Some older readers may remember Cyril Ashwood, once organist at St George’s Clun. Cyril on his retirement from teaching at Bishops Castle bought a very fine, Italian-
mitted to measure the dimensions of the doors of their respective houses. Dismantling Andrew’s porch enabled the organ eventually to leave Clunton, but Lawrence’s front door defied all attempts to get it in, and so it lodged in his garage. Lawrence cast around for a suitable church to donate the organ to, and Andrew recalled that Chapel Lawn’s old harmonium, which he fondly remembers playing for Sunday afternoon evensong in the early 1980s, had reached the end of its useful life. So it was that the organ was offered to St Mary’s, Chapel Lawn.
Di Cosgrove arranged for a few people to drive to Newtown to try the organ out. They reported back that it was amazing, and far better than the smaller one that had been hurriedly installed for Di and Patrick’s wedding ten years ago because the mice had put paid to the old harmonium. The Parochial Church Council met and agreed that they should accept Lawrence’s generous offer and the Viscount should be brought across. But there was one very significant problem. It is not just heavy. It is extremely heavy! 
Problem solved in the shape of four strong farmers and a stock trailer. On 27th September, a fabulously sunny day, a party consisting of James Middleton, Steven Wilding, Tony Oakley, Robert Price, and Patrick and Di Cosgrove drove to Newtown to collect the Viscount. Lawrence was delighted to meet everyone and played his other organ to them in his front room before the hard work began. With a lot of heaving, pushing and shoving, it just fitted in the trailer. Getting it out at the other end and into the church was equally tricky, but they managed it. The same evening, Andrew Buckley drove across to show Patrick how to set it up.
Herefordshire Careline -
Careline is a 24-
For more information please speak to the Careline team on 01432 384100 or download a printable leaflet.
Herefordshire Careline is run by the Independence Trust, part of the Herefordshire Housing Group.
2018
Saturday 11th November Joncan Kavlakoglu Fusion Guitarist plus Jack Brett and Guests
Last night was a sell out and a huge success. We have had so much positive feedback about every aspect of the evening, it is very heartening. People love our venue and they were stunned by the talent of the musicians last night. It’s great that we are able to put on events like that that are really appreciated.
A big thank you to those who helped. As well as putting on a great evening for the community we have also managed to make £190 for the Village Hall Funds.
Christine Rogers
November 2017
LOCAL CO-
We have just heard the fantastic news that the Village Hall has been awarded £1765.01 towards the Redlake Valley Hall Outdoor Enhancement Project, part of the Macturk Fund. The money has been raised over the last six months or so by Co-
Also, recently, the final tally from the Chapel Lawn Woodland Fair, a princely sum of £2,418, has been split equally between the Redlake Valley Community Benefit Society, the Village Hall and St Mary’s Church
The Society’s Treasurer, Anthony Morgan, is seen here presenting cheques for £806 to Becky Sherman on behalf of the Village Hall and Barry Palmer for the church.
The Co-
The entrance to the Village Hall in 2016 before any improvement work was started
The entrance to the Village Hall now; the new tarmac driveway, the table/banches, the freshly painted frontage and the smart new sign. Thanks to Mr Macturk’s bequest for starting us on this project. (See News 2016/17)
October 2018
From this web page it looks as though there has been nothing happening in Chapel Lawn for the last 11 months, though in reality there is plenty going on. The lack of news here is partly because most of the newsworthy items have been covered elsewhere; as with the Broadband Super-
Recently however, the front wall of the Village Hall has been repainted, the doors and window sills varnished and a smart new sign has replaced a rather scruffy notice board. I think that this now completes the refurbishment of the entrance to the Village Hall and as you can see from the photos below, the improvement is 100% !
The other piece of news is the arrival of a new church organ; well, not ‘new’, but new to us and a huge improvement on the old one; the harmonium which had become home to mice and the ‘Hammond’ organ, which has been a stand in for the last 10 years. Patrick recounts the story:
As well as its own internal speakers, it has two whopping external speakers each with its own power supply. Andrew played the national anthem while Patrick fiddled with wires and cables and walked up and down the church to get an idea of how much volume is required and where best to place the external speakers. Two days later, Wayne Davies nervously agreed to play it at Harvest Festival (although not at full volume!). He did a good job and it sounded great. There’s still a bit of adjustment required to get the full benefit of the speakers, but it really is a tremendous sound and a real asset to the church. 
One of the church’s regular organists, Lindsay Bayles, played it the following Sunday and declared the sound first class. It will be interesting now to see how much interest it creates and if it will bring visitors to the church.
Arrangements are already in hand for a concert on Saturday, 11th May next year.
For the musically or technically minded, the organ is a three manual and pedal organ, sampled digitally from organs in Italy. Supported by two external speakers its volume would be well capable of filling a cathedral. State of the art in the early 1990s, it has been lightly used and should enhance the worship at St Mary’s for many years to come.
Co-