All day visit to village organs in the area to the east of Colchester

On a lovely April day with super weather, a good number of members and friends visited three interesting and historic instruments at parish churches in Bradfield, Mistley and Ardleigh. At St Lawrence, Bradfield, John Barrow, the church’s organist, met us and talked about the organ that we see today. Originally a 3 manual and pedal instrument, it was rebuilt in 1964 by Cedric Arnold as a 2 manual and pedal organ. After a short drive, which included lovely views of the River Stour estuary, we arrived at our second venue of the day, the Georgian Church of St Mary and St Michael, Mistley, and after an excellent lunch at The Wooden Fender, Colchester Road, Ardleigh, we moved onto our final venue of the day, nearer into Colchester. This was the lovely medieval parish church of St Mary’s, Ardleigh, with very East Anglian flint exterior and excellent Victorian interior restoration. Our thanks to EOA Minutes Secretary, Chris Denney, with the help of his wife Nancy, for organising such a great day out for us, including arranging the wonderful food and weather!