When will the installation process begin?

I took a tour of the building today and discussed the progress being made with the builder. I even had a trip up on the lift truck to take some pictures of the organ loft for the organ builder. If everything goes according to plan, we should be able to start the work of installation during the first week of May, DV. We'll start coordinating plans with the organ builders and volunteers to see how best to manage all of the many tasks involved. Exciting and challenging times ahead as we try to complete this project - something most of us have never done before.

Anyone feeling like helping out (no expertise required), please contact me or any member of the organ committee. You can also just post a comment here.

Thanks.

hjl

The pipes are here - for the facade that is!

The pipes to be used in our facade have arrived at our church building and are sitting there waiting to be used and installed into the facade once we're ready for that. Thanks to the Marissens' for picking them up from Edmonton and thanks to the Providence CanRC for letting us have them at such an unbeatable price! We promise to put them to good use. We'll be looking for some help to get them spiffed up and ready to install in due time.

Here are a few excerpts from Jack's email describing the 'adventure' they had in picking them up, etc.

"Well, the pipes were off-loaded last evening. Aubrey & I used the fork lift and some muscle power to get them into the multi-purpose room of the church. The off-loading went well with no difficulties.

Loading up on Monday evening was quite an experience. All the pipes, except for the 4 biggest ones, were all still mounted in the front of the church. However at 7:00 PM, the appointed time, about 10 volunteers showed up and the dismantling began. It quickly became evident that I was over prepared in all the materials I needed to pack the pipes. The Styrofoam was useless as it added too much thickness to the packing. Cutting slots for the pipes in the Styrofoam proved unmanageable and unnecessary. The pipes were very light and simply wrapping them in bubble wrap proved to be sufficient for packing. The upper pipes in each shipping carton would not be too heavy as to cause problems with the lower pipes. (Of course I haven’t opened the boxes here in Aldergrove to see if my theory proved right)

The 10 volunteers proved to be very efficient at dismantling and inundating Wilma & I with pipes. The loading process, with the buttoning up the shipping crates and tying down the crates, proved to take about an hour. Boy, did Wilma & I work to keep up with the volunteers.

Several of the pipes proved to be longer than the shipping crates so some modifications of the crate had to be done as well … we simply removed an end of the crate and the pipes stuck out for the trip back. Rest assured they were wrapped well with bubble wrap.

The trip there and back was uneventful. The truck was a pleasure to drive and proved to be not too costly on fuel."

We may have some pictures up soon to show you part of the dismantling process at least. Stay tuned.

More pipes are coming!

Yes, it's true. We've been able to secure pipes to put into our facade from the Providence church in Edmonton. Since they're replacing their organ and will no longer need them, they've let us have them. We thank them for their generosity. We have someone willing to go there in a couple of weeks to pick them up and bring them back here in a crate (to be built yet). It will truly be a pan-Canadian organ. Originally built in Ontario and transported here, assembled (soon) in BC with a facade mostly from Alberta.

We're eagerly awaiting the start of the assembly process (somewhat delayed due to the building not being quite ready for it).

hjl

Facade for new organ

Here is the proposed facade for the new organ in our church. Have a look at it and see what you think. Comments are always welcome.

hjl

2010 - Year of the Organ Building

2010 is the year we're supposed to complete the building of the church and the Organ Project can actually get underway as well. This should be an exciting and busy time approaching. Soon I'll be able to post a sketch of the proposed facade.

I've had discussions with the organ builder and they'll be able to get started right after Easter which means early April. In the meantime, we need to get the work crew organized and do some orientation in terms of what is involved in a pipe organ. We're also pursuing getting some pipes to use for the facade. We don't have any suitable pipes in the organ that would lend themselves to being part of the facade and still be functional as well.

If you're reading this and are a member of our congregation (or even if you're not) and you'd like to help with this project, please let me know.

hjl

Organ project update - October

Time for another update to the blog. It's 2009 and the building of our new church is proceeding well (check out our church's website for pictures). This means that the time for thinking and planning more seriously for the installation of the organ is here. We'll soon have a meeting with the architect to discuss some ideas for the facade. We've also been talking to various people locally to see if they'd be willing to help with the eventual installation. A work crew needs to be assembled and organized for the time we're ready to move the pieces out of storage and getting them ready for installation.

In the meantime, we're still looking for donations to help pay for the organ purchase as well as possibly for the installation (although an amount has been set aside for that on the budget). If you'd like to help support this project, please check out the details of the Adopt a Pipe fundraiser on this page.

At this time I'd also like to congratulate the American Reformed Church in Lynden, WA which recently acquired a restored pipe organ in their church when they did their recent renovations. I hope to hear it and perhaps play on it one of these days.

Time for an Update

It's hard to believe it's been this long since the last posting. Not a lot has happened since then, but I thought it would be good to update the blog, even if just for recording purposes. The major thing that has occurred during the past year is an "organ transplant". This refers to the fact that we needed to move all of the organ components from its initial facility to a new one due to the owners needing the space. This has occurred on July 12th and all the pieces are now securely stored in one area, waiting for the final transfer to the new church building once we reach that stage (in 2009).

In the meantime, I've also had one meeting with Northern Organs in Ontario when I was there on personal business in June of this year. We reviewed the questions asked by the architect of the church building and discussed timing of the installation and facade requirements as well.

A meeting of the committee is scheduled next week and we hope to get some more concrete plans in place on the installation and some fundraising ideas as well.

If you're visiting this blog and reading this message, please consider a donation to this project before the end of the year so you can benefit from a tax receipt.

Let us know if you have any questions or wish to volunteer to help out with the installation project when the time comes.

We also want to congratulate the Langley Canadian Reformed Church on the completion of the installation of their new organ this year. A wonderful addition to the rank of church organs in the Fraser Valley. May it serve to promote the love of music and the worship of the Lord for many generations to come.