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Christ Church’s Historic Walker Organ
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Part 7: The redecoration of the pipes
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Following the very sad and unexpected death of our Director of Music, Richard Coulson, in 2006 shortly after the renovated organ had been recommissioned and brought back into use,
the Rector and PCC agreed that it would be a very fitting memorial to Richard, his 37 years of service to the church, his technical specification of the
changes to the organ and his commitment to the renovation and fund-raising, if
the pipes could be redecorated in the Victorian style, as he had fervently wished.
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A memorial fund was therefore opened in early 2007, and later that year, enough had been collected and promises given that the PCC felt able to commission
the work of redecorating the pipes.
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The work was contracted to Martin Huggett FRSA,
a professional conservator and restorer who had been a very long-standing friend of Richard's and had played
the organ in Christ Church for many services in the weeks immediately after Richard's death. Martin felt that in this way he could make his own
contribution to Richard's memorial.
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No traces of the original design had been found, but Martin devised a pattern and colour scheme
sympathetic to the current decoration of the building, including the use of
gold leaf where appropriate, which should make it last much longer.
The pipes and wrought iron supports were taken down and removed to Martin's workshop in Essex where he stripped off all
the paint as well as the rust from the ironwork. This showed traces of the original pattern under the 1930s coat.
Some repair was needed to the ironwork fixings, though the pipes were in good condition.
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About 600 hours of work were involved in total, using 7½ litres of paint and 30 square feet of 24 carat gold leaf.
No two of the 68 pipes are the same size, and the work required the cutting of 11 different sizes of stencils.
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The finished pipes and the wrought iron supports were reinstalled at the end of January 2008 and were blessed at the Eucharist on 3 February
and much admired at the first recital given by Tom Bell, the new Director of Music, in Christ Church on 8 February 2008. A musical celebration took place in the Parish Eucharist on 9 March 2008,
and Martin gave a short talk about his work on the organ.
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The total cost of the redecoration, including the retuning of the pipes after reinstallation, was around £19,000, all donated by parishioners, friends and colleagues of Richard's in his memory.
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