American Guild of Organists

Organ Crawl

On Monday, January 17th, the New Haven Chapter of the American Guild of Organist held it’s annual Organ Crawl.

We started at 9:00 a.m. at the Orange Congregational  Church to view a power point presentation on the new organ that is presently being installed by the C.S. Odell Organ Company of East Hampton, Ct. We then traveled to the West Haven Congregational Church  to play the A. David Moore tracker instrument. Next we came to Mt. Carmel Congregational Church where we had lunch in the Parish House. Leon and Debbie helped with the drinks and making coffee for the group. Harley had provided more information on the organ for us to view in the Parish House. We spent an hour and a half playing our organ, a small Hook & Hasting hybrid organ installed in 1980.

We then went to St. Francis RC Church on Ferry Street in New Haven to hear a wonderful Hook and Hasting instrument that originally had been located in the Davenport Congregational Church in Wooster Square. We ended the Organ Crawl at Worthington Hooker School where the organ is still playable in the former First Church of Christ, Scientist that is now the auditorium for the school.

A treat at the end of the day was dinner at Mory’s and being serenaded by the Whiffinpoofs.

Lynda Pedersen

Organist/Choir Director