In the Big City

Robin and drove into London this morning and he dropped me off at the Chesterfield Hotel where I met up with Darwin after ten days apart. After taking my bag to the room and settling in a bit, Darwin and I walked over to St. George's Church, Hanover Square, for their morning service. This is the church where Robin is just finishing up his duties as organist.

At the conclusion of the 11:00 a.m. service, in celebration of Baptismal Renewal Sunday, we were served champagne in the church. We had a chance to meet the rector and several members of the congregation. Following that Robin took us around the corner from the church for a quick lunch at a pub. We all enjoyed steak and kidney pie with mashed potatoes and smashed peas - a very traditional English meal.

Back at St. George's I was able to spend a little time playing on the organ. It is the first organ built in England by the American organ builders Richards, Fowkes & Co. located in Tennessee. Below are pictures of the church and the organ console. Two audio recordings are available at

https://youtu.be/_CDTKLjgI0M and https://youtu.be/x-5_mO8MuRs.

From St. George's we walked a few blocks to hail a taxi to go to Methodist Central Hall for a 3:00 p.m. organ concert. The organ facade is quite stunning as you can see in this picture.

Following the concert I was able to go up and take a closer look at the organ console, but was not able to play the organ.

We then walked several blocks to Westminster Cathedral where we were expecting to attend a 4:45 p.m. organ concert. However, after walking around the sanctuary for a while we discovered that the organ concert would not be taking place that day. Darwin had never been inside this Cathedral, so it wasn't a wasted trip.

We then walked back to Westminster Abbey where we did get to hear their 5:45 p.m. organ concert. Following the concert I was able to go up and see the organ console and take some pictures of the two organ facades, which one can't really see straight on from the nave floor (see the pictures below). An evening service was scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., so there wasn't time for me to play on this instrument, but I did have my picture taken sitting at the console (see picture further down below). It was certainly a thrill to be in the "organist's space" in such an historic church.

(north facade) (south facade)

(at console of organ in Westminster Abbey)

Following this time at Westminster Abbey we took a taxi back to the hotel. After relaxing for a bit we had a late dinner of fish and chips in the hotel bar, then back to the room for the conclusion of another wonderful day.