Wolverhampton city centre church organ work nearing completion

The work on the failing organ at St Peter's Church began in February 2018 after £250,000 was raised to begin the work on it.

Now, after the application of modern design methods that will make it easier to maintain in the future, the organ pipes and front facing pipes have been restored and the final tuning completed.

Ashley Tooze has been part of the team who have rebuilt the organ and spoke about the challenges to put the organ back in place.

He said: "It has been a lot of work to take it all apart and do the building work because a lot of water was leaking through the roof.

"In terms of putting it all back together, it hasn't been terribly bad.

"It's quite a small space to fit everything in and there's been a lot of planning about how to fit it in there, so a lot of work was done in the workshop of making parts."

The organ was designed and installed in the church in 1860 by Henry Willis, regarded as the foremost organ builder of the Victorian era.

It will be rededicated to the church by the Bishop of Wolverhampton at the Festival service of nine lessons and carols by candlelight service at the church on Sunday, December 22.

Rev. David Wright, Team Rector of the church, commissioned the work and spoke about his excitement at having a full pipe organ back in the church.

He said: "It's really exciting for us to see the organ back in place because the old organ was failing for many years, either through not working or not working properly.

"It's been getting on for two years that we've not had a proper pipe organ. We've had a very kind loan of an electronic organ, but the sound just isn't the same.

"I would say to people to please come along and have a look. It's lovely to look at, but it's even better to hear, so please come along when there's a service on and enjoy listening to it."

The festival service of nine lessons and carols by candlelight starts at 6.30pm this Sunday at St Peter's Church, Lich Gates, Wolverhampton.