St Laurence’s Church in Ludlow currently houses two very different organs – their own fine Snetzler organ, and also the Wetheringsett organ, one of the two Tudor organs of the Early English Organ Project managed by the RCO. On Saturday 20th July this year organ enthusiasts have the chance to hear and learn more about both these instruments, with the opportunity to play them at the end of the day.

After the fire at Notre Dame, it was a relief to see images of Notre-Dame’s Cavaillé-Coll organ seemingly intact, and millions of euros have been pledged already for restoration of the Cathedral, and presumably, the organ. There are other Cavaillé-Coll instruments in France deserving of restoration though, and film-maker Will Fraser has devised a way we can all help bring back to life a particularly good example of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll’s artistry.

The RCO’s Wingfield Organ is now in residence at St Mary’s Church in Fotheringhay – all very appropriate, as both instrument and church are fascinating medieval survivors. Fotheringhay will be the setting for a special concert on Saturday 25 May exploring the vocal and organ music of late medieval England, with David Skinner and The Alamire Scholars, organist James Parsons, and historian Dr David Starkey providing the spoken narrative.

A project to engage young children with the pipe organ heritage of the Netherlands has created a global network of organisations allowing children to build and play a two-octave mechanical action organ. The original organ design by Wim Janssens is now being reproduced by professional organ builders in the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, Sweden, and now the UK, as part of the Orgelkids project world-wide.

Organists here in the UK have their worries, but coping with the effect of a 6.3 earthquake on their livelihoods isn’t one of them. The earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2010 and 2011 damaged and destroyed many churches and pipe organs. But some, due to both circumstances and craftsmanship, survived, and in 2018 they are beginning to be heard again.

The restoration of the organ at Canterbury Cathedral has begun, with some radical changes to the position of the pipework and console. Harrison & Harrison are working on the creation of new pipework in their Durham workshops, while Viscount Organs discuss the challenges of providing a digital replacement to maintain the musical life of the Cathedral for the next two years.

OrganFest, the annual weekend celebration of the organ, moves north this year. After two years in the Midlands, it will be held in Edinburgh from Friday 28th to Sunday 30th October, and showcase organs by Willis, Ahrend, and Reiger.

In just six nights of bombing during the Second World War, the City of London lost 26 organs. Seventy years later, David S. Knight surveyed what was lost, and charted the heroic efforts to bring music back to shattered churches.

Ralph Downes was strongly influenced by his experience at the London Oratory and time spent in Holland and France, when it came to designing the revolutionary Royal Festival Hall organ. Jonathan Ambrosino suggests that the seven years Downes spent in the United States could also have influenced his ideas – in particular his friendship with G Donald Harrison of Aeolian-Skinner.