St Mary's Catholic Church, Grafton Ontario
R. S. Williams 1895/H. Pilcher     Pole and Kingham Organ Transplant

St. Mary’s is situated on a hill in the historic village of Grafton, overlooking the north shore of Lake Ontario. The former parish priest, Father Donald Hood, had always wanted a pipe organ for his church, and hoped to commission a new tracker organ if funds became available. Serendipitously, a redundant and affordable organ turned up not very far down the lakeshore, in Brighton.

By January of 2007, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Brighton had been closed, and demolition was imminent. The congregation sold the Williams organ to St. Mary’s, and with a crew of church volunteers, Pole and Kingham moved the organ to Grafton.

The Williams organ was originally pneumatic action, but both inherent and environmental problems related to the windchests led to its disuse.

Organbuilder Sandy McTavish located a Pilcher tracker chassis, chests and pipes at the Organ Clearing House, and installed the components into the Williams case and building frame. Only the Pedal Bourdon and facade pipes remained on the original pneumatic action.

The Pilcher tracker chassis in the Williams case and frame

 Specification: II/7

Removal from Brighton: [Click on image to enlarge]

First volunteer crew

Second volunteer crew

Installation in Grafton:

Gallery before transplant

Raising the double rise reservoir

Installation

Gallery during installation

Finished installation with new choir stalls:

Reference: Under the Sign of the Big Fiddle, 1996, by L. Cselenyi-Granch              [History of the Williams family and business]

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