Organ Restoration Project

• Repair and cleaning of all the pipes, the largest remain onsite because they are too long to transport to the Durham workshop of Harrison & Harrison (H&H). All the others are taken down and transported to Durham.
• Organ console has minor repairs, to ensure all the stops, keys and pedals are in full working order.
• To reach where the pipes are housed, a tall freestanding scaffold has been erected in the North Transept topped by a platform for the H&H staff to access the pipes. Because of the difficulty in erecting a scaffold in this historic space, the scaffold will remain in place for the duration, even though no-one will be working up there between March and July.
• The cathedral is mainly impacted in the North Transept with a large scaffold and interpretation board spanning the route up the steps to the East end and over the route to the Fleury. But the Quire is impacted too, in that temporary speakers will be in the screen and a temp electronic organ placed in the Quire, to replace the main organ whilst it is being repaired.

H&H are the foremost organ restoration company in the UK, and they have our regular monthly servicing contract so are very familiar with our organ and its quirks; their bread and butter work is repairing church and cathedral organs so we are confident that they know what they are doing. All organs must be ‘serviced’ in this way about every 35 years because of wear and tear; there are 5,500 pipes to be cleaned and repaired where necessary – dents, holes, fixings, leather flaps renewed.

The organ is in the workshop at the moment being cleaned and having various parts mended and cleaned. Harrison & Harrison plan to start reinstalling the pipes in July.

A group of forty-eight Friends of Winchester Cathedral have travelled north to Durham to inspect the restoration work on the pipes and mechanics of the cathedral’s famous organ.  The work is being carried out at Harrison and Harrison, Britain’s leading organ builders, which was established 160 years ago.  The company has been overseeing the care of Winchester’s organ since the 1930s.

The group of Friends, all of whom have contributed to the £1.1 million restoration appeal, were given a comprehensive tour of the Durham company’s workshops and shown precisely what work was needed to restore the organ to its former glory.

The project leader at Harrison and Harrison, Owen Woods, was delighted to welcome the Friends: “It was a real pleasure to show the Friends of Winchester Cathedral around our workshop; it isn’t often that a group is so friendly, engaged, and perceptive. It means a lot to us that the Winchester community is so appreciative of our work and committed to their beautiful building. We look forward to the re-installation of the Winchester Cathedral organ later this year.”

The wider organ restoration appeal for £1.1million is yet to reach its final target although 98% of it has now been secured.