On Sunday 6th June we started our fundraising campaign to raise money for essential repairs and to restore to our fantastic Church Organ at St Wilfrid’s.
This instrument is one of the finest in Leeds and has served our church and the whole parish of Calverley for over 127 years, being played for many thousands of Sunday services, weddings, and funerals.

For those of you who missed the announcement on 6th June – the work that needs doing is to the bellows, the connections between the stops and pipes (drawstop solenoids), and general cleaning of all the pipes. The 3 large leather bellows, which, when all stops are pulled out, release air into the pipes, have, after 127 years, started to perish and split. The noise of air escaping can be heard all the time the organ is switched on. One day soon, unless repaired, these splits in the bellows will soon be so large that there will not be enough air left to go into the pipes and we will have no organ. Already when all the stops are pulled out there is not enough wind to keep all the pipes playing for long.

Our fantastic organ was built just over 127 years ago, by a famous Yorkshire organ Builder, J Binns of Bramley, and has almost 2,000 pipes.
These pipes desperately need cleaning (and then tuning) and the connection between the stops that open and close them (drawstop solenoids) need replacing. You can read all about our fantastic organ, and the work that needs doing online at calverley.church/organ. This page contains a button for any general donation amounts, and another to learn more about sponsorships.

Last Sunday in church we launched the 2nd part of our campaign by encouraging everyone to sponsor a pipe (or other parts of the organ).
When doing this, you can have your name or the name of who or what event you are dedicating the pipe to, beautifully inscribed for posterity, in a special dedicated book. There are a large range of sponsorship options available ranging from just £10 for a standard pipe right through to £500 for one of the 3 large bellows. Simply click here to learn more about sponsorships.

Please support this project and help restore our wonderful instrument, built, as inscribed on the casing, "To the Glory of God", and enable it to be heard for future generations over the next 127 years and more.

Many thanks,
Jonathan Lacey, Church Organist

calverley.church/organ