Duke of Cambridge

Duke of Cambridge 2014

Pub times

Come, all who look to Christ today - Portobello Methodist Church, Willenhall (Compton organ)

Me playing the organ installed at Portobello Methodist Church in Willenhall, West Midlands.

I am only an amateur and by no means a pro so wanted to point this out and hope you are still able to get the jist of the amazing skills of the John Compton Organ Company Ltd.

The organ was built in 1965 by the famous John Compton Organ Company Ltd and is the '363' model. It works on the electrostatic principal first pioneered by Compton's in the 1920s and involves the use of 12 rotating tone generators housed within the organ. The organ is located in an alcove at the front of the church on the right facing and the rotofon speaker is housed in a chamber behind an ornamental grille directly above the console. The specification reads:

PEDAL
Contra Bourdon 32'
Open Diapason 16'
Bourdon 16'
Echo Bass 16'
Octave 8'
Bass Flute 8'
Violoncello 8'
Flute 4'
Contra Bombarde 32'
Ophicleide 16'
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal

GREAT
Double Diapason 16'
Open Diapason 1 8'
Open Diapason 2 8'
Hohl Flute 8'
Gemshorn 8'
Dulciana 8'
Octave 4'
Suabe Flute 4'
Dulcet 4'
Twelfth 2.2/3'
Fifteenth 2'
Mixture III
Sesquiltera II
Tuba 8'
Swell to Great

SWELL
Bourdon 16'
Geigen Diapason 8'
Lieblich Gedact 8'
Salicional 8'
Quintadena 8'
Harmonic Flute 8'
Principal 4'
Lieblich Flute 4'
Salicet 4'
Nazard 2.2/3'
Piccolo 2'
Cymbale III
Acuta II
Contra Fagotto 16'
Trumpet 8'
Clarinet 8'
Clarion 4'

GENERAL
Slow vibrato
Fast vibrato
Reverb

MISCELLANEOUS
4 double touch thumb pistons to Great and Pedal
4 thumb pistons to Swell
1 balanced expression pedal - Great and Pedal
1 balanced expression pedal - Swell
Double touch canceller to each department

Im playing the hymn 'Come, all who look to Christ today' to the tune 'Tallis Canon' which gives the basic idea of how the organ sounds for congregational hymn singing. The 8ft Tuba stop on the great is featured in the fourth verse.

When this organ was first installed, many churches from around the Black Country who were looking for a new organ visited here to see and hear what a Compton electronic organ could do. One example was Kingswinford Methodist Church near Stourbridge which was having a new church built at this time. It was after looking at this organ that they chose an identical instrument for their new church.

These organs are fast becoming extinct with many churches replacing them with digital instruments etc. Modern technology is indeed appealing with its realistic sampled sounds but history is being lost as a result. Opportunities should be taken to see that these unique instruments are preserved for future generations to experience how technology worked in the pre digital era.

Many thanks to my good mate George Evans for opening up the church to enable me to play this fine Compton organ.

NOTE: this is purely my interest in order to make sure that these fine organs are archived forever and I do not make any monetary profit by this video being on youtube.

For more information on the John Compton Organ Company Ltd and to see me play other Compton organs, please click on the following link for my site dedicated to the John Compton Organ Company Ltd:



REQUEST: I am always on the lookout for Compton organs to play - particularly electrones - so if you know of any churches which still have these then please do let me know. I will happily give a donation or pay any applicable room hire charge.

If you have an interest in Compton organs then I invite you to join my facebook group at:

Award-Winning Slater Gordon Solutions Motor Moves Home in Boost For Blackpool

Staff at award-winning Slater Gordon Solutions Motor share their excitement for the company's new office and what this means for Blackpool.

A driving force in the automotive and insurance sectors for decades, Slater Gordon Solutions Motor have a proud pedigree of delivering solutions for all of our customers. Via our highly trained team at our extensive call management centre in Blackpool to our professional team that meet clients throughout the UK, we constantly strive to deliver above and beyond.

Contact Slater Gordon Solutions Motor today on 0344 571 3333 or online at:

Transcript:

This move is a great move for us. I think it gets us some nice fresh new state of the art offices that’s just going to enable us to really kick on in the level of service that we want to provide to our customers, as well as giving us an office environment we can be proud of for our people.

There’s a massive buzz about the move.

I don’t know. It’s just the whole vibe of it has changed.

I think the new building’s excellent.

It’s a nice place to come to work to. Definitely.

It’s created a good morale and that’ll impact our customers. We’re talking to them on the phone and everyone’s upbeat about it, talking about that we’ve just moved offices and that’s coming across in how we are with our customers.

I’ve been here for just over ten years now and coming to this place is so fresh. Yeah, everyone’s absolutely cloud nine about it.

I’ve come here and I feel like I’m back in the groove again.

I think it’s great. I think it’s great for the business, I think it’s great for Blackpool. We’ve moved at quite exciting times, so it’s an exciting time for us as a business so I think it’s giving Blackpool something back as well.

It shows that we’re here to stay and we’re here to grow and generate as part of the Blackpool regeneration project. We’re going to be an employer of choice, just like our future plan. It feels like an office should and I’m proud to walk into work every single morning and come here.

Everyone here is happy. Everyone here is always motivated and always looking forward to the next day. So when that positivity spreads throughout because of your day-to-day life here it does have some sort of ripple effect.

It gives us plenty of scope for growth so hopefully as we deliver our ambitious growth plans over the next year we’ll be able to deliver it out of these brand new offices.

Tanni Grey-Thompson

Carys Davina Tanni Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson, DBE, DL (born 26 July 1969) is a British former wheelchair racer and is a parliamentarian and television presenter. She was born in Cardiff, Wales.
Grey-Thompson was born with spina bifida and is a wheelchair user. She is considered to be one of the most successful disabled athletes in the UK. She graduated from Loughborough University in 1991 with a BA (Hons) degree in Politics and Social Administration.


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