Music plays a central part in our worship and in the wider life of Holy Trinity. The 25 member SATB choir leads the worship at our 9.30am Sung Eucharist and at Choral Evensong on the first Sunday of the month, while the classically-based Music Group comes into its own on the second Sunday at our more informal ‘In the Round’ services.

Church music is only one aspect of our music-making. Holy Trinity makes a stunning venue for concerts of all sorts and is frequently used by many of the top choirs and instrumental groups in the local area. Keep an eye on the church website for the many concerts taking place each year.

Holy Trinity’s Organ

The Holy Trinity organ was built and installed in 1926 by the famous organ building firm, Henry Willis and Sons, Ltd. At this time, Henry Willis III was in charge of the firm and he was very proud of the Holy Trinity instrument. Though a three manual instrument from the start, the pipework for the choir organ wasn’t installed until 1933. In 1926, the Willis firm were exceptionally busy. Their magnum opus five manual organ in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and the famous organ in Westminster Cathedral both date from this time as do several smaller instruments like ours. In addition, the organ in St Paul’s Cathedral underwent a great deal of reconfiguring when the dome was declared unsafe, so it is something of a miracle that the firm found time to build at organ for Holy Trinity. In the years before, Henry had visited the USA and came back with a number of new ideas for organ construction which he tried on our new organ. The organ console has draw stops on each side and also stop tabs along the rail between the Swell manual and the music desk. This is very much a hallmark of a Willis organ of this era.

When the time came for the whole church to be refurbished in 2016, the organ was taken down and sent to the Durham workshops of Harrison and Harrison for cleaning and renovation. New slider soundboards with electro-pneumatic action were fitted, two new stops added, and provision made for four further stops. It was returned in 2017 with a beautifully extended case with newly gilded pipes, a mobile console and sounding better than ever, and we haven’t looked back.

If you would like to read more about the organ, please email beneficeoffice@htboa.org or visit: http://www.harrisonorgans.com/gallery/archived-completed-work/completed-2017/bradford-on-avon-holy-trinity/

You can hear Martin, Holy Trinity’s Director of Music, on YouTube warming up with lots of favourites for a marathon playthrough of every hymn in the hymnbook which took place on Saturday, 29 January 2022.

Episode 1: https://youtu.be/QuWTzytRkPI

Episode 2: https://youtu.be/0dJHkKCm9ZI

Episode 3: https://youtu.be/xD443kGxYww