St George’s Cathedral is the Anglican Cathedral of Freetown and the seat of the Bishop of Freetown.
This website is designed to give information on the restoration work on the main Hill Norman & Beard organ, and a little background to the music of the Cathedral.
St George’s Cathedral is fortunate to have two organs, the original Hill organ and the more recently acquired Hill Norman & Beard organ.
The Hill organ is now an old lady, and really needs some restoration herself. The recent trip has enabled some rudimentary maintenance to keep it functioning and a much needed tuning. It sounds much better, but is still a challenge to play at times, hopefully in the future a restoration will be possible.
The Hill Norman & Beard organ is much large, and has sadly suffered from a number of issues related to its relocation. More details will follow, however, the dismantling and relocation any organ often causes disturbance and decay in leather and wood parts, and electrical connections too. These can become unreliable over a short time after installation in the new venue.
Freetown has another climatic issue as well as a great deal of dust. This coupled to the blower being installed in a cage outside has meant that huge amounts of dust and debris have been sucked into all parts of the organ, causing significant blockages and damage to leather parts.
This has added to the quicker than expected degradation of the organ bringing it to the condition it is now in.
However, this does not mean the end of the organ, but an opportunity to put right the problems, prepare the organ for many decades of service, and train people up to be able to maintain it in the future.
Both the restoration of the organ and the training of personnel go hand-in-hand, and the opportunity this provides for the future of a living breathing instrument in St George’s also provides for the future of many more organs in Freetown, in Sierra Leone, and in wider West Africa.
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