19th July 2012 - 12.30 Lunchtime Concert
on the restored 18th century Thomas Parker Pipe Organ
John Belcher
organist of Godalming Parish Church
organist of Godalming Parish Church
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John Belcher, organ
After studying at the Royal College of Music and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, JOHN BELCHER has held various church appointments. As a student, he was Organist of Knockholt Parish Church, after which he became successively Organist of Holy Trinity, Folkestone, Assistant Organist of Chester cathedral, Organist of St.Peter's, Bournemouth (during which time he also taught at Winchester College), Organist & Master of the Choristers of St.Asaph Cathedral and then of Tewkesbury Abbey before moving to Godalming in 1996.
John has given recitals at many important venues in Britain, and for several years he played at the Haslemere Festival. He has made recordings on the organs of Tewkesbury Abbey and Godalming Parish Church. For nearlt twenty years he was an Examiner with the Associated Board of the Royals Schools of Music and he was for a time Organ Adviser to the Diocese of Portsmouth.
In 2008 John was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of the Guild of Church Musicians for his "great contribution to church music over many years".
Thomas Parker Pipe Organ of 1786
Any concert in which the restored 18th century Thomas Parker Pipe Organ is played has to acknowledge the instrument as one of the stars of the occasion. The parishioners and people of Leatherhead are justly proud of this historic instrument, and of the efforts they put into the fund-raising and many other arrangements for its restoration.
There is a great deal of coverage of the restoration project and of the history of organs in this church on the parish website at: www.parishchurch.leatherheadweb.org.uk.
