Teacher's organ-stop tour

Mr Nixon will start the tour at Durham Cathedral

A music teacher is to play every cathedral organ in England in just over a week.

Christopher Nixon, 26, a teacher at Bankfield Primary School in Eston near Middlesbrough, plans to play 56 cathedral organs at a rate of about eight per day.

The musical tour, which begins at Durham Cathedral on Thursday, will finish in Middlesbrough on 26 October.

Mr Nixon told BBC News Online: "We went to Liverpool on Sunday which was fantastic - it has the biggest organ in the country.

'Feel the music'

"The place was shaking, that's the beauty of the real organ, you can feel the music, it is not just a hearing thing.

"It was amazing - I played for half-an-hour and they were very accommodating."

The school teacher will drive a Mercedes A-class car down the east coast of England to Canterbury and then to London, stopping at St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey before coming back via Bristol.

The sponsored tour will then include Liverpool, Manchester, Carlisle and Newcastle.

All the money raised will go towards the BBC's Children in Need appeal.

Record books

Mr Nixon said: "Someone keeps ringing up to say they have found another cathedral.

"It will certainly be enjoyable, but we will do 300 miles per day, so it will be hard work, but very exciting.

"It's not in the Guinness Book of World Records yet so they are considering making it a record. I am waiting for their response."

Hotels, food, and fuel for the tour have all been provided by sponsors and it is hoped that at least £2,000 can be raised.

The organ music which will be played includes Bach, Wesley, and Rutter, and the attempt will end when the teacher's own school choir joins him again at Middlesbrough's Roman Catholic Cathedral.