Choir Update (January 2024)
Our choir has begun weekly choir practice on Wednesday evenings. We welcome all parishioners who would like to join the choir.
Organ 2022 Update--Additional Pipes
We have exciting news! Additional pipes for the church’s pipe organ will be added to the balcony area to bring an even richer sound to our phenomenal Grooms & Payne instrument. Click on the brochure below for more information about this awesome addition.
The Status of Our Organ: Finished 2021
Organ Progress in 2019-2020
Our brand-new pipe organ is now complete. Grooms & Payne stayed inside the church during the COVID-19 closures in order to get the pipes, wiring, console, etc. finished in a timely manner. We are THRILLED with how amazing it looks and sounds!
On the Grooms & Payne website they have posted the “picture” for pipe organ—the
total dream plan: https://www.groomsandpayne.net/st-john-s-episcopal-halifax
Kelly
has just ordered the knobs for the console—which includes the “dream” of
the 3rd division of pipes (called a positif). St. John’s has been able, last week, to send a
sizable sum of money for the current contract on the custom pipe organ order.
And the console is being built inside the shop in Louisa, Virginia.
We
need to be reminded that the “Postif” division, the additional 3rd
division that sits on the balcony wall, is not included in the
current contract with Grooms and Payne. But we are hopeful! This 3rd division
makes the 3rd keyboard of the console fully functional and would add tonal
balance for our sanctuary.
Currently
on order is a custom-built 10-rank (610 pipes), 2-division, organ ($274,000)
from Grooms and Payne, Ltd. If the “Positv” (additional 5-ranks or 305 pipes)
could be ordered within this year (be expanding the contract); then all
the facade pipes (the pipes we see in the design) would be ordered to
match, and the Positif could be installed with the rest of the organ.
St.
John’s is developing into a destination of choice in Halifax and Southside
Virginia for worship, concerts, and music enthusiasts. This new organ
will help strengthen the beauty of this historic church and all that it has to
offer in this community and the surrounding area.
Pledges
and donations are being accepted at St. John’s Episcopal Church, P, O. Box
905, Halifax, VA 24558 (Memo: Organ Fund)
Remember
that the Autumn 2019, the due date for the new organ,
marks the 175th anniversary of St. John’s formation as a congregation!
marks the 175th anniversary of St. John’s formation as a congregation!
Above sketch: An organ builder's vision of the new pipe organ being built for St. John's