BIOS Reporter – Volume 9, No.1 – January 1985

Our last Editorial ended with a paragraph alluding to the unprecedented number of civic concert organs threatened with redundancy and possible destruction. Such instruments are a great anxiety to us: with one or two noble exceptions t hese organs are grossly under-used, and they suffer from being housed in old civic halls which have no pretensions to meeting the requirements of today’s concert goers or the demands of modern orchestras. In a number of towns and cities, a Victorian hall has suffered an eclipse following the construction of a new concert hall, has fallen into infrequent use, has been closed, and has eventually been demolished. With it, has often gone the ‘ town hall ‘ organ. Yet need this be so? Some of the older buildings have been given a face- lift, their catering facilities have been vastly improved , they have been adapted for a wide variety of functions, and attractive mixed programmes have been put together to draw in the audiences. In some of these programmes, the organ has a part to play, and it has often proved an attraction in lunchtime rec itals or the occas- ional evening recital with a ‘ celebrity’ organist…