Last Saturday, The Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust held a Christmas Coffee morning to celebrate the festive period.

Guests were invited to the mini-theatre in Eccles for a pre Christmas coffee morning on Saturday 7 December.

The Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust on Alexandra Road, Eccles, is home to the Wurlitzer and Compton Theatre organs which have been restored and reinstalled by members of the organisation.

Frank Thornton, who is a member of the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust and volunteer, said: “It’s a body formed in 1968, mainly to save the organ at the Odeon on Manchester Oxford Road.

“Along the years that have followed, we’ve gradually got more organs. We’ve ended up with the old Gaumont organ that ended up in Granada Studios, that’s now in Folly Farm.”

Frank said that the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust building was purchased by the organisation in 2003 in order to create their own mini-theatre in a 1920s style.

He said: “2006 was the official opening of the building.

“Since then we’ve now installed the Compton organ that used to be in the Davenport in Stockport.”

Frank was among the group that originally took the Compton organ out of the Davenport theatre in Stockport 20 years ago, where the organ had been kept in storage.

“The trustees, which I’m a member of, decided that it needed to be installed somewhere rather than just going to pieces in storage.

“So, we decided in 2017 to install it here alongside the Wurlitzer so that we had two organs playing.”

Walter Baker, the Chairman of the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust said: “The trust itself is a charitable organisation.

“We have a building here in Peel Green, Eccles, where every week, every Wednesday lunchtime we have a short concert of organ music played by different organists each week.

“We are a charity, all our funds come from people coming in to pay and listen to the music, all from subscriptions and memberships.”

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