Help us save the historic Scottish organ at Colliston!

The organ at Colliston Church, near Arbroath, is in imminent danger. Built for an unknown location in around 1865-70 by the Edinburgh workshop of D&T Hamilton, it was moved to Colliston in around 1900 by the Dundee organ builder John Miller. Other than a restoration in 1999 which saw the organ gain a Mixture and a Pedal Bourdon, the organ remains unaltered tonally and technically.

The church at Colliston has now closed and will soon become a private dwelling. As the building is unlisted no consent needs to be sought to remove or indeed destroy the organ.

With time ticking, Sowne of Organe is stepping in to rescue the organ. Under the watchful eye of organ builder Andrew MacDonald, a team of volunteers will dismantle the organ and help take it into storage. The organ has been recorded and photographed to produce a prospectus. Sowne will publicise its availability with the ambition of finding it a new home in a public building on Scottish soil where it would be installed, once again by volunteers. This will likely be the subject of a further crowdfunding initiative.

The funds we raise now will be used to

pay the organ builder

pay for van hire

pay for the necessary insurance

pay for PPE

pay for storage for up to two years

Please help us save this piece of Scottish organ building heritage!