As you know, at our last informal meeting at Michael Fraser-Allen’s house, Michele Bates mentioned that she had received a letter from Michael Chapman, strongly suggesting that we should look into arranging an inspection of the Church Organ, for asbestos contamination, at the earliest opportunity. Since it also appears that some repair work to the organ has been overdue for some time, it was agreed that Alan Leach, Martin Jackson and I would discuss the matter and present a proposal at the next PCC meeting in November.
Some of you may recall that in 1999 John Winn undertook a detailed report on the state of the organ. He concluded that with no immediate repairs being apparently necessary and with twice yearly tuning and maintenance we should be able to get by for 10-15 years before any major repairs need to be considered. At the time he considered any grant for restoration would only cover about 80% of the total cost.
Since that time however the general state of the organ has deteriorated to such an extent that by late 2003, Michael Latham told me that he couldn’t keep trying to correct the problems by just ‘plastering over the cracks’ and that we should seriously considered getting the organ properly restored (especially since the financial climate for getting restoration grants had improved considerably since 1999). He advised getting in touch with Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn, who he considered were the best organ restorers in the country for our historic organ and were one of those recommended in John Winn’s 1999 report (Harrison & Harrison being the other restorer).
Having got in touch with Goetze and Gwynn, they visited our Church in November 2003 and undertook a thorough inspection of the Elliot Organ and agreed to produce a report of repair/restoration options for our consideration, free of charge.
In the meantime we have been continuing to limp on with different parts of the organ not working and Michael Latham has been fixing up what he could. But matters have now come to a head because we need to get some estimates for expected organ repairs for financial planning purposes, and also because we need to arrange an inspection for asbestos contamination. After applying some gentle pressure on Goetze & Gwynn, they have finally completed and issued their report for our consideration.
At the last meeting on 18th November 2004 the PCC agreed to the setting up of the Church Organ Review sub-committee to meet up, discuss and :-
• agree the best way forward in any restoration/repair route • proceed in getting a second estimate for a full restoration (to be compared with the estimate from Goetze & Gwynn).
The sub-committee met up on 27th December 2004, and have come up with an agreed way forward - see detailed notes in the attached minutes from the meeting. To summarise, the sub-committee proposed exploring all the options available for either repairing or restoring our Elliot Organ within the constraints likely to be placed upon us by the DAC and/or funding organisations and within a cost that can reasonably be expected to be funded by either our Church or funding organisation(s) or a combination of both.
Contact has been made with Harrison & Harrison and Mark Venning has already visited our Church organ in early January to undertake their inspection. He will be reporting back to us with their recommendations and an estimate for a full restoration, hopefully within the next month.
During the inspection Mark Venning kept a lookout for any asbestos in any of the organ fabric and did in fact find some but only in the organ blower cabinet. He also found some woodworm in the surrounding box and suggested we treat that urgently, which I have now done with a heavy Rentokil dose.
Mark also suggested that other than treating the woodworm, we should not need to disturb the blower cabinet until such time as the organ is restored or repaired in the next year or so.
Contact has been made with Gwynn & Goetze and we have had a response back from them. They have offered to show us around one of the similar Church organs they have recently restored.
When we have had the report from Harrison and Harrison, the sub-committee should meet up again to review the options for moving ahead with a programme and report back to the PCC with recommendations.
As we have now had the report from Harrison & Harrison, the sub-committee met to review both reports (Gwynn & Goetze and Harrison & Harrison) in detail and consider all options for moving ahead with a programme. The PCC agreed that we should go ahead with applying for grants for restoration work on the organ. We have contacted Nicholas Thistlewaite and he has prepared to offer his services as our organ advisor for our fund raising applications.
Six applications have been made to various grant bodies so far:-
Some time ago in 1999 John Winn undertook a detailed report on the state of the Elliot organ in our church. He concluded that with no immediate repairs being apparently necessary and with twice yearly tuning and maintenance we should be able to get by for another 10-15 years before any major repairs might need to be considered. At the time he considered any grant for restoration would only cover about 80% of the total cost.
Since that time however the general state of the organ has deteriorated to such an extent that, in late 2003 Michael Latham told us that it was no longer possible to correct the problems just by ‘plastering over the cracks’ and that we should seriously consider getting the organ properly restored, (especially since the financial climate for getting restoration grants had improved considerably since 1999). He advised getting in touch with Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn, whom he considered were the best organ restorers in the country for our historic organ, and who were one of those recommended in John Winn’s 1999 report (Harrison & Harrison being the other restorer).
The PCC also received a letter from Michael Chapman, strongly suggesting that we should look into arranging an inspection of the church organ for asbestos contamination, at the earliest opportunity. Since it also appeared that some repair work to the organ had been overdue for some time, it was then agreed to set up the Organ Sub-Committee to discuss the matter and present a proposal at the next PCC meeting in November 2004.
The PCC have asked for two separate inspections to be undertaken by Harrison & Harrison and Gwynn & Goetze (see above – the two organ restorers referred to John Winn’s earlier report). Both have submitted restoration reports and quotations for our consideration, and both estimates are in the order of £150,000 including VAT.
The DAC has given our church approval for either scheme. We will need to display notices on our board declaring our intentions.
Nicholas Thistlewaite has offered his services as our organ advisor for our fund-raising applications, which will be paid out of the total funds.
I have made initial funding application enquires to six funding grant bodies. The outcomes are as follows:-
Before going ahead with formal applications to the funding organisations, Nicholas Thistlewaite has requested that the sub-committee obtain letters of appreciation and recommendation from Leicester Grammar School and other organisations (e.g. Fiori Musicali) detailing their enthusiasm for our proceeding with the restoration of our Elliot organ here at St.Margaret’s Church, Crick.
Such letters of appreciation have now been received and we are now obtaining up to date quotations from each of the organ builders, ready for submitting our applications.
Progress seems to be very slow, looking back over the last two years, but at least we can be thankful that we are making some progress. Hopefully during the coming year we will soon see a plan of action crystallising.
A short meeting was arranged to catch up on progress made since the last report.
Revised estimates have been obtained from both Harrison & Harrison and Gwynn & Goetze. Calculations have been done to arrive at projected figures for starting restoration work in 2007,2008,2009,2010 and 2011.
Nicholas Thistlewaite, our Organ Advisor has given us the go-ahead for proceeding with our funding applications.
We are in the process of filling up these application forms and collecting together all the supporting documentation required.
Hopefully all this preparation work will come in useful when the Tower and Window Restoration project gets underway.
A request has been made to Finance Committee to ring-fence allocated funds – a reply is awaited
Martin Jackson volunteered to meet up with Mark Venning of Harrison & Harrison with a view to checking out the feasibility of any form of Plan B, which we might have to consider for basic repairs if our total funding applications turn out not to cover the estimated cost of a full restoration.
A short meeting was arranged at 6pm on Friday 27th July 2007 to catch up on progress made since the last report. Further work has been undertaken since the meeting and this has also been included in this report.
Alan Leach expressed his apologies for not being able to attend the meeting due to illness.
Our recent concert in July this year, which Alan Leach arranged on our behalf, was very well received. The proceeds from the concert were £418 which will be matched on a £1 per £1 basis by the PCC Finance Committee making a total of £836 towards our own church’s contribution to the restoration.
Towards the end of June 2007, we were notified by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) that we have been awarded a grant of up to £184,000 towards the total organ restoration cost of £210,849. We are all very pleased to have been awarded this grant.
Accompanying the formal letter from Jeremy Fenn from HLF is included documentation which details what needs to be accomplished at each stage during the restoration project.
A spreadsheet has been set up detailing activities needing to be done over the project duration. This will be updated on a regular basis to reflect an up to date picture of how the restoration is actually progressing and will also serve the purpose for reporting progress back to the HLF thoughout the project.
Some of the activities have already been progressed and these have been included in this progress report.
Jeremy Fenn (HLF) requested that all our project team meet up during August or September to start the ball rolling, so to speak. We have agreed to visit the HLF offices in Nottingham to meet up with him on Friday 7th September 2007.
Nicholas Thistlewaite, our Organ Advisor has been notified of our award along with Goetze and Gwynn with a view to drawing up a contract and firming up on an early start date. Negotiations are already under way with the start date being 1st July 2008; the likely finish date is to be between Christmas 2008 and March 2009; a revised cost estimate has been obtained from Gwynn & Goetze based on these projected start and end dates.
The extra pedal board seems to still be an issue as it might affect the G&G estimate. There are issues about how it would relate to the re-designed pedal action which would make G&G a bit anxious. So they have left it out of their estimate. They did suggest that maybe there ought to be a site meeting with G&G, our project team and Nicholas Thistlethwaite before proceeding, but that should not hold up the contract.
Harrison & Harrison have also been notified of our award just in case there is any chance of an earlier slot becoming available for our restoration. There is a possibility that they may be able to fit in the restoration of the organ starting in 2009 or 2010, but they cannot give us a firm date until the contract is signed. Their programme appears to be full, but this includes some projects for which they do not yet have a signed contract. They have sent us an update cost estimate for the restoration.
We were disappointed to hear that the Foundation for Sports and Arts will not be contributing to our project, even after been notified about the award. CCC has been asked for a final decision on assistance but so far no response has been received. Further requests for funding assistance could be made and this activity therefore has been added to the project plan.
Fortunately we have received an undertaking from our PCC Finance Committee that they will underwrite any shortfall in funds, in order to allow our project to continue. Separate arrangements will, of course, have to be made to recover any short fall in funds after the restoration work has been completed.
In order to proceed to the next stage it is necessary for the managing committee to have its own bank account. It was agreed at the meeting to set up an account with Cater Allen Private Bank (Royal Bank of Scotland) paying interest and enabling Alan Leach and Nigel Howard to be joint signatories for signing cheques for expenditure items. Martin was happy to let Alan and Nigel together handle the finance side of the restoration committee.
The church has been inspected for asbestos and, as we suspected, some asbestos has been found in the organ blower box. This will be disposed of when the organ is dismantled for the restoration and a new one fitted in its place. We have allowed for the disposal of the organ box in our cost estimates.
The HLF requires a third estimate to have been obtained before we can start work. With that in mind we arranged for Nicholson and Nicholson from Malvern to visit our church and undertake an inspection of the organ. This was done on Friday 31st August. Their report should be available in about four weeks time. They did indicate that the earliest they could start work would be towards the end of 2010 or early 2011.
Fiori Musicali have been in touch with us following reading about our HLF award in the local press. We have tentatively agreed that we would put on a Fiori concert in June 2008 just before the dismantling of the organ, and another one in June of the following year 2009, hopefully well after the restoration is complete.
A meeting was arranged for 2.30pm on Friday 7th September 2007 at the offices of Heriateg lottery Fund (HLF) in Nottingham to review progress made and outline the tasks required to be completed at each stage in the project. Alan Leach very kindly offered to drive the three of us to visit the HLF offices for the meeting.
We started by reviewing progress made as detailed in the Update report dated July/August 2007, and the draft contract with Gwynn & Goetze and also the outline plan spreadsheet detailing tasks.
Although Jeremy was pleased we had agreed a start date with the supplier and drawn up a draft contract, there were some remaining issues that needed attending to before we would be in a position to send in our formal request for the first installment from the HLF. For planning purposes, it takes 15 working days (3 weeks) to get the payment from the time of submission of the request.
The figures for the total cost had been calculated on the basis of an assumed index for inflation, but it was still not clear exactly how the final figures had been obtained, so they need to be carefully checked before finalising.
The draft contract does not include a detailed specification about exactly which options have been agreed by the HLF, CCC and us. These would include pitch, pedal board, blower box etc. A separate appendix will be drawn up and included in the draft contract.
The pedal-board remains an unresolved issue and needs to be finalised at the earliest opportunity, and once that is done then the agreed option needs to be included in the specification of the contract. We need to get back in touch with G&G to arrange an on-site meeting preferably with as many of us attending as possible. (i.e. Alan, Martin, Nigel, Nicholas and of course G&G).
The organ blower box has been assessed and has been found to contain asbestos. This will be removed and disposed of by us after the organ is dismantled for restoration. Although briefly mentioned in passing in the G&G report, we would definitely require G&G to install a new organ blower and box after restoration is completed. This wording also needs to be added into the contract.
A spreadsheet has been set up detailing activities needing to be done over the project duration. This will be updated on a regular basis to reflect an up to date picture of how the restoration is actually progressing and will also serve the purpose for reporting progress back to the HLF thoughout the project. Jeremy asked if we could amend this spreadsheet to show a column for each month so that it can clearly be seen when these task are due to be worked on and completed by.
Further requests for funding assistance will be made and this activity has been added to the project plan as an ongoing activity.
On the publicity side, we should start thinking about taking some photos before, during and after the restoration process. The project poster board will need to be set up in the church, along with a site board (with the HLF logo) in the church porch, to increase the visibility of the organ restoration project.
It was considered a good idea for us to set up the web site as soon as possible, and preferably ask the PCC for volunteers to help with this work, so as not to overload our sub-committee, since they will be busy with other activities. Colin Mynott’s name was mentioned a couple of times in this capacity. If necessary a small amount of the funds put aside for publicity could be allocated for the setting up of a professional web-site.
Our project team should consider making one visit up to the restorers during the project, in order to check up first hand on progress but also to obtain a few photos on how the work is progressing.
As the project develops and copies of receipts are required to be sent to HLF, these must be authorised copies, signed by Alan and I on the bottom of the invoices.
Copies of these last two reports will be submitted at the next PCC meeting for review and Alan and I will ask the PCC to confirm that they are happy for us to go ahead and sign the contract for this restoration work, once it has been finally agreed. The DAC approval process does require us to display a notice in the church detailing our intention to restore the organ; so this notice will be put up in the next couple of weeks.
Goetze & Gwynn have been selected as the preferred restorer primarily because they can start work as early as July of this year, but also because their estimate was slightly less expensive Harrison & Harrison’s.
The figures for the total cost have been calculated on the basis of an assumed index for inflation, and a new estimate has provided by Goetze & Gwynn. The contract has been drawn up and now includes a detailed specification about exactly which options have been agreed by the HLF, CCC and us. The new specification has been included with the contract.
The HLF have given us the go-ahead to sign the contract with Goetze & Gwynn and this was done on the 12th February 2008. The first payment has been received from the HLF and has just been banked - this will enable us to pay the first instalment. The organ will be taken away for restoration during July 2008 and be returned probably by March 2009.
The organ blower box has been assessed and has been found to contain asbestos. This will be removed and disposed of by us after the organ is dismantled for restoration. G&G will be providing a new organ blower and box.
Further requests for funding assistance have been made over the last few months. St.John’s Collge, Oxford confirmed that they will be making a small donation in the next few weeks. The Council for the Care of Churches (CCC) has offered us a grant of £5,000 towards our restoration. Two more applications are in the pipeline which we are hopeful will provide a small amount of further assistance. A major push at the forthcoming Alan Shaw concert should help to cover the remaining project funding deficit.
On the publicity side, we should start thinking about setting up or rearranging the project poster board in the porch or inside the church. This will need to be displayed along with a HLF Logo to increase the visibility of the organ restoration project. A web site for the organ restoration project has recently been set up and this will be updated regularly during the restoration process.
Our project team still plan to make one visit up to the restorers during the project, in order to check up first hand on progress and to obtain a few photos on how the work is progressing.