The historic pipe organ at All Saints, Roos, was played for the first time in over 30 years on Sunday, at a service of celebration, rededication and blessing conducted by the Bishop of Hull, the Rt. Revd. Alison White.
Built by Karl Christian Reiter in 1881, the organ is one of only two to have survived in an original state. The organ and its 600 pipes had been silent and derelict since the 1980s.
In March 2015, All Saints were granted £44,200 by the Heritage Lottery Fund to support the restoration, and was taken to Harrogate organ builders Peter Wood and Son in July 2015.
Since its return to All Saints earlier in the year, support has been abundant across the Roos community. Churchwarden John McWilliams painstakingly recreated the original paintwork on the pipes with enormous precision, and the effect is stunning. The doors of the church were open every weekday during the rebuilding in April, and congregation members, pupils at the local school and people from the community alike have come to enjoy refreshments and be part of history.
To mark completion of the restoration, on Friday 29 April, the bells at All Saints rang a full peal, which took 2 hours and 52 minutes. Project Manager, Helen Audley said, “the lovely thing about [the bell-ringing] is that people in the village knew why we were ringing”.
The church held a service of celebration, rededication and blessing on Sunday 1 May at which around 130 people attended. The organ was officially handed over by Mark Wood of Peter Wood and Son Organ Builders and Restorers, to Helen Audley, Project Manager and All Saints Roos PCC Member. It was then blessed by the Rt. Revd. Alison White, Bishop of Hull and played by Mark Keith, Organist at Holy Trinity Hull.
A small group from Roos and South Holderness Singers sang Don Besig’s As Long As I Have Music, before the congregation adjourned to the Roos Memorial Institute, where the Roos Women’s Institute served mountains of sandwiches and cakes prepared by volunteers, including an amazing ‘organ cake’ by Lorna Ledger.
Project Manager, Helen Audley said, “We had a wonderful day. The organ looked stunning and sounded amazing. Mark Keith, the organist from Holy Trinity Hull, played beautifully and members of the congregation were visibly moved”.
To see the organ’s journey in photos, visit All Saints’ Facebook page.