Scottish Historic Organs Trust visit Forteviot Church

On Saturday 30^th May, a group known as the Scottish Historic Organs Trust visited Forteviot Church. Having visited the churches in Blackford, Crieff, Muthill and Auchterarder earlier in the day, they arrived to see and hear the Hamilton organ in Forteviot before heading to see the Miller organ at Dunbarney in the late afternoon.

Some members had previously visited when Sandy Edmonstone first (organ builder) installed it and indeed remember it when it was still installed and played in Balerno Church.

The Forteviot organ was moved by a group of young organists from Craighouse, Edinburgh, to Balerno Church in 1975 - the team included David Stewart, who was also present with the Trust on Saturday (the group of 4 photos shows the organ in Balerno church prior to it being moved)

Interestingly, the group think the organ is much older than 1870. “Much of the pipework is pure tin, which was a hallmark of the founder of the Hamilton firm, David Hamilton (1800-63); his younger brothers Thomas and James stopped using pure tin in the 1860s. Also, the compass stops at f "' at the top, not g "' which again is a feature of David's work. I think Sandy Edmonstone found inscriptions inside the organ which record later work in the 1920s by Fred Hamilton (1863-1942).”

This was a fascinating visit, particularly for Allan Kelman who, after demonstrating, was able to sit in the pews and listen to it being played. Allan also met an old work colleague now involved with trust that he worked with over 30 years ago. Wonderful!