Look inside the Chapel organ installation project
The St John’s College Chapel is set to have all scaffolding removed at the start of Michaelmas Term as the organ restoration project progresses at pace.
Since mid-July, organ builders from Harrison & Harrison Ltd have been installing the meticulously crafted and expertly restored components. The original case designed by John Oldrid Scott has been reinstalled, along with the iconic Cymbelstern, the rotating star at the top of the case. The newly designed console is now in place, and deliveries of the pipes are ongoing. The project has been supported by generous donations.
Director of Music Christopher Gray said, “Organ building is a highly specialised and complex art and it has been a pleasure to watch the H&H team bringing their industry-leading skills and experience to our project. I’ve marvelled at their work, from the intricate electronics to their construction and restoration of metal and wooden pipes (thousands of them, from the size of a pencil to the height of two double-decker buses), the maze of trunking to ensure air at the right pressure reaches all parts of the instrument, and the beautiful console with its four keyboards, pedalboard, and dozens of stops. When it’s finished, this new instrument will be the most wonderful resource to add yet more magic to Chapel occasions at St John’s. It goes without saying that we remain deeply grateful to all those who have supported the project.”
When Michaelmas Term starts, the organ will be installed and ‘voicing’, the process of fine-tuning each of the organ’s several thousand pipes, will begin. Voicing will continue throughout term time, with the Chapel only open for services.
We spoke with the parish of St John the Devine in Kennington about receiving the Mander organ from St John’s.
We at the parish of St John the Divine in Kennington are deeply grateful to have received the Mander organ from St John’s College. The original organ in our Grade I listed church was destroyed when the church was bombed during the Blitz, and this ambitious project to install a cathedral-standard instrument is part of our celebrations for the church’s 150th anniversary. It is a particular pleasure for me, as a former organ scholar of St John’s, to rehome this instrument in such a happy, dynamic and progressive community, where it will be serving a real need. The area between Brixton, Camberwell and Kennington is one of the toughest places in the country to grow up, with extremely high rates of child poverty and serious gang violence. For us at SJDK, music and mission are inextricably linked; our pioneering youth project has improved the lives and prospects of many hundreds of children in the parish, as well as helping a lucky few to become choristers at St John’s, King’s, Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal. Work has already begun to clean and restore the pipework of the Mander, and we are expecting to begin installation work in the church in November. You can read more about the project here.
In the coming months, details will be released of the new organ’s inauguration in May 2026.