Great Yarmouth Central Methodist Hall
On the 7th April, 1938 job number A439 was opened at the Central Methodist
Hall in Great Yarmouth by Jimmy Taylor. The organ was unusual in the respect
that it had a melotone unit on the Choir division- not the usual church instrument!
Sometime during the 1950s, Comptons replaced the original melotone unit with their
12 disc electrone which saw some stop changes made to the electronic section. In the
late 1980s, the United Reformed Church merged here and the church became known
as Christchurch. As part of this a major refurbishment of the building took place
in the 1980s which saw the organ being overhauled by Boggis Organ Builders
of Diss. For trivial reasons it was decided to replace the organ with a digital
electronic in 2002. Attempts were made to stop this but to no avail for on 18th
September, 2002, David Ivory performed to a packed house for the organs
farewell concert. Thankfully, the instrument has been saved and installed at the
Cotton Music Museum where it was opened on 22nd May, 2005. The original
1938 specification read:
PEDAL CHOIR
Sub Bass 32' (e) Contra Salicional 16'
Contra Bass 16' (e) Open Diapason 2 8'
Sub Bass 16' Viola da Gamba 8'
Salicional 16' Hohl Flote 8'
Octave 8' Lieblich Gedackt 8'
Flute 8' Salicional 8'
Flute 4' Vox Angelica 8'
Trombone 16' Hohl Flute 4'
Trumpet 8' Salicet 4'
Choir to Pedal Vox Angelica 4'
Great to Pedal Twelfth 2 2/3'
Swell to Pedal Salicetina 2'
Tuba 8'
GREAT Clarion 4'
Double Open Diapason 16' Tremulant
Open Diapason 1 8'
Open Diapason 2 8' ELECTRONE (1938)
Hohl Flote 8' Melotone 8'
Salicional 8' Melotone 4'
Octave 4' Melotone Twelfth 2 2/3'
Hohl Flote 4' Super Melotone 2'
Twelfth 2 2/3' Oboe 8'
Fifteenth 2' Musette 8'
Tuba 8' Carillon
Swell to Great Chimes
Choir to Great Vibraphone
Echo Control
SWELL Vibrato
Contra Viola 16' Sustainer
Viola da Gamba 8'
Salicional 8' ELECTRONE (c1960)
Vox Angelica 8' Quintaton 16'
Viola 4' Tuba Horn 8'
Lieblich Flute 4' Diapason 8'
Cymbale III Oboe 8'
Trombone 16' Clarinet 8'
Trumpet 8' Principal 4'
Clarion 4' Twelfth 2.2/3'
Sub Octave Fifteenth 2'
Unison Off Mixture 4 ranks
Octave Chimes
Tremulant Carillon
Sustainer Vibrato
ACCESSORIES
2 balanced Swell pedals
Balanced Crescendo pedal
6 pistons each to Great and Pedal, Swell and Pedal
4 pistons to Choir and Pedal
3 pistons to Electrophonic
3 pistons for Pedal couplers
4 toe pistons each to Great and Pedal and Swell and Pedal
(e) denotes pedal stops produced by electrone
The organ remains in original condition and the original 1938
specification to the electronic divison has been reinstated. The
electrone has been revoiced to resemble as closely as possible it's
1938 predecessor.
