The Institute of British Organ Building

Phil Johnson (Chair)

I started my journey with pipe organs at the tender age of 8 years old, singing with Blackburn Cathedral Choir. I remember sitting in the stalls looking up at the impressive instrument and thinking “one day I’ll be working with this”… at that age it was a rather literal thought, that I might one day be the organist there in that building. At 13 I began organ lessons on that same organ with Gordon Stewart. I went on to study organ at Chetham’s School of Music, and then to university to study music in a joint BA.
 
Since that time I obtained a second degree in arboriculture, and worked in environmental project management for two local authorities. This gave me valuable experience working with stretched resources and managing projects large and small valued between £10k and £1m. Since the age of 16 I have held permanent organist roles continuously, with the exception of 3 years at university and a few months after my move to Worcester.
 
My move into organ building was unexpected. I saw a 2016 Facebook post by a friend who worked at Nicholson & Co advertising a tuner role, I commented that I would be extremely interested but I had no training… and that was that. 6 months later I was moving down to Worcester in order to begin training as a tuner/voicer for Nicholson & Co. I was extremely privileged, in that first year, to have the opportunity to work with James Atherton on the tonal finishing of the new organ in Auckland Cathedral. This, alongside numerous other projects and a very busy work schedule, allowed me to rapidly increase my skill-set and take on more responsibility. By 2018 I was regularly producing reports for clients for work from basic overhauls to full rebuilds of smaller instruments.
 
Another large change for me came in 2018 as I married and had to move away from Worcester. Two years of commuting followed, we were then hit by Covid, and the distance was proving to be something of a barrier. After discussion with Andrew Caskie, I took the decision to become an independent contractor in May 2021. Since that time my business has been slowly growing, and I really enjoy the freedom to choose my own jobs and the variety of work. My current work involves subcontracting to other firms for tuning and voicing, carrying out tuning work for my own clients, clean and overhauls, and minor rebuilds on the horizon. I’m still very much in my infancy as an independent trader but relishing the challenge and wanting to continue to learn.
  I have always felt that the IBO is a really valuable institution that has historically done great work. The last few years have seen quite a few changes both in the industry and in the IBO, and I feel that as an institution the IBO needs to continue to evolve to support the work of its members in any way it can. Recent initiatives for training new/young organ builders have been a great step, I’ve taken part in a couple of training sessions by the IBO and they have been extremely valuable. Public engagement, in my opinion, is another key way in which we can continue to advance our industry… and this is mostly nowadays done through social media. My aim on the IBO board would be primarily to push forward our public engagement, and to seek to actively promote our members. I would also like to explore whether the IBO could begin to offer consultancy services via IBO accredited consultants. It has long been my view that organ consultants should have greater knowledge of organ building, and should have or have had an active role in the industry beyond simply being an organist and historian. I’m aware this could well be a contentious subject, but I’m not one to shy away from lively debate!

 

Stephen Alliss

My first experience in the trade came whilst I was still at school; one of the music masters was a part time organ builder and I worked with him on Saturdays and during the school holidays. I caught the bug and realised that this was what I wanted to be doing full time. A reed knife was put in my hand as a result of my questioning the accuracy of some tuning work and I never looked back. After years of working as a subcontract tuner on instruments of all types and sizes an advert for a tuning position at H&H caught my attention and I was fortunate to offered employment as the Lake District and Scotland tuner. Eighteen months later I took over the Midlands area which included ten cathedrals as well as Kings College Cambridge.
 
I was made Head Tuner in September 2019. This makes me the first point of contact for queries from my colleagues on other rounds as well as ensuring a fair division of labour between us all. After 40 years in the trade I feel that it is time for me to share my experience and gathered knowledge with the next generation of organ builders so that they can have the same job satisfaction that I have been fortunate to enjoy.

Abigail Balfour-Rowley

Abigail started to learn to play the organ at the age of 16, and quickly fell in love with it. However, she did not consider a career in organ building until much later, instead pursuing degrees in Psychology, and working as a Postgraduate Administrator for several years.

Organ building started to feel like an enticing option when faced with an organist job at a church in which the organ was cobbled together from parts of various other organs, with limited success.The creator of the organ showed her how to fix the most egregious recurring faults, and it occurred to her that this might make a more satisfactory career than being required to churn out thousands of words and lecture undergraduates who would rather be in bed.

Abigail began working full-time as an organ builder in September 2010, and first worked for David Wells, then Harrison & Harrison. In 2013 she joined Goetze and Gwynn, where she worked until 2018. Her career freelancing with her husband, Robert, was interrupted by the arrival of their child in 2019, and came to a crashing halt during the pandemic. Now she is back at Goetze and Gwynn as it moves forward into a new stage of its existence, in which the goal of treating instruments with respect for their history, and restoring them as they would originally have been, is extended to cover much more modern instruments, including theatre organs. The firm is expanding, and it is exciting to be working with new people, and to have the opportunity to learn new perspectives from people from different backgrounds.

Abigail has always had an interest in training, and if voted in hopes to use her tenure to continue to push forwards training initiatives within the IBO, and hopefully to help to progress the apprenticeship scheme.
 

Michael Blighton

I was born and raised in South London, and being a member of the very fine local church choir, got interested in the pipe organ in my early teens. At secondary school our badly vandalised organ needed repairing, and I volunteered my services to one of the school’s teachers who was a keen amateur builder. I wondered if this might be an interesting career and aged 16, managed to get a job at Geo. Osmond of Taunton. After 9 months I moved closer to home at Mander Organs. One day in 1983 I wondered into the Voicing Shop looking for a job to fill a vacant afternoon, and ended up staying there until the firm closed. I now work for myself doing voicing and tuning.  
In my spare time I like to read, cook, watch films, go to the gym, and I love to travel when I have time!
 

Gary Cook

I started working with organs in 1994 when at the tender age of 14 I worked with a local organ builder to help clean and install a redundant organ in a local church. From this moment on I was bit by the bug, and contrary to what my parents wanted, I just wanted to work on organs. In 1998 I started a training position with Percy Daniel & Co. It wasn’t long until I was put onto the tuning round, assisting one of the older tuners with both driving and tuning. This soon followed by going onto the bench where I had the opportunity to tackle most areas of organ building. Much of my knowledge has been self-taught, but my time with Daniels was the perfect opportunity to put a lot of theory into practice. I left Daniels and for a period of time I had a few different jobs which included populating printed circuit boards, alarm fitting, kitchen fitting and property maintenance. All of which are useful transferrable skills in organ building. 2010 / 2011 I was given the opportunity to get back into organ building when I worked alongside Stephen Cooke on the organ at Steeple Ashton in Wiltshire. This was the start of Liberty Organs. I have since established a tuning and maintenance customer base, and have also worked on projects from cleanings to restorations and more.  
I also sub-contracted to other organ builders carrying out a variety of tasks from electrical installation through to releathering of bellows and soundboards using materials and skills in a traditional time-honoured fashion. Liberty Organs became Liberty Organs Ltd in 2015 but has generally remained as myself with some assistance on occasion, though ideally the future will hold some more permanent staff.
 

Mark Gatrell

My journey into organ building was almost entirely accidental. Despite my amateur organist background from the age of about 15, it was not a career I had considered. Whilst at university, studying Criminology, I was made aware of an opportunity to assist a local organ building firm with tuning visits and other work. Having always had a fascination with pipe organs and their majesty; I decided to jump at the chance, so set out with Griffiths & Cooper in 2007. Almost every day, when I was not required to attend lectures, was spent assisting the firm in a variety of organ building activities. After graduating university in 2009, I took the decision to accept a full-time post with Griffiths & Cooper. Having gained some experience in tuning during my tenure as an assistant with the firm, I was then sent out as a tuner to help maintain the tuning round across the south of England. During this time, I was also heavily involved in lots of overhaul work and rebuild projects. In 2012, following the split of Griffiths & Cooper, I went to work for Griffiths & Co Ltd. in Portsmouth. Whilst there, I gained more experience with bench work and also started to carry out inspections in preparation for producing reports.  
My company: South Coast Organs Ltd. began life in 2018 as I wanted to prepare for Geoff Griffiths’ impending retirement. Both companies ran alongside one another until 2021 when I bought out Griffiths & Co. South Coast Organs has been fortunate enough to undertake some interesting and varied work over the last few years. I very much enjoy running a business – from managing projects to building good relations with customers. I’m particularly passionate about furthering the reputation of organ building in the UK and ensuring that organ builders are properly remunerated for their skills in line with other trades. If elected to the board, I will use this position to support all firms that are producing good quality work and advocate for fair remuneration.
 

Mark Wood

I am a Yorkshire based organ builder. I am the 4th generation organ builder in a long family line spanning some 150 years. I have nearly 50 years of organ building experience. I started out at Wood Wordsworth & Co Ltd., Hanover Avenue, Leeds at the tender age of 14. At that time, I worked during school breaks and learnt to tune and sweep floors. I was trained by the firm’s employees that also included the men from Abbott & Smith who came to work for the company following its incorporation into the company as well as my father and grand-father. Through those years, I gained a vast knowledge of different types of organs that were in our care which has put me in a good position to understand different types of actions
At the age of 18 I went to Northern Ireland for a year’s training with Wells-Kennedy Partnership of Lisburn where I learnt mechanical action design, construction and voicing. On my return, I went back to Wood Wordsworth & Co for a further year until its dissolution. After this time, I worked with my father who set up Peter Wood & son. Following my father’s retirement in 2008 I took over the business where I continued to expand on my father’s success both at home and abroad. I have managed to secure international contracts in Malaysia, Australia, Russia and Japan. 
Over my time I have seen the challenges faced by churches closing and many organs being lost. To this end I am now a keen advocate for the preservation of organs which can be seen through my approach to restoration. I actively encourage my customers to appreciate their instruments that they have and support them on the road to restoration ensuring that they remain involved throughout the process. My experience is vast and broad because of the different environments that I have worked in and the variety of instruments that I have work on both here and abroad. I have experience of the challenges of running a small company yet still producing high quality workmanship. 
 
I am keen to be a member of the board of trustees because I feel that organ building is going to face some challenging times and I feel strongly that we need to support the industry in any way that we can. I am encouraged that the IBO is actively seeking smaller businesses to become involved more as I believe we have a unique experience and have a lot to offer.