Tales from the Organ Loft

Danehill, Parish Church of All Saints'.

Now, that's not something you might expect to find in a small parish church in the depths of East Sussex. Taken from the east the console is behind the red ochre doors. The manual compass is an octave short of normal (nipped off the top end) and the pedals only have two rather than two-and-a-half octaves. Despite this, it was pretty standard, the builder (in about 1892), Wordsworth of Leeds, aligned the pedalboard so that it is almost in the standard position.

Because of the lack of depth in the loft it is impossible to get a view which shows both manuals and pedals.

From the console you get a superb view of the reredos, a pretty stunning creation with more gold leaf.

This was taken from just beside the priest's stall in the choirstalls, return stalls to save length.

The service was BCP Mattins, straight from the book, with Ferial responses (accompanied), Venite and Jubilate to chants, and four traditional hymns. A good sermon about caring for one's neighbour and which included a wonderful story about a boy, his head and a precious vase. The description of the bus journey to the hospital was excellent. The congregation sang well, and I could distinctly hear a tenor downstairs in the Responses.

The only criticism I could make was that, despite the loudspeaker just next to the console, it was really only possible to hear what was going on by switching the blower off - it is in the loft with you.  Not particularly loud, and nothing wrong with it, just the motor noise and normal wind noise.

The service which followed this was a much more informal one using the piano and amplified singers. I didn't stay, having a fair distance to get home.

This is the church from the south-east. The little turret houses the stairs to the loft.

The village has two roads through it, and the church and some of the houses are on the quiet lane, not the A275. A lovely, early summer's day and a 30-mile drive each way to "work", I left at 7:45 and got back at 11:45, the A272 was moving quite well.

To get there, I had to pass the Bluebell Line at Sheffield Park. Some day I will revisit that.

But to finish, here's the view of the organ from the west side. What a lovely way to earn a crust.

All photos copyright (c) Philip Bailey 2016