We held our first roadshow of this year at St Mary’s Parish Church at Barnard Castle last weekend; the attendance was excellent. With the world changing so much after the pandemic, it was wonderful to see so many organists over the two days in one place and indeed to see their excitement in hearing and playing our new organ models all of which have such a wide acceptance with tonal and build quality second to none.
‘Barney’ is a splendid location for a roadshow with the bespoke Copeman Hart three manual drawstop instrument and its stunning casework, as installed in 2007, being a real talking point. We brought with us the all-new Makin Windermere 3-53 drawstop organ, a Johannus LiVE III AGO and a Johannus Studio 380 organ. Our customers were simply stunned by these instruments and enjoyed the opportunity to play them all. Of particular note was one young organist, who recently passed his first organ exam with distinction, and his teacher thoroughly enjoying themselves! Who says the organ is an outdated instrument!
In addition, the good selection of sheet organ music we took, perhaps around 1,000 books which is around half the stock we carry in Shaw, became a real focal point since few organists have seen so much music in one place; sales were brisk.
As ever we are grateful to the resident organist Annette Butters and to Revd Canon Alec Harding for allowing us to use their beautiful church and supporting our visit. In return the Copeman Hart had a thorough service and continues to be in top notch condition. This was one of the last few organs that Ernest Hart voiced prior to his retirement in 2011; what a fine job he did!
Our next roadshow is on Saturday 6th July from 10:00 until 15:00 at Kingston Upon Thames URC church (KT1 1HZ) which is just five minutes’ walk from Kingston Rail Station. The resident organ there is a Makin Windermere organ as voiced by Ian Tracey in 2022.
