construction of the church. The gallery is effectively free-standing, with all the weight being transferred into the ground. The organ weighs over six metric tonnes, so getting the design right was quite a feat!
The organ itself arrives on 11th September and will take approximately six weeks to install. Sadly, Covid-19 restrictions mean that the church cannot be left open during the day, as is normally the case, but anyone who would like to see the works for themselves can do so on Saturdays between 11am and 1pm, or by attending a Sunday service.
St Mary’s are inviting local people to get involved in the organ project, and in the entire St Mary’s@900 restoration project, by sponsoring stops or pipes in the new organ. Full details can be found on the website.