11 members met on 18 May to get to know the historic organs at St James Bermondsey and St Anne’s Limehouse. At Bermondsey we were met by Takuya Yorita, until recently the organist there; he has moved to the Netherlands for his work but kindly came back for the weekend to show us the 3-manual Bishop organ. Members quickly discovered that the pedalboard of this organ goes down only to G, and also that there is a separate keyboard next to the organ on which an assistant can play the pedal part if needed! Tack however demonstrated how the pedal parts could be altered to be played on that organ. A very interesting visit, even if many of us were glad we didn’t have to play there regularly!

After a journey through the Rotherhithe tunnel and a quick lunch at a local “caff” we turned to the William Drake organ at St Anne’s which was much less of a physical challenge though still mainly appropriate for Baroque (and earlier) music. We all had time to explore the colours of the organ (which sounds very good from the nave).

Overall a good day, though the traffic getting home may have taken the shine off it for some!