If this is your first visit then let me encourage you to browse, explore and enjoy our site.  You will see that the BDOA is a very active association which arranges a variety of events for its Members and those interested in playing or listening to ‘the King of Instruments’.

If you live in the Bristol area and would like to have more information about us and a Membership Application Form, please let us know.  We have about 150 Members of all ages, backgrounds and abilities and some who do not play the organ but enjoy its music, so whatever your interest, we would be delighted to have you join us in the Association.

Each year the Association elects a President who suggests a programme for ‘their year’ and chairs the various meetings and events.   It is an immense privilege for me to have been promoted to this position of honour and as I look through the role of Past Presidents (over 70 of them), I really can’t believe that my name is to be added to that list.  It is a mystery known only to those who appointed me why we have jumped down from the heights of having Malcolm Archer, now Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral as our President for 2004/5, to Chris Mansfield, local organ busker and enthusiast for 2005/6!  This of course to be juggled with having recently been coerced into taking on the task of Hon Sec in May 2004!

So, although I am not much of a player, my friends and family will testify I am a real ‘organ nut’ and it doesn’t really matter what sort of music or noise the organ is making (and I have some very weird and controversial organ CDs to prove that) I can get a fix from it to satisfy my long term organ addiction!  This all began as a child, but was greatly enhanced through my time as an apprentice and organ tuner, firstly with Hill Norman & Beard and then Osmonds of Taunton.  Although I changed course and have ventured into other careers since then, this interest and addiction continues with me - stronger now than ever!

I don’t have a problem with being a ‘pusher’ either!  I love getting people interested in the organ.  It’s something we must all do, and I hope that in my year as your President I can encourage you in your own sphere to do just that, and also as an Association.  We do need to promote our beloved instrument and its music.

Each year the BDOA has a varied programme of events, and it is at these events that one becomes aware that there is a huge amount of talent in this Association, something which I greatly respect.  Some of the playing at our Members recitals, day trips and other tours this past year has been excellent, and of course this talent is heard on a regular basis in the churches and chapels some of them serve week by week.

There is also a huge amount of knowledge and expertise about the organ in this Association.  Some of our Members are loaded with facts, figures, histories, advice, experiences, skills, and much more – so there is plenty to learn from one another.

I would also like to mention the excellent commitment to the promotion of organ music in and around this area.  This is expressed in the way some of you are involved in putting on recitals in your churches and chapels.  Perhaps you organise an occasional concert, or in the case of some members, a regular lunchtime series, and perhaps you don’t see huge numbers attend, yet you press on and provide good music for those who do come along.   Well, this is a testimony to the commitment of the Members of the BDOA and we acknowledge that commitment and thank you all for it.

Some events for our programme for the next 12 months are still to be finalised, but plans to date are already listed elsewhere on this website.  These will be added to from time to time, but please go to it now, print it out, put the dates in  your diary and join us for as much as you can over the next 12 months. In 2006 we have some very special events taking place to celebrate the 50th birthday of the famous Harrison and Harrison concert organ in the Colston Hall, so don’t miss out on any of those.  Our Webmaster, Arthur Gregory is always updating and expanding the site, so do visit it from time to time to keep yourself up-to-date.

I wish you well and look forward to meeting you during the course of the year.

With best wishes to you all.

My own love of the organ as a musical instrument goes back to my teens, when, inspired by an organ teacher at my school in Lytham, Lancashire, I was given the opportunity of visiting Durham Cathedral, meeting the then cathedral organist Conrad Eden, and being allowed to play that magnificent instrument. This memorable experience was something that stayed with me for years, and I always remember those visits to Durham when young organists ask me if they can 'have a go' on the organ at Wells. It is easy to forget how those early encounters shaped our lives and our enthusiasms.

I have always tried to see my role as a cathedral organist as one of education and encouragement, both in terms of the choral training given to our choristers and also in the support which we give to young organists. The future of music in our churches and cathedrals is very much in the hands of young musicians for whom the organ as an instrument has become a passion, and it is the responsibility of all of us to promote and encourage the learning of the organ as far as we can. In doing this, it is important to remember that the instrument is not only a 'church' instrument. It is a solo instrument in its own right, and its increasing prominence in the life of our concert halls is an encouraging sign.

I do hope that any young organist (or teacher of one) reading this will bear in mind that the Bristol and District Organists Association has a fund which can assist young organists (up to age 21) with organ lessons or the buying of music. These are generally 'one off' grants, so please do apply to the Association if you are interested. 

At the time of writing this, I am preparing for my move to London where, in September, I will succeed John Scott as Organist and Director of Music at St. Paul's Cathedral. I am delighted that, despite the move, I can retain the Presidency of the Association, and, in due course welcome them to London for a day at St. Paul's. I very much hope that this year's programme, which includes visits to Oxford, London, Holland and Liverpool, will provide an active stimulus for present members, and that the excellent work of the Association in promoting the 'King of instruments' will encourage new members to join.

Welcome to the BDOA web site and I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to contribute a few words to what must be one of the best sites of its type in the country.  Not only can you browse amongst the wonderful photographs of Bristol’s organs but you can also peruse specifications to your heart’s content.

When I was very young I was a huge fan of two magnificent tomes on the organ - William Leslie Sumner’s The Organ and John Norman’s The Organs of Britain.  In these two volumes one could glean huge amounts of information about the origins of the organ as we know it from the Greek engineer Ktesibios right up to the present day (well, 1973 and 1984 respectively!), learning on the way about the development of the keyboard, pedalboard, actions, voicing, wind supply, indeed almost anything one needed to know.  Together with the authors we learned to rail against the vagaries of direct electric action, Hope Jones, and the loss of the Werkprinzip layout and true diapason choruses.

My favourite section was to be found at the back of both volumes in the large selection of specifications.  I gazed in awe at the schemes of the Royal Albert Hall, St George’s Hall, Liverpool, and Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral and tried to imagine what each stop might sound like.  I considered the thunderous contribution of each of the Albert Hall’s five full-length 32 foot stops.  I even tried my hand at creating a new specification for the 2 manual Speechly on which I practiced.  Each existing stop, no matter how gruesome a sound it made, was carefully recycled until a four manual of cathedral proportions emerged!

Of course, we all (!) outgrow these immature tendencies and learn to appreciate the organ as an instrument of music rather than just a feat of engineering of which Brunel might have been proud.  I have learned to appreciate responsive action, high quality musical voicing and a specification that gives variety as well as brute force.  When playing the Cathedral’s four manual Walker of 84 stops it’s the beauty and contrast of the three eight foot Stopped Diapasons that impresses, as well as the grandeur and power of the properly balanced and scaled choruses, capped by magnificent reeds.

Of course, the best way to appreciate an instrument is to hear it being played, and I hope that many of you will be able to join us as we explore the organs of Cambridge, Tenbury, Kidderminster Town Hall and Birmingham’s Symphony Hall and Town Hall.  We can marvel at the power, of course, but we can also learn from the very different approaches of master organ builders from all ages.  The dinner also provides a wonderful opportunity to talk with like-minded musicians in a relaxed atmosphere and offer the mutual support we all need from time to time.

So, thank you for your interest, and I look forward to meeting you over the forthcoming year.

Nearly 70 years later, I am writing the first "President's letter" for circulation not only to organists in and around Bristol, but also to those enthusiasts around the world whose interest in the organ as an instrument has brought them to our web site.  The thought of a "worldwide web" to my predecessors - the cathedral organists and recitalists of the 1930's and 1940's - would have been the amusing product of an over imagination.  But the fact that a provincial club should still be as active now as it was when it was formed in 1934 is a testament to the continuing world-wide interest in the skill of the organist and the craft of organ builder.

Here in Bristol, we boast many fine instruments, several of which are of international importance.  Over the generations, there has also been a continuity of fine recitalists and performers living hereabouts, who have each made their mark in the organ world.  I have myself entered into the long list of Organists at Christ Church, the Parish Church of the medieval city of Bristol, where I am only the fourth organist since 1881.  It gives me great joy that my tenure of the chair of the BDOA should happen to coincide with the beginnings of the internet, and in welcoming you to our web site.  I hope you find the local news of our instruments and recitals of interest.