[ Ref 060515 MMDigest, Missing Gavioli Organ Located in Derbyshire

Adam Ramet is referring to the ex- Herbert Slack Gavioli that is on
permanent loan to the Crich Tramway Museum.  For many years this was
stored at a Derbyshire County Council store at Darley Dale, near
Matlock, which is where it was when I first heard about it twenty years
or so ago.

Luckily, they had the good sense to lend it to the Tramway Museum when
they built a large exhibition hall.  The organ is positioned prominently
along the back of this hall and can be played by appointment.  It has
been there for at least ten years to my memory.  It used to be played
regularly and maintained and tuned by a local organ builder but I'm not
sure if this arrangement continues.

This organ allegedly has an unusual history.  It was one of the, if
not the, first 87-key book organ to be brought into the UK and was
later converted to barrel operation.  Later still it was converted back
to play 89-key books.  I don't know how true the first part of this
story is but the current arrangement for operating the pallets clearly
shows signs of having being converted from barrel operation.

The Crich Tramway Museum is well worth visiting for any transport
enthusiast.  As its name implies, it is located at Crich (pronounced
cry'ch) which is a small village in the hills between Belper and
Matlock in Derbyshire, and contains a very extensive collection of
restored and operational trams.  It is actually an old quarry but now
has an extensive tramway running around the hillside, and it is very
picturesque.  It contains a large number of original period buildings
that have been relocated to site, including the facade of the old Derby
Assembly Rooms.  As well as having working trams everyday, the museum
hosts special themed weekends for enthusiasts.

It is unfortunate that Adam takes delight in lambasting the Derbyshire
County Council for excessive bureaucracy.  They are clearly up to date
and efficient in that they (a) make their minutes available over the
'Net, and (b) know exactly where such a valuable asset resides.  They
also had the good sense to store the organ in a suitable location and
condition from the time of its donation, until a suitable home could be
found for its long term residency, where it can now be seen, heard and
enjoyed by many.

Picking up on a recent thread about historic organs in context, if
an organ has to be owned by a public body then the Derbyshire County
Council's presentation of this Gavioli is about the best you are going
to get.  I'm not usually a great supporter of the County Council, but
on this occasion they're blameless.

With best regards from Derbyshire,
Nicholas Simons