Strictly ballroom as Saltaire organ pipes up (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Strictly ballroom as Saltaire organ pipes up

6:57pm Monday 16th March 2009 in

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It will be strictly come dancing for hundreds of ballroom fans when the world-famous Mighty Wurlitzer organ pipes up for the first time following its £135,000 installation at Victoria Hall, Saltaire.

Two hundred dancers will mark the end of the project to convert the stage of the historic hall to make way for thousands of feet of pipework needed to allow the Wurlitzer to be played.

The only one of its kind in the district, the organ will be played in public for the first time in 40 years by Blackpool Tower Ballroom’s resident organist Phil Kelsall.

The dance on Saturday has been organised by the Cinema Organ Society (COS).

Society chairman Godfrey Nield said: “Already the experts have been and listened to it and they say it is one of the finest in the country.

“It has been a hell of a job but it is wonderfully satisfying to see it working again.”

The seven-ton musical instrument is worth about £800,000 and was used in the 1930s to accompany films.

It has been in the care of the COS since the 1960s after it was removed from the Ritz ballroom in Brighouse.

The project to bring it to Bradford started in July with a partnership between The Salt Foundation, which owns Victoria Hall, Shipley College and the COS.

The Wurlitzer has been installed on a hydraulic platform, which makes it rise up through the stage when the organist starts to play. On Easter Saturday, Jill Steel, whose late father Reginald Dixon was one of the world’s most famous organists, will cut the ribbon to mark the official opening of the Wurlitzer. Saturday’s concert starts at 7.30pm.

For further information, contact Mr Nield on (01274) 589939.