TAVISTOCK could become the Tower Ballroom of the West Country and a tea dance mecca, if a historic eight-rank organ was installed in the town hall.

The organ, which used to provide the music at the ABC Cinema in Plymouth, has been offered to the town council, which is currently investigating the costs and logistics involved in taking it on.

'Organ fanatic' Grenville Jago, of Callington, contacted the council this month, following a previous article in the Times regarding the organ, to urge them to seriously consider the offer.

He said: 'This would definitely give Tavistock the edge in the arts world, and sitting the organ in the town hall would be the icing on the cake with its high ceilings and great acoustics.

'Tavistock would be the envy of the West Country with this organ installed and I feel sure that any money invested would be returned with interest in a very short time.'

Mr Jago said the organ world was huge and support for organs was vast, both nationally and internationally.

'It would be a great day if the council approved this and allowed Tavistock to become something different, a place of culture and arts, a town that is willing to re-invent the days of the cinema organ, and second only to the Compton organ in the Guildhall, Southampton.'

The town council's properties committee, chairman Cllr Sue Bailey last week said she and mayor Cllr David Whitcomb had visited Dingles Steam Village recently, to see a similar instrument.

She said it was stunning and reminded members that the council was being offered an organ at no cost, on permanent loan.

The committee was told it would cost some £750 to transport the organ from London to Tavistock, and alterations to the town hall could cost £20,000, pending listed building consent. Some of the stage area could be lost and annual maintenance could run to some £1,000 a year.

Cllr Ted Sherrell said: 'I am sure it's a magnificent organ but we live in very difficult times financially, and on these sort of figures, I don't think we can afford to go there.'

Cllr Debo Sellis said if the council was to take on the organ, it would need to have a business plan in place first.

Cllr Harry Smith, chairman of the finance committee, said the information given to the council so far was 'fragmented' and he recommended the council's works superintendent should go through the proposal further.

Cllr Philip Sanders said the council also needed to consider the revenue consequences of installing the organ.

'What would be the effect of having this in the town hall? Would it actually compromise or negate some of the other functions we already have there? We don't want it to be a millstone around our neck,' he said.

And Cllr John Sellis said the organ was 'massive' and he thought it was too big to be situated in the town hall.

Town clerk Roger Howard suggested the organ could find a home in the Guildhall: 'You have all the seating in there, and the new owners are looking at what the building could be used for.'

The committee agreed the trustees of the organ should be invited to the council to speak to them and visit the town hall, and a business plan drawn up detailing costs of installation, maintenance, revenue gains and losses.