Yet another final final final final final final final decision from our town council:  

"Town Hall Council decision is scheduled for the 11 June 2015. There will be a public debate, followed by the decision on whether the Christchurch town council wish to proceed or not in a private afternoon meeting." 

I'm getting used to these anxious waits resulting in what appears to be yet another final decision about the fate of the town hall. Seems people are very reluctant to just go ahead. Let's hope this is simply the aftermath of the tender process. 

Watch this space for news about the town hall on June 11, 2015.

The old maxim "one a day" serves me well when it comes to transferring items from the old site to this new one. In fact, I find it rather therapeutic and enjoy re-reading David Bridgeman-Sutton's whimsical journeys into a fascinating range of topics. I've just finished the 7th item from 2004 where he deals with the dreaded Barker Lever in two articles; fascinating. (But I'm appalled at how much I have forgotten since reading them only 11 years ago.) Do read these Musing and Amusing articles - they are short and good for musing on - hence the title! 
Meanwhile, I admit to trying to do some tidying up of old files and boxes and despite the slow progress, it has been quite a treasure hunt. One of the goodies I found was this delightful old cartoon. I have no idea of the artist, but it is brilliant - and another confession, I have often thought of it when going to an organ concert. Do note the old vinyl records and player in the loft - -that gives a clue to the age of it!  Tine to iron the cat.

Hearty congratulations to the winners of "Dem Himmel Nahe" , Peter H. in Hanmer Springs, NZ, and Christoph G. in Erlangen, Germany. They will each receive a copy of the book shortly. 

Commiserations to all those who entered but missed out this time. There will be other competitions, so stay tuned. Bets of all subscribe to our occasional newsletter so we can let you know when the next competition is coming up. 

And if you'd still like a book, visit Pipeline Press for ordering options. They would be happy to help!

2006 is done - well, that's as far as Musings and Amusings article goes, anyway. I've finally finished transferring all those from 2006 up to the most recent. What a variety are there! Cars, Otto Von Bismarck, Christmas recipes, theatre organs and how to get your organ pipes 12,000 to the other side of the world. Do go and have a fossick among these delightful single-page musings from David Bridgeman-Sutton. More to come from 2005 and beyond, soon. (PS: and have you entered the competition yet?)

Today I'm celebrating the launch of my book of photographs of organs and ceilings, published by Dr J. Butz Musikverlag of Bonn, under the German title "Dem Himmel nahe ~ Faszinierende Blicke auf Orgeln und Gewoelbe"; in other words "Looking up at organs and ceilings! 

This trilingual volume with hard cover and a dust jacket has photos of more than 50 organs from 4 continents spanning 5 centuries, and a copy is there for you to win if you enter the competition. It's free to enter and details are on the competition page. But hurry as entries must be in by the end of Tuesday May 5th. 

ENTER HERE

This has to be a record: today I created a page full of online organ jigsaw puzzles for www.nzorgan.com and didn't stop to play with a single one. Oh well, alright then, maybe just one. Ok, so you're being picky - yes, yes, it was probably more like two. Three if you count the teensy one. But no more. Honest. :-)
So there you have them, on this organ jigsaw page which is part of www.nzorgan.com. Jigidi.com is the marvellous website which hosts such things but it can be very difficult to find specific subjects, which is why I decided to make a collection of merely a handful of puzzles which feature pipe organs - or parts of pipe organs. If I can resist temptation again, I'll add more pages of jigsaws from my Jigidi collection to this website. Remember that it is free to sign up to Jigidi, and well worth it, because you can save your puzzles for later. That's especially helpful when you are dealing with a 350-piece monster.