Cornwall villagers are looking for a new home for their rare chapel organ

The operators of a Cornwall town hall are looking for a new home for an organ in their former Methodist chapel, which needs work to improve the community space.

The organ in the former Nanstallon Methodist Church was installed in 1923 and was built by local firm J Trudgian & Son of St Dennis.

When the chapel itself closed, the locals rallied to find enough money to buy it and create their hall.

They said they were working to find a new home for the instrument, believed to be one of only six of its type to survive, and didn’t want it to “go into a tailspin”.

John Trudgian had established the Mid-Cornwall Organ Factory in 1888 and the firm flourished until the 1930s.

Mr Trudgian Senior died in 1925 and his son John Junior died in 1932.

Of 29 organs made by them, only six are believed to have survived.

Nanstallon Community Trust was formed in August 2022 and £200,000 was raised to pay for the former Methodist Church in December 2023.

Sheila Trethewey, treasurer of Nanstallon Community Trust, said the organ was the centerpiece of the building.

She said: “We would love to go to a new home where we feel he will play. It will certainly not go in a leap”.

The organ separates the main building from a large kitchen at the back, and administrators said this meant they could only fit a limited number of people inside the former church.

Trustee Linda Farnham said: “We have a village where there is no shop, no pub, no central base.

“A few of us in the village set up a charity to raise funds to buy it. With all the help and support, we succeeded”.

Of the organ, she said it was “a head and heart thing.”

She said, “The heart is, I love the organ. But if we keep it here, it won’t play; it will rot, and it will be such a shame.”