Me playing the organ at St James Church in Tunbridge Wells.

The organ here has an extensive history. It was first built in 1865 by J W Walker and Sons and enlarged in 1883 before being moved to its present location in 1916. In 1937 the organ was given a major rebuild by the John Compton Organ Company Ltd which saw the addition of much new pipework and the present detached stopkey 'horseshoe' style console. The opening recital was given by George Thalben-Ball. In 1958 the organ was overhauled by Kingsgate Davidson and further work were done in 1976, 1991 and 2001 by Wood Brown, Hill Norman and Beard and Martin Cross respectively. The organ is a wonderful example of the work Compton did at rebuilding other instruments hence my reason for visiting.

For this first video I am playing the hymn 'Jesus - the name high over all' to the tune 'Lydia' which shows off the power of this magnificent instrument.

Many thanks to the church officials for allowing me access to this wonderful instrument and special thanks to the deputy organist for his excellent filming of this video which also shows views of the church and organ casework.

NOTE: this is purely my interest in order to make sure that these fine organs are archived forever and I do not make any monetary profit by this video being on dailymotion.

For more information on the John Compton Organ Company Ltd and to see me play other Compton organs, please click on the following link for my site dedicated to the John Compton Organ Company Ltd:

http://comptonorgans.yolasite.com/

REQUEST: I am always on the lookout for Compton organs to play - particularly electrones - so if you know of any churches which still have these then please do let me know. I will happily give a donation or pay any applicable room hire charge.