St Alban's Anglican Church
cnr. Tryon Road & Lindfield Avenue, Lindfield
B. unknown. Reb. 1911 Geo. Fincham & Son
Reb. & enl. 1948-49 S.T. Noad
Enl. c.1973 A. Welby (addition of swell Mixture). 3m., 22 sp.st., 11c. el.pn.
Gt: 8.8.8.4.4.2.8. Sw: 8.8.8.8.4.2.III.8.8. Ch: 8.8.4. Ped: 16.16.8.
Reb. Brown & Arkley 1989-90 2m., 35 sp.st., el.pn.
Gt: 16.8.8.8.8.4.4.2-2/3.2.1-3/5.IV.8. Sw: 8.8.8.8.4.4.2.III.16.8.8.
Ped: 32.16.16.16.8.8.4.4.2.16.16.8.4.
Cliff Bingham writes in SOJ Autumn 2009:
The first organ at St Alban’s was a second-hand instrument of two manuals and ten speaking stops from G Fincham & Sons and installed in the original wooden church in 1910. It was transferred to the present church upon its opening in 1920 and installed in the last arch on the north side [compass points mentioned in this article are presumed to be related to liturgical practice - GL] of the nave where the pulpit now stands.When the chancel of this church was added in 1938, the organ was transferred to an elevated loft above the vestry on the south side of the chancel where casework and action constrictions effectively muffled the tonal egress.
In 1949 a new three-manual organ, of nineteen speaking stops using all of the existing Fincham pipework and with electro-pneumatic action, was built by S T Noad. The new stop-tab console was installed in a loft above the screen between the chancel and the chapel, directly opposite the pipe loft. With minor additions, this organ served with diminishing reliability until the last rebuild was undertaken by Brown and Arkley in 1989-90, a wise decision being taken to create a large and very comprehensive two-manual specification.
The present organ contains most of the Fincham/Noad pipework with significant additions mostly from the discarded Dodd/Noad organ from St Martin’s, Killara. The attractive Killara console was refurbished as a two-manual drawstop unit with new Peterson components and multi-level capture piston action. A new solid-state control system was also installed at this time. The old console loft was dismantled and the console now stands on an elevated platform behind the choir stalls on the north side of the chancel. With a complement of thirty pipe ranks, this organ may well be the largest two-manual church organ in Sydney. The original three-manual Noad console is now doing valuable service at St John’s Anglican Church, Asquith.
Information for this article has been complemented from Rushworth, Historic Organs of NSW and J J Barlow, Notes on the organ in St Alban’s Anglican Church, Lindfield-June 1989.
Cliff Bingham
From SOJ (Autumn 2010), Peter Jewkes writes:
The organ at this parish is an interesting conglomeration of instruments by Fincham, Dodd, and Noad, rebuilt in 1989-90 by Brown & Arkley. With the solid state switching and capture systems becoming increasingly unreliable and beyond repair, it was decided to replace them, for the first time in Eastern Australia, with an “all-in-one” system by Peterson Electro-Musical products from America. This “new generation” ICS 4000 system combines the notes switching for all the instrument’s electric action, multi-level capture system, MIDI interface and a playback facility (with performances recordable on a USB memory stick!)
From the Peter D.G. Jewkes Facebook page
Recent work at St. Alban's Lindfield.
The Jewkes Company's recent work at St. Alban's Lindfield has focused first on attending to a number of long running mechanical problems with the instrument and secondly addressing various tonal issues. St. Alban's is an active and vibrant parish, with the organ playing a key role in the parish's busy music schedule.
The most significant part of the recent work was the manufacture and supply of a new 10 stop slider soundboard for the Great division, to replace its unreliable predecessor. At the same time consideration was also given to the layout of the stops on the soundboard as well as the number of stops housed on it. The order of the stops has been revised and now reflects best practice. Also, the Stopped Diapason 8', previously located on a separate direct electric chest, has been "brought in from the cold", and now resides with the rest of the Great pipework. The pipework has been cleaned and various minor repairs executed. Careful tonal regulation and finishing on site has produced a pleasingly coherent result.
Next on the agenda was the provision of 12 new pipes for the Pedal Open Wood 16', notes CCC to BBB. The previous pipes were of small scale and poor construction. The Jewkes Company had in storage the Fred Taylor Open Wood 16' pipes previously housed at St. Clement's Mosman and it was decided that these would suit the Lindfield organ admirably. The Taylor pipes are of superior quality and their scale significantly larger than the ones they replace, thus providing excellent support and underpinning for the instrument. The existing chests were re-made to accommodate the new larger scaled pipes, new stays were manufactured and new wooden wind trunking fitted.
The final stage of the work involved modifications to the winding of the Pedal section. Previously, the Pedal stops, as well as the Great Trumpet 8' were all winded from the same bellows. This arrangement presented a number problems including too higher pressure for the Pedal stops and irregularities in the supply of wind for the Trumpet stop. To overcome this, a new separate bellows has been installed to provide wind to the Trumpet stop only, at its 6" pressure. The pressure on the existing Pedal bellows has been lowered to a more appropriate 3 ¾". The pipework of the Pedal division is now much happier, speaking at a more reasonable pressure. Likewise, the Trumpet 8' now has its own stable supply of wind, unimpeded by the larger wind-hungry pipes of the Pedal division.
New Pedal Open Wood 16' pipes for St. Alban's Lindfield undergoing cleaning, repairs and painting at the Jewkes Works (18 August 2015)
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Pipework from the Great division at St. Alban's Lindfield being fitted to the Great's new slider chest - Dulciana 8' pictured. (18 August 2015)
SPECIFICATION
GREAT (61 notes)
Bourdon
Open Diapason No I
Open Diapason No II
Stopped Diapason
Dulciana
Principal
Waldflute
Twelfth
Fifteenth
Seventeenth
Mixture
Trumpet
Swell Sub to Great
Swell to Great
Sw Octave to Great
Tremulant
SWELL (61 notes)
Violin Diapason
Lieblich Gedact
Viole
Voix Celestes
Principal
Wald Flute
Piccolo
Mixture
Contra Cornopean
Cornopean
Oboe
Sub Octave
Octave
Tremulant
PEDAL (30 notes)
Acoustic Bass
Open Bass
Sub Bass
Bourdon
Principal
Bass Flute
Fifteenth
Flute
Twenty Second
Trombone
Contra Cornopean
Trumpet
Clarion
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Swell Octave to Pedal
16
8
8
8
8
4
4
2-2/3
2
1-3/5
IV
8
8
8
8
8
4
4
2
III
16
8
8
32
16
16
16
8
8
4
4
2
16
16
8
4
B
A
D
E
(1-12 from Subbass and Bourdon)
A
B
C
B
C
B
C
D (1-12 Peterson electronic)
E
D
D
Photos: Mark Quarmby (April 2009)