Hello from the fire committee, the session and trustees!
This is a screenshot of our join meeting via zoom this past Saturday. It is amazing that in spite of the fire and virus quarantine, Calvary continues to move forward. This is the second joint meeting of the entire group and the fire committee has had many zoom meeting over the weeks since we have been hold up at home. Though these are difficult times the technology available allows us to keep in touch and continue to work. Once again I suggest you use it to keep in touch with friends and loved ones. There are many choices, FaceTime, Skype, Zoom … please don’t let the quarantine keep you alone and lonely.
The fire committee continues its work to get the insurance company on board with the necessary restoration of the Skinner Organ. Through the excellent communication skills of Luke P and Peter S we were able to get the company to send out a new appraiser and organ expert, Stephen J Russell of the Russell Organ Co of Chester, VT. On Thursday, Peter, Luke and I had a good, long and thorough visit with Stephen. He had an opinion much closer to our expectations than the original submitted by Art Conservation/Odell. He poked into the console, looked at the pipes as much as he could and had the extra benefit of being able to look down on the pipes from the scaffolding. We also visited the blower bellows which he indicated the leather in them would need to be replaced. This is something that no one else has mentioned. He was completely in agreement with what we believe needs to be done to get our instrument back to pre-fire condition. (Odell also stated this when he was at the church but then changed his statements completely when he reported to the insurance company. I was smart this time and recorded our conversations with Stephen! We have no reason to believe Stephen will change like Odell did but at least this time we have proof of his statements.) His report will be sent to the insurance company and with any luck we will be able to get Foley Baker (our organ company) started on the dismantling of the instrument for transfer to their facility for the complete cleaning and restoration. Peter has covered the organ console in plastic sheeting in the meanwhile to help protect it from further dust collection. Here are some photo taken during the visit.
A deposit has been sent and received by Schulmerich Handbell company and we are now on the waiting list for our bells to be cleaned and restored from any smoke damage. It is unclear when the bells will be completed, but we can’t have rehearsals for some time at this point, based on the condition of the sanctuary and the restrictions the Covid virus has caused. (It would be a bit difficulty to keep the choir together with 6 feet between the ringers. There are 9 of us – that would mean we would be taking up 54 feet of space!). I will be contacting Malmark Company next week to arrange for the cleaning of our choir chimes and let you know how that goes.
Keep our Facebook Live Sunday Service at 9 am on Sunday with Zoom fellowship to follow. Meanwhile our special music for the Memorial Day Weekend is the Calvary Ringers playing the National Anthem. This was recorded at a Renegades Baseball game last year. On YouTube here, or on the website here.
I hope you have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend,