We have a very special show at the Redoubt Fort on Friday 30th June (2.30pm) as Peter Clayton will be performing on the newly refurbished Organ. This is a free concert with a retiring collection. Booking is advisable: BOOK NOW
We asked our friend Daniel Beck for a bit of history of this magnificent instrument…
Originally built by Fred Halliday 1912 in north London, the pipe organ was a gift of three shareholders from the Great Eastern Railway Company (GER) to commemorate 128 lives lost on the SS Berlin, 21st February, 1907. The ship sailed from Harwich running into poor weather approaching the Hook of Holland and subsequently ran aground on the north pier. Many of the passengers and crew who lost their lives were local to Harwich and Parkeston.
St. Paul’s Church, Parkeston closed in 2014 after 100 years and in 2016 the Harwich Society were approached by the Church to save the rolls of honour for both WW1, WW2 and other important local artefacts. Whilst helping to clear the Church the pipe organ’s fate as with so many, was likely to end as spare parts due to the high cost of repair and relocation. It was quickly decided to rescue and relocate the pipe organ to the Redoubt due to the significant local history, fine traditional craftmanship and musical performance possibilities. The Redoubt volunteers helped construct new flooring, restore pews and original Church lighting to provide a unique new home. Just like the original shareholders of the GER over 100 years ago, a few have generously supported the project over the last few years to make this possible. Work has been carried out recently on restoring many of the wooden organ pipes prior to this first concert at the Harwich Redoubt.
Daniel Beck
You can download the programme for this concert below & check out www.organrecitals.uk which has a great feature about this concert.