ORGANS IN & AROUND CHESTERFIELD

METHODIST, LOUNDSLEY GREEN

 

 

 

Loundsley Green is an area of post-war housing built to accommodate the rising population of Chesterfield. The Methodist church and meeting-rooms was built in 1964. For many years the singing was led by a one-manual organ, believed to be the work of Brindley & Co. (Sheffield). The stoplist was as follows:

     8       Diapason
     8       Gedacht     
     8       Viole d'Amore
     8       Vox Angelica
     4       Gemshorn
             Tremulant
 
25 pedal pull-downs.
Manual compass: 56 notes.
All stops except Open Diapason enclosed.
Mechanical action.

By the early 1980s wear and tear had taken their toll, and the church began to consider its options. Chalmers & Hyde (Dronfield) submitted a scheme to rebuilt the organ as a two-manual instrument with electric action:

GREAT
     8       Open Diapason
     8       Dulciana (optional)   
     4       Principal
    2 2/3    Twelfth
     2       Piccolo       
 
SWELL
     8       Gedacht
     8       Viole d'Amore
     4       Flute
     4       Gemshorn
     2       Fifteenth
             Tremulant    
 
PEDAL
    16       Bourdon
     8       Bass Flute         extension
     4       Octave Flute       extension    
 
Couplers: 3 unison.
Electric combination action.
Balanced swell pedal.
Compass: 56/30.

The cost of this instrument would have been twice that of the electronic instrument which was eventually installed, a modified version of the 'Sprowston B' from Norwich Organ Manufacturers. There are 24 stops on two manuals. The pipe-organ was removed, and its fate is unknown.

PICTURE CREDITS
Photograph by Peter Colby, c.1985

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