St Mary’s Fishponds

The organ at St Mary’s in Fishponds was made by WG Vowles, and is the third instrument I’ve played by the Bristol maker, along with the organs at John on the Wall and St Thomas the Martyr. The afternoon I played it, I didn’t realise it would be the first of two Vowles organs I would play for the first time that day!

I was told about the instrument by Marc, the church administrator at St Stephen’s, and invited to come and play by the church secretary. The secretary is a lovely player himself, and as well as listening to him play, he also showed me the organ’s midi system. It has an interface which allows you to play back organ music through the pipes, and even draw notes onto a grid (similar to Ableton etc.) which will also play back through the pipes. The possibilities are ENDLESS!

The system was set up by an enthusiastic parishioner, and so we were able to sit and hear Hark the Herald as played by the organist at St Mary’s, sounding through the pipes with no-one at the console. It was rather a surreal and ghostly experience!

I sat and played the organ for about half an hour and loved the deep deep bass notes it produced, approaching a below audible rumble. I also recorded an improv which you can listen to below or at the following link. Thank you very much to the Reverend Kesteven and the church secretary for letting me come and play this interesting instrument!

Here’s a fun game for you to play with any friends you have that may be both Bristol organ and cricket enthusiasts. It’s called WG Grace or Vowles.

WG Grace

• Bristol organ maker born in 1826

• Son of Lousia Hopkins and Reuben Vowles

• One of the greatest cricketers of all time, born in Downend 1848

• Trained as an organ builder by Joseph Monday

• An outstanding all-rounder who excelled at batting, bowling AND fielding

• Also a champion hurdler, footballer for Wanderers, and trained doctor

• Has built organs described as ‘immensely satisfying to play’, as well as others described as ‘inaccessible, uninspiring and unreliable’

• Had a test batting average of 32.9

• Not known to have played any international test matches

It is likely that these two men would have been wandering around Bristol at the same time at the turn of two centuries ago, most likely popping down to Cabot Circus on weekends for a baked potato at Spud-U-Like, or dangling their legs in the sun down by the Arnolfini, drinking lager after a hard day of cricketing and organ building. If anyone knows whether these two Bristol WGs met, please let me know!