A NEWLY restored theatre organ console was played for the first time over the bank holiday weekend at Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre near Lifton.

The Tamar Organ Club purchased the Compton theatre organ in 2006 after concerns that the remaining theatre organ in the area, from the ABC Cinema in Plymouth, had been sold and moved to London.

The club's new organ had originally been in the State/Granada Cinema in Dartford, Kent from 1935 until its removal in 1972 after a series of floods. It was restored by James Crampton of Oxnead Mill in Suffolk and was installed in the Lakeside Pavilion Ballroom at Gunston in Lowestoft.

It was in regular use for concerts and dances for the next 25 or so years but eventually fell into disrepair and disuse. Hearing that it was for sale in October 2006, members of the organ club travelled the 370 miles to Lowestoft to look it over, made a successful bid for it, and removed it in the December.   

A home was found for the organ at the Dingles Heritage Centre and over the last 18 months it has been restored and overhauled, including rebuilding the console to how it was in the cinema with the addition of a 'cascade' illuminated surround from another organ. The original surround is now on a home organ console in Sussex.

The organ chambers are still to be built so that the pipe organ can be fully installed, complete with console lift so it can rise majestically out of the orchestra pit like it did in the cinema. In the meantime, digital technology has been used to hook the organ to a computer and an array of loudspeakers to be able to use digitally sampled theatre organ sounds, playable from the stops, keyboard and pedals of the console.

The first performance was at the bank holiday weekend, but a full programme of concerts is planned for the new season and regular demonstrations are being held together with Thursday lunchtime and Saturday matinee performances for visitors to Dingles. It is hoped to start Sunday concerts soon.

Further historical notes on the organ can be found at http://www.tamarorganclub.org">www.tamarorganclub.org