On Saturday 9th May the first complete rank of pipes was in place, and playing from the console. It is the 2ft Piccolo. The construction and style is that of the Harmonic Flute as designed and popularised by Cavaillé-Coll. In the picture it can be seen that the bottom 12 pipes (that is, the bottom octave) are the full length, but from tenor C upwards, they are double the length expected. These longer pipes have a hole drilled in them half-way up which causes them to speak an octave higher than normal. This is equivalent to opening the thumb-hole on a recorder which raises the pitch by an octave. It also adds a initial "chiff" to the sound, and can be very imititative of the orchestral instrument

Above the pipes there is a view of part of the rose window of the church, seen through the part of the swell box where the shutters will be placed. This will allow the pipes to sound quieter when the shutters are closed, or louder when they are opened.

In the foreground the holes in the rack for the next ranks of pipes can be seen, and to the left of the picture a strange wooden construction. The reason for this is that the soundboards are "chromatic"; that is to say, they go up in pitch across the entire soundboard. Frequently the pipes alternate from side to side, which means that the widest pipes are not side by side, and therefore less crowded. Our soundboards do create the problem of the bass end being very cramped, and some of the pipes have to be located in other racks, connected by tubes to convey the wind. It is such a rack that can be seen in the picture.

It was a great joy to hear the first stop speaking; it seems to be in the main, well in tune and the regulation was good. More importantly, all the notes were functioning so there is no serious problem with the swell soundboard, only a small amount of adjustment.

Sadly, the Great may need more extensive sorting out as some of the electronic components appear to be faulty and may need to be replaced.

However, a significant milestone has been reached today!

It would have been good to be able to include a sound-clip, and it is hoped that this will be possible soon!