So, a hundred years after the original work and almost thirty years after the Willis rebuild, what is the future of the organ? Bunbury is certainly fortunate in having an organ in such good condition and well looked after by the firm of David Wells of Liverpool (who look after the organs in all the cathedrals and large churches in the North West). Many churches now face having to decide whether to replace an ageing, ailing organ with a much cheaper Electronic version. This is not a problem that Bunbury should have to face - hopefully.
Certainly we should be thinking about preventative maintenance such as cleaning during the next few years. There are changes to the sound and layout which would be of advantage. The organ lacks the ability to lead a full church (although we probably only get a church full 5 or 6 times a year, admittedly). The changes made in 1968 probably swapped weight for brightness - some weight could be restored with relatively simple changes. We may also have to carry out some maintenance on the console which contains technology of the nineteen-sixties which will undoubtedly start to fail within the next ten years.
As can be seen from the stop namings (predominantly German) the 1968 rebuild was strongly influenced by the Neo-Classical revival popular during the 1950’s and 1960’s. The change of tone from weight to brightness is characteristic of this style of organ building. The organ is, however, quite adequate for reasonable performance of all styles and periods of Organ music as well as the leading of the music in the worship (its primary activity). The pedal department, though superficially impressive, is significantly based on only two main ranks of pipework. The weakest section of the organ is probably the Positive organ, perpendicular to the console, which tends to dominate the tone colour of the organ as heard in the Nave of the Church. Herein is the main problem of the Organ, that of the main use of the Nave of the Church whereas it seems that the organ was designed best to be appreciated in the Chancel (which is where it sounds best overall).