The Huron Expositor, 1975-04-17, Page 34two boxes.This gives more
expression, he says,,- with great
swells coming from each box.
Each white nob on the organ
console controls a group of pipes.,
Perhaps three times every year
the pipes are tuned, alwa ys in
winter when the church is kept at
a constant temperature—Christine
Jeffs holds the keys while Greg.
Th omas up in the pipes tunes by
moving the sleeves on the pipes.
The organ works approximately
like , this. When the organist
presses on the keys and pedals of
the console an electric impulse is
sent to the organ case behind the
pipes and screen at the front of
the church (all- redesigned when
the organ was installed in 1947)
-and produces a wind supply to the
pipes.
Organs of this type were made
in a romantic period, Mr. Jeffs
says, and they were supposed to
sound like whole orchestras.
Since about 1958 the organ has
been appreciated for its ovia,..tpnal
perspective. More and more now
we are getting back to the old
style where there is a more direct
connection between the organ
and the sounds that come out of
it.
Mr. Jeffs admits that this
difference is more pronounced to
an organist than to a layman.
The oldest Casavante he has
ever worked on was a tracker
organ, in a church in Wiarton. It
was made about 1876 in the St.
Hyacinthe factory.
After its,, reconditioningjob, the
organ should be good for
"another 25 years", Mr. Jeffs
(Continued on Page 20)
Ontario
Ministry of
Transportation and
Communications John R. Rhodes, Minister
Harold F. Gilbert, Deputy Minister
TITHE HURON EXPOSITOR , APRIL 17, 197519
t4XV.A4t,
4 a !It tit r. y.
First Church ciinii-pOse in front o an earlierorgan, in 1914:
Seaforth's name
(Continued from Page 14)
Country of Fife (on the East coast
of Scotland). Most of the Paftons
lived in Aberdeenshire and along
the eastern coast of Scotlancl,.
Unfortunately, there is no
separate history of the Patton
family and none of our histories of
St. Andrews or of the County of
Fife mentions this Major Andrew
Patton. In Burke's Landed Gentry
for 1882, under Patton of Clayton
Priory there is an entry for Col.
Henry patton, 6th Royal-
Regiment of Clatto, County Fife,
eldest surviving son of Andrew
Patton esquire of Springfield.
Donegal, Ireland, married in 1747
Mary, only surviving child and
heiress of Henry Bethune, of
Clatto and Hydie, County Fife
The lands of Blebo were in 1781
left by Henry Bethune of Clatto to
his sister, Mrs. Patton. There
might be a link here, but we can
trace ,nothing to substantiate this
possibility."
First Church
Organ gets-refurbished
Church music and church
organs have come a long way
since the 1914 Old Boys Reunion,
when, according to the Expositor,
the congregation sang again the.
first hymn that was ever sung in
First , Presbyterian Church in
Sea forth.
The first ,yymn, perhaps not
entirely appropriate for what was
a festive weekend, was "Come Ye
Disconsolate". There have been
many hundreds of -hymns sung.-in
First Church since then and since
about 1947 hymns have been
accompanied by oncof the finest
-pipe organs available- - - the
Canadian made casavante.
• For the'first me in more Than
25 years, the Casavante organ has
been completely repaired and
cleaned. Master organ tuner
Leonard Jeffs along with his
daughter Christine and
apprentice ' Greg Smith of St.
Thomas worked for more than two
weeks recently completely
refurbishing the organ.
The approximately 1,050 pipes.
some wood, some metal and
ranging from a foot to a quarter
inch in diameter, were taken out
of their housing in a little room
behind the altar. Moths had been
getting into the felt that lines the
leather discs on the end of the
pipes, causing qie leather tc
collapse and producing -a few
strange noises in the 'church
music.
Mr. Jeffs and his helpers
replaced about 350 of these felts,
using a modern felt which is more
'moth proof. They also wiped out.
the inside of each pipe with soap
and water. The organ parts,
understandably, get pretty dirty
over 28 years but Mr. Jeff says
Seaforth air has been kind to
them. Organs in city churches
have to be refurbished much
oftener because of the wear and
tear that the po lluted smoggy
atmosphere causes.
When Mr. Jeffs was working
on the First Church organ, church
services were held downstairs in
the Sunday School rooms because
parts were set out •all over the
front of the Church.
The Casavante organ , made by
a family owned firm in St.
Hyacinthe, Quebec, cost perhaps
$20,000 when it was purchased in •
1947. At present day prices it is
worth perhaps $50,000..
The organ is electrapneumatic
which means that the sound
comes from a' combination of
electrical current and wind. Mr.
Jeffs, who repaired church organs
for 40 years in England before
coming to Canada 11 years ago,
says the organ is somewhat
unusual because its pipes are in
AT THE KEYBOARD — Christine Jeffs has recently
joined her father in his repairing business. She holds
the keys on pipe organ consoles, while Greg Smith
tunes the pipes. (Staff Photo)