I also feel affectionate about the organ at St Anne’s, not least because it is our parish church. Edward is organist there. Nick and Emma got married there. It has moved twice, once from the congregational chapel in Clapham, south London, to Buckley in NE Wales, and then in 1999 to St Anne’s. The organ started life in 1852, but was completely rebuilt in 1879. It has been remarkably little altered since then, just a few minor alterations by Whiteley of Chester in 1947 and by G&G in 1999. The organ exactly fitted its space in Paley & Austin’s lovely 1913 church, but we had to alter the layout of the Pedal organ, and it now stands behind P&A’s organ front, into which the console fitted exactly. The front pipes are G&D’s. The 1879 organ has G&D’s range of attractive colours, but you can see why they went out of fashion at the end of the 19th century – full organ is feeble, and would make little sense without the reeds.
