East Witton Parish »
Church Music at East Witton
At the head of the stairs to the belfry in East Witton Church there is, on the left, a blocked doorway. Until the 1870's this led to a gallery and from this gallery services were accompanied by local musicians. Little is known about them but in 1840 the group consisted of:
| Captain Fryer - Fleets Farm | Bass Viol |
| C. Bucktin and Thomas Raper | Violins |
| James King - Kilgram | Cello |
| George Dent - Holwith | Bassoon |
| Thomas Heslop | Clarionette |
| R. Heslop | Concertina |
by any standards a respectable ensemble, even if the concertina does sound a little out of place, and for a small village a remarkable one.
However, in 1854 money was raised by public subscription and an organ was placed in the gallery. It had only one manual and was so constructed that "the player required someone to stand beside it to manage the stops". Presumably another would be needed to manage the bellows. The first organist was Miss A. Raper, daughter of the aforementioned Thomas, but Mr C. Bucktin also played occasionally. It is said that he had 1earned to play "just a little by wrestling with some keyed instrument at home" which sounds a little ominous! He was also the blacksmith!
About the year 1866 the organ was brought into the chancel and was placed 'on the south side where the choirmen now sit" (this was written in 1912). The gallery was removed during the restorations of the early 1870's; the doorway being covered on the inside by the royal coat of arms in stone. At the same time the organ was again re-sited with "the organist sitting in the north aisle and the choirmen in seats along the north wall". In 1878 an incomplete swell organ was added and (again quoting from the magazine of 1912) "no alteration has been made since that date, and it sadly needs completion or a new organ supplied" - hardly an overstatement, one might think.
That cri de coeur was soon to be answered, for a new organ was given by Mr Christie in commemoration of the church's centenary and formally dedicated on Friday, July 18th, 1913 by the Bishop. The service was accompanied by Mr C.H.Moody, organist of Ripon Cathedral who, at the close, "gave a polished rendering of some half dozen pieces of great charm, well calculated to display to the best advantage the excellent capacities of the instrument". Mr William Greenhalgh, the Schoolmaster, who had been the organist since 1901, must have been delighted to have the new organ but, sadly, he was to die in the following year.
This is, of course, the admirable Binns instrument which has continued to give pleasure both in services and in recitals and concerts for almost eighty-seven years. We are indeed fortunate to have it and doubly fortunate to have also the organists who are so worthy of it and who are so generous with their time and their musicianship, above all, it goes without saying, Mrs. Gillian Belgrave, though it will be some time before she beats the record of Mabel A. Aydon who was organist for forty three years, from 1920 to 1963.
Muir Temple