Music and Classical Concerts
See below for our list of concerts this 2026.
These are updated as new items are booked. Our News section on the Home page will have further details for some of the concerts.
Musical Events for 2026
The Herdwyck Consort: 6pm Good Friday, 3rd April
Simeon Walker (his own modern classical piano compositions): 6pm Saturday 2nd May
Professor Leonard Sanderman: organ recital: 12noon Wednesday 27th May
Local Organist Entertains: 6pm on some Monday evenings in July and August
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The above programme may change; for the latest update please contact:
Mike Town
miketown66@gmail.com 017687-72433 07710-936-951
Every week St Patricks is filled with the wonderful sound of our magnificent organ. Here is a short history.
The organ in St. Patrick’s was originally built in 1866 by the great ‘Father’ William Hill, a leading Victorian organ builder, for the Marshall family’s large house near Leeds. It was moved to another Marshall house near Coniston, before being installed in St. Patrick’s up in the ‘first floor’ gallery above the old choir vestry in 1891 by Hill’s son, Thomas. When it was decided to add on the new vestry in 1905, Hill and Wilkinson of Kendal both tendered for the job but it went to the local builder, who built the new console at chancel floor level and a new case but retained Hill’s pipework. At the same time, the original mechanical (‘tracker’) action was replaced with tubular pneumatic action, which, at the time, was thought to be a good idea, but has, since then, been abandoned in new organs because the extensive leather, on which it relies, suffers badly in damp climatic conditions, such as The Lake District.
Wilkinson did some more work on it in 1934 (an electric blower and balance swell pedal were added) and Rushworth & Dreaper of Liverpool did some remedial work in 1981. However, with all the problems of water penetration in and around the tower in the previous 20 years, the pneumatic action had become extremely unreliable and became unplayable by the middle of 2012.
Estimates were obtained from 5 organ specialists and Andrew Carter, who has done many fine organ restorations across the north of England, was chosen to rebuild our organ and make some significant improvements. He and his colleagues dismantled the organ in October 2012, did extensive work to clean and repair the pipes and soundboards as well as electrifying the action, before returning it to the church in the spring of 2013.
All the original 646 pipes are included in the rebuilt instrument, with some new ones, including Trumpet, Swell Fifteenth, Great Mixture and Pedal Bourdon stops, bringing the total to 996. With the electric action has come a set of “combination pistons” which allows organists to change stops much more quickly and easily, and add considerable versatility to its use, whether for services, concerts, or accompanying choirs. At the same time, the lighting in the organ chamber has been considerably improved and new walkways added to improve access for maintenance and tuning purposes.
Mike Town
