Organ Restoration Funding Secured!

Sacred Heart is likely to be on BBC London News this evening at 6.30pm about the organ!

For Year 7 parents who may not be aware we discovered last year that our broken pipe-organ had originally been installed in a vast chapel in Paris owned by the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1861.  Just before their properties were seized by the French government (as the country moved to secularisation) the organ was quickly packed up by the nuns and smuggled out of France to the safety of Hammersmith. This previously lost Loret organ is believed to be the rarest pipe-organ in the UK and last year we launched a fundraising effort to restore it.

By end the of July 2026 we had secured over £80,000 towards our restoration target of £252,000. Funds came from individual donations from members of the public and parents, together with £50k from the Vine Hill Trust and £15k from the Ruiz Corbella Trust, and ticket sales to a talk about the organ and a fundraising concert.

We then submitted an application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. In submitting this application we were mindful of the Heritage Fund's remit to increase inclusion and participation and so rather than simply asking them for the additional funds needed to restore the organ, we also added in further project components including various cross-school initiatives and public events across the next two years. 

We explained how the restored organ will be valuable to strengthen our choral tradition and to enable us to offer organ lessons, but it will also help us to raise money through public concerts and recitals to help look after the broader heritage of this site.  The action plan includes free organ taster sessions for students who would like to 'have a go' before deciding whether to book organ lessons.  It also includes plans for a Heritage Dismantled workshop, for students to see the organ being taken apart when it is removed to be restored in Canterbury; and a 'Build an organ' workshop for approx 200 students. A Heritage Reassembled worksop potentially in August 2027 for the public, with the aim being for the organ restoration to be completed by August 2027.  The Plan also includes a major organ recital concert in Nov 2027 to celebrate the organ's theoretical return, and then a large choral concert including our girls and 50 members of the Bach Choir in summer 2028.

In August we were delighted to hear that this application for £247,000 had been approved and the contract with the National Lottery Heritage Fund was signed on Friday 11 September and we received the go ahead on Monday 14 September.  This brings the overal fundraising sum for the organ and the wider heritage project to £327,815.

A press release has been issued today to annouce the project commencement and BBC London News have just called to ask if they can come here this afternoon to film it for the news at 6.30pm this evening!