Large parts of Plymouth were destroyed during the Second World War, but the spectacular Barbican area survived, preserving the mediaeval street layouts and many of the Tudor Dwellings. It is a maze of narrow streets and alley ways, adjacent to Sutton Harbour, the original seaport of this historic area. The Barbican is also the home to many art galleries, and is a Mecca for local famous artists. Along the narrow streets there are many unique and individual shops. The Barbican Centre has over 25 craft shops, design shops, and antique shops.

There has been much development in the town, the most recent of which is the Drake Circus Shopping Centre, one of the West Country’s most popular shopping centres. Here, you’ll find many of the UK’s top brand names and the biggest stores in the region all under one roof. There are over sixty shops in the centre.

Maurice Eglinton kindly put together an interesting and varied itinerary for us, starting with a visit to Buckfast Abbey, home to a Roman Catholic community of Benedictine monks, and famous for its beekeeping and Buckfast Tonic Wine, which was quite fascinating.

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On Friday we had two visits planned. The first to Canongate Kirk, the Kirk of Holyroodhouse and Edinburgh Castle. The organ in the gallery was designed and built by Th. Frobenius of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is a memorial to The Very Reverend Ronald Selby Wright CVO, TD, DD, FRSE, who was Minister at Canongate from 1937 to 1977, and was dedicated on Sunday 15 November 1998. It consists of a great organ, a swell organ, and a pedal organ, with twenty speaking stops in all.

The second visit was to St Giles Cathedral, where we were joined by the organist, Michael Harris.
The present organ was built in 1992 by the Austrian firm of Rieger Orgelbau, in consultation with Herrick Bunney and Peter Hurford. The instrument, with its distinctive case of Austrian oak designed by Douglas Laird, stands in the South Transept.
The 1992 organ was completely new, except for the Pedal Open Wood 16′ and the Bombarde 32′ which were retained from the previous instrument (Willis III 1940). In addition, the lowest seven pipes of the old 32′ Double Open Wood are mounted at the back of the case and form the bass of the Untersatz 32′ – the remaining metal pipes of which form part of the façade.

The instrument has mechanical key and stop action. There are 47 speaking stops spread over three manual divisions and the pedal division. The louvred top of the central pipe tower
contains a chromatic ring of 37 Whitechapel bells, which are playable from the Swell manual and from the Pedal.

On Saturday we visited the Reid Memorial Church, where the organist Jeremy Cull joined us.
Jeremy is the Organist & Director of Music at the Reid Memorial Church, and maintains a busy playing schedule, both as recitalist and accompanist. In addition, Jeremy writes articles on music for various record labels and is a freelance editor for a number of music publishers.

From there we travelled to St Cuthberts Parish Church, Lothian Road, Edinburgh where the organ was demonstrated by Tom Laing-Reilly.

Our next port of call on Saturday was to St Mary’s RC Cathedral, where we were joined by Simon Nieminski. The new Cathedral Organ was built by Matthew Copley Organ Design of Kingston-upon-Thames and finished in 2007. It has three manuals, five divisions, 63 speaking stops and two consoles: one in the West gallery and one movable console for use with the Cathedral Choir and in recitals, where the player will be visible to the audience.

On Sunday a trip to the Royal Yacht Britannia was arranged for everyone not going home immediately.

I am sure you will agree this was a very interesting, and entertaining weekend. We are very grateful to David Page of Forth Pipe Organs for putting together such a wonderful itinerary.

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