Church organ requires £300,000

The church's organ only plays two out of eight notes

St Nicholas' Church in Great Yarmouth is raising funds to repair its dysfunctional organ.

"If I play a little bit on this organ, you can hear it's almost dead," said John Stephens, church organist.

The organ was obtained in 1960 from St Mary Boltons, West Brompton, London, to replace an organ destroyed during World War II.

The church is trying to raise a total of £300,000 to return the organ back to its former glory.

Many church organs need a bit of love and attention here and there, but the organ at St Nicholas' needs much more than that.

"I've been playing here for about 18 years and everyone always says it will collapse in the next year," said John.

"I think we are getting closer and closer to that becoming a distinct possibility," he added.

It's not just the regular organist that has issues with the unpredictability of the instrument.

"It's very difficult to get used to what does work and what doesn't," said Matthew Bond, a visiting organist.

"There's a slight delay - when you press the key the note comes a little bit later, which makes it difficult to play," he added.

Various pipes have been bent and air is escaping from several sets of bellows. Without any attention, the organ has gradually deteriorated and will eventually stop.

"Many of the bellows have been patched, re-patched and re-patched again - one of the pipes has bent over completely," said John.

With only two out of eight notes working on one scale, members of the church will be keen to raise the £300,000 required as soon as possible and a number of fundraising activities have already begun.