Camborne Centenary Chapel Organ
We are indebted to Jeffrey Williams for this article and look forward to including more of his contributions in due course.
As you pass under the imposing portico to Camborne Centenary Chapel and enter the main body of the church, your eyes are immediately drawn upwards to the splendid, stencilled façade of the organ that spans almost the full width of the gallery behind the pulpit. This instrument replaced a much more modest organ that was possibly the work of one of the local firms of organ builders operating in Cornwall in the 19th century. An allowance of £50 was made for this earlier organ when the present instrument was commissioned in 1904. It is the work of Peter Conacher & Co (the Old Firm) of Huddersfield and is, without doubt, one of the finest organs in the area and is certainly one of the most faithfully preserved in terms of its mechanical and tonal integrity, something that was recognised by the British Institute of Organ Studies when, in 2018, it was awarded a Grade II* Historic Organ Certificate, something of which the church is justifiably proud.
Camborne Centenary Chapel Organ
My association with this organ stretches back 50 years to when I had my first lessons there as a teenager, and it is a pleasure to be able to play it again from time-to-time now that I have moved back to my home-town. The instrument reflects the Edwardian splendour of the age in which it was conceived in all respects, and was certainly designed to make a visual impact as well as an aural one. It is not overly-large in terms of the number of speaking-stops and pipes that it has (there are two larger instruments in the town’s churches) but the 23 stops afford the player a tonal design that is very complete for the time the instrument was built, and provides for a wide range of tonal contrast and colour. The ‘full-organ’ effect is a powerful one, with big diapason tone (the foundation sound of an organ) and fiery, colourful reeds (trumpet-like character). It was designed to lead the hearty singing of some 750 Methodists in full-voice, and, in my life-time, I remember the organ supporting large choirs and congregations. As a complement to the full-organ there are lovely quieter stops that can be used to solo a melodic line, and timbres that are imitative of orchestral string colour.
Camborne Centenary is much more than just a place of worship. It is often the focal point and venue for concerts, music festival and civic events, and the Chapel’s fine, Edwardian organ has had an integral role to fulfil these, and still does. That the instrument continues to play so reliably some 120 years after it was first installed, and with little more than routine tuning and maintenance visits, is testament to the quality of the workmanship of the Conacher firm and the dedication of those who have cared for it in the intervening years. The organ is now long-overdue for a thorough clean and overhaul to restore it to its full musical and mechanical glory, and I fervently hope that sometime the funds will become available for this to be done and for this important part of Camborne’s musical heritage to be preserved for future generations to enjoy and to be inspired by as I have.
Jeffrey Williams at the Centenary organ sporting his Cornish colours
Jeffrey Williams
Historic Organs Co-Ordinator for the British Institute of Organ Studies
Organs Advisor to the Diocese of Truro
Organist, St Ia’s Church, St Ives