Alexandra Palace Organ

London N22 4AY

 

 

The unofficial website

Ham & High 11 March 2005

 

Sour note for the Ally

Pally organ rebuild

Campaigner says work will never be completed

 

Jonathan Marclano

 

THE 80-year campaign to save the Alexandra Palace organ is a money pit that has no chance of  achieving its historic goal, according to a campaigner.

  A former member of the appeal to save the 130-year-old instrument claims those putting money into the campaign have been misled about its real chances of success.

  Alan Taylor said the project that has involved musical giants such as violinist Yehudi Menuhin has been characterised by incompetence at every stage.

  Mr Taylor from Dartmouth Park told Broadway: "They are simply never going to get the funds to complete the works. It needs in the region of £1.5million. The whole thing is a bit of a farce.

  "The money now being paid is not going to restore the organ but simply to make the parts that work at the moment keep working."

  The charity appeal is seeking to raise funds to restore the organ, built in 1875. The 20 tonne instrument is housed at the palace's Great Hall and is generally considered the master-piece of legendary organ makers

"Father" Henry Willis and its rebuilder. Henry Willis III.

  The aim is to return the organ to how it was in 1929 when it was used for a series of EMI recordings and heralded as the finest concert organ in Europe.

  But Mr Taylor, who has posted his allegations on a website, says two sets of integral pipes were removed and hived off to another organ.

  And he has criticised the contractor carrying out the works -  Henry Willis and Sons - for a lack of accountability because it also owns the organ.

  Leading organ expert Ian Bell, curator of the St Paul's Cathedral organ, agrees with many of Mr Taylor's claims.

  He said: "The acknowledged profoundly unsatisfactory nature of much of the work that has been carried out thus far necessitates now the complete dismantling of most of what exists and remaking of much of the mechanism."

  He also criticised the "very limited success and the embarrassment that much of the money and effort has been wasted" before questioning the point of the restoration.

  However, the organ's guardians say Mr Taylor is on a crusade to stop the restoration.

  General secretary of the organ appeal Paul Smith told Broadway: "The latest cost of restoring the Alexandra Palace organ is £600,000 and I still believe it has a chance of being completed.

  "There were problems that have been acknowledged but our first goal was to have an organ that was playable and can be heard and then putting other things right.

 "It is important and we will battle on to complete the restoration."

     The guardians are continuing fundraising with concerts and have suggested the organ is used to teach non-Christian schoolchildren, as it is a rare example of an organ not housed in a church.

 

 

[The article was correct up until the paragraph which states that Willis own the organ. They don’t in fact. We think that reporter was confused with the fact that the MD of Willis and Sons (the contractor) is also the curator.]

 

Press Coverage

Ham & High 25 March 2005

 

Letters to the editor

Organ appeal needs a change of tune

AS a former treasurer. Friends secretary and concert organiser of the Alexandra Palace Organ Appeal, I was interested in the restoration of the Wills organ  (Broadway H&H March 11).

  However, I would correct one error. Henry Willis and Sons do not own the organ: it is owned by the Palace Trustees who are responsible for tuning and maintenance costs and providing the Great Hall for concerts.

  I do disagree with Mr Taylor when he states that the restoration will never happen, but over the years there has been a fundamental reason for so many distinguished people resigning from the appeal committee, and that is because the appeal will not agree to a tendering process.

  The contract for the restoration of the organ will have to be placed by the Ally Pally Trustees because they are the owners. The Palace has a tendering process for all contracts for building work, and they would not place a contract for restoration work unless it had been subject to the above.

  There is no contractor at present and whilst the appeal can recommend a contractor, it has no right to insist on one for restoration or indeed maintenance.

  As treasurer it was my duty to protect donors' money (many pensioners) and this is why I am no longer a member of the appeal.

  The organ will be completed, but a change of attitude and /or personnel will have to happen first.

 

                  COLIN RICHELL

             Grenoble Gardens, N13