Hugely Successful Organ Talk!

Our first historical evening focussing on the story of our organ, with a talk and exhibition, was a huge success! Thank you to everyone who came along, everyone who has donated to the cause, and anyone who has engaged with the story on Connect and online! We are so grateful to be part of such a generous and enthusastic community. 

We started the evening with guests welcomed into our Chapel, accompanied by the beautiful sound of 'temporarily borrowed' digital organ, generously played by Martin Hall who taught organ here in the 1970s. As expected, Alex Dijkhuis completely captivated her audience, delivering a talk that left guests “hooked”, “engrossed” and “emotional” as we followed the incredible bravery of Mother Mabel Digby and sisters, who battled to rescue and smuggle our organ from Paris to Hammersmith.

At the accompanying exhibition, guests were offered a glimpse into the years of detective work behind the project of tracing the provenance of our organ. Guests marvelled at tiny details in grainy photographs, original blueprints dug up from archives and handwritten letters and journals, all pieced together to prove just how rare and significant a piece of heritage our organ truly is. Meanwhile, new connections were formed over glasses of wine, with people meeting for the first time over their shared interest in our story, while old friends found themselves reunited in the admin corridor, reminiscing and spotting their teenage faces in whole‑school photographs.

We are thrilled to announce that after an evocative talk and a joyful evening, our total raised from the event is just shy of £4,000! With a very special £1,000 donation from the Guild of St. Stephen for Altar Servers; founded in our very own chapel in 1905 just after the organ was installed. This now bring our organ fundraising total to £63,038 (with a target of £252,700). 

We cannot thank you all enough for your kindness and contributions. We have also had several guests already buy their tickets for our fundraising concert on 19 June and we're expecting this to sell out, so don't forget to buy your tickets using this link.

Finally, as Sister Cath from the Society so powerfully reminded us, the story of the Sacred Heart organ leaves us with three clear takeaways. First, we must (and we shall!) continue to fundraise to keep this historic instrument alive. Second, we can and should look to the courage and leadership of Mother Digby, who stepped forward in a time of crisis. And lastly, if history teaches us anything at all, it's this: don’t mess with nuns!