Priory Project
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Willis Organ
The Willis organ at St Bees Priory is one of the top church organs in Britain. It is a remarkable instrument to be housed in a village church and its presence here is due to two men, Francis Livesy and George Dixon. It was built in 1899 under the personal supervision of Henry Willis, the master organ builder of Victorian times.
Although it has been regularly serviced over the 110 plus years of its life, it is now reaching the point where it requires a major service and clean. This work will almost certainly require it to be stripped down and rebuilt. Not to do so means increasing problems and increasing maintenance expenses.
The cost of this work is currently being sought but there is no doubt that this will be very expensive. The bulk of the funding will need to come from outside of the parish, but it is hoped that, being an instrument of such historical and musical importance, that funds will be attracted from many sources.
Fund raising for this particular part of the overall project will be an ongoing process but as the earliest the firm that services the organ can undertake the work is around 2015, we do have some breathing space!