Mighty Compton Organ Restoration

One of the greatest assets of The Plaza is The Mighty Compton Organ that was installed in 1932 and has entertained generations of audiences for over 90 Glorious Years.

There have been many areas of restoration of the Organ over the years however a number of decades ago an incident occured where the cable that connected the console to the Organ Chambers sustained some damage and although a repair was actioned this had lead to intermittent faults that as the years went on became more prevelant.

We are so fortunate in The Plaza to have a dedicated team who lovingly maintain The Mighty Compton Organ supported by our Technical Manager Rosie Holdaway and the decision as part of our ongoing Maintenance and Restoration of The Plaza was taken to retain almost a full month in the venues diary as ‘Dark’ with no events or shows so that extensive repairs could take place.

The Plaza Organ is estimated to be the busiest ‘working’ Cinema Organ in the country due to the amount of performances it delivers under the expert musicianship of our magnificent Organists therefore the labour of love to replace the cabling and upgrade the workings of the Organ commenced.

To ensure that this Heritage Instrument was fully restored in the ethos of our venue restorations, cabling was sourced and in place of alternative ‘modern’ options such as linking the console digitally to the Organ chamber, the entire copper cabling was replaced with thousands of individual cables that were soldered into place using the exact methods undertaken by the Organ Builders of John Compton who installed the Organ in 1932.

More works are scheduled for this triumphant instrument throughout the forthcoming weeks and we will be delighted to share our updates with you.