Repairs to Organ at Holy Trinity Church, Exmouth

Aim

We want to repair and restore the organ at our church.

Holy Trinity Church, Exmouth, first opened in 1823. From its earliest days, the church has featured an organ, played during services and concerts for the benefit of all who attend. The current organ, installed in 1878, has been rebuilt, repaired, and restored on several occasions to ensure that visitors can continue to enjoy the wonderful music it produces. 

In December 2023, extensive rainwater entered the organ chamber, where all the pipes are housed. This caused considerable damage to wooden pipes, felts, and pipe mechanisms. Costly repairs have since been carried out to the roof to prevent any recurrence. 

Before the damage occurred, the organ—made by John Compton—was regarded as one of the most renowned instruments in the area. It regularly encouraged musical societies to perform at the church, making use of its organ accompaniment. The instrument has three manuals (keyboards), but following the water damage only two remain playable. The Great Organ, the main section of the instrument, is now largely unusable. As a result, the organ can no longer adequately accompany concert performances or provide a suitable instrument for visiting organists to give recitals. Week by week, it is also unable to offer the strong lead to congregational singing that it once did. The church’s organ expert has additionally advised that the organ bellows are badly worn and require re‑leathering as part of the restoration. The total cost of the repairs and restoration will be £32,000. 

The church has therefore resolved to restore and repair the damage done to the organ. The Holy Trinity congregation has already donated almost £20,000 towards the total cost of the repairs and restoration. The church is now appealing to the wider community to see whether anyone might be willing to make a one‑off donation to help facilitate the full restoration of this much‑loved church organ. Rector Steve Jones said, ‘When the Compton organ is in prime condition the sound it produces is breath-taking. Our hope is that by working with our congregation and our community we might be able to see this restoration take place this summer.’ 

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 30th June 2026 at 5:00pm