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The Organ

The Church organ was built around 1890 by W. G. Vowles. Most of the people who have looked after the organ over the years believe it was specially made for the present building. However, it is also generally considered that it is underpowered for a  building of this size, and that it would be inadequate to lead a large congregation without the assistance of a strong choir. It is also acknowledged that it is a fine example of the work of W. G. Vowles and a very good organ. Why then, was a more substantial instrument not built?

  The Organ before its repaint                   The Organ as it appears now

I believe I may have stumbled on the answer to this question whilst researching the history of the building. In a report in the Somerset Guardian of Saturday 30th August 1902, covering the opening ceremony of the new building, it states:
The Choir rendered the musical portion of the service in a most praiseworthy manner. Mr George Hamblin presided at the organ, which had been taken from the Old Chapel and re-built by Messrs Griffen and Stroud of Somerset Place, Bath.

This surely answers the question of size, as the organ was obviously built for the Old Chapel which was much smaller - I rest my case, though we are left to wonder why a new organ was purchased for the old Chapel so close to the time that the decision was made to build a new one.

The organ underwent a major overhaul in 1993, costing about £7500.

A number of distinguished organists have played the organ over the years including Reginald Foort, Dudley Savage, Sandy McPherson and Ernest Maynard.

Sadly the organ was damaged by the smoke during the fire that occured in the Church in 2004, and cleaning and restoring it to a usable condition was considered to be far too expensive. Instead a replacement digital organ, a Makin Monarke, was purchased and installed. The speakers for this have been installed within the organ casing, to ensure that the sound still comes from the correct place!