October 2013

A joint visit to Christ's Hospital School Horsham with the East Surrey Organists' Association. A good turnout of members were greeted by Peter Dutton from the school who first showed us the organ in the school dining hall. The buildings at Christ's Hospital date from the early 20th century and the very large dining hall contains an organ installed here after it's removal from the girls' school some years ago. A charming instrument which sounds wonderful in the cavernous acoustic but suffers, as do the other school instruments, from the heat and dryness in the buildings.

Following this we were shown the Big School, a large building used a a concert hall which houses then school's organ which was brought from its original home in London. A large three manual historic instrument which has recently had some restoration work done, but again is very dependant on the humidity/temperature of its environment.

Finally, we visited the five manual organ in the chapel. The chapel is a magnificent building with superb friezes around the walls. The organ, installed in the time of C S Lang, is by Rushworth and Dreaper and is a good example of the work of that firm. Members enjoyed hearing and playing all the organs, and many works were heard.