Music

Music

St Mary's has a Music Group using both instrumentalists and voices

Keyboards: William Ward

(William Plays Yamaha Stage Piano & Korg O1WFD)

(The Church Organ is a Makin Toccata Computer Organ)

Guitars/Mandola - Andy Mellor

Flugel Horn/Trumpet: Sonia Mellor

Vocals: Sheena Rogers

St Mary’s Organs

Brindley & Foster Organ - the first organ

The first organ was installed in St Mary's in 1906 by Brindley & Foster a pipe organ builder based in Sheffield. The Company was formed by a Charles Brindley in 1854 who was joined by Albert Healey Foster in 1871 when the firm became known as Brindley & Foster.

The company manufactured organs in the "German manner" with the Swell Organ mounted above the Great and they adopted a complex pneumatic mechanism for stop combinations and control.

The St Mary's Organ comprised two manuals and pedals with the following specification:-

Console Couplers

Swell to Pedal

Swell to Great

Swell Octave

Swell Sub Octave

Great to Pedal

Accessories

4, 4 composition pedals

Toe Pedal for Great to Pedal

Pedal

Major Bass16'

Sub Bass16'

Flute 8'

Great

Contra Flute16'

Open Diapason 8'

Hohl Flute 8'

Dulciana 8'

Principal 4'

Flute Harmonic 4'

Mixture

Trumpet 8'

Swell (Enclosed)

Leiblich Bourdon 16'

Geigen Principal 8'

Rohr Gedact 8'

Viole d'Amour 8'

Unda Maris 8'

Geigen Principal 4'

Twelfth 2 2/3

Piccolo 2'

Horn 8'

Oboe 8'

The organ was originally built to be pumped "by hand" from inside the organ chamber. Indeed a number of the congregation who pumped the organ "inscribed their name" in the stonework of the organ chamber - and this "graffiti" can still be seen today. An electronic blower was added at a later date and the organ was tuned on a regular basis by the organ builders Chalmers & Hyde of Dronfield.

The Organ continued in service with very little other maintenance until 1980 by which time it was in a poor state of repair and in desperate need of a complete rebuild. This work was deemed to be uneconomical and alternative options were then considered.

The closure and subsequent demolition of St George's Parish Church, Barnsley (as a result of serious building defects and mining subsidence) provided an opportunity of acquiring a three manual organ by J. J Binns organ builder of Leeds.

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