Renovations for a unique 90-year-old theatre organ used for singalongs and silent movies, as well as by schools, have been given a financial boost from the council.

The Compton Organ is used for public events at Thorngate Halls, Bury Road, and Gosport Borough Council’s grants sub-board approved a £10,000 grant from its heritage fund.

The organ, built in 1934, needs a total of £39,100 for refurbishing parts that are failing due to age. Gosport and District Organ Club, which asked the council for £25,000, wants to ensure it remains a unique example of 1930s design by retaining its original features. 

The application said: “It provides employment for professional organists. The public are invited to play at club meetings. Contacts with Bay House School and St Vincent College have brought us some promising new players.

“It makes Thorngate Halls a uniquely attractive venue for festivals and concerts.” 

Graham Benzeval, from the organ club, said the silent movie events are proving very popular with 120 then 150 people attending the last two events. The Sunday lunchtime concerts bring trade to the hall that benefits from selling food and beverages to customers.

The club has already raised some money for work on the organ overhaul. The replacement cable work of £1,000 has been crowdfunded and £1,800 for replacing the relay has come from the Theatre Club of Great Britain.

The Compton Cinema Organ was used at the Gaumont in Woodgreen, London before being moved to Uxbridge Technical College to train students, said the applicant.

Mr Benzeval added the university used to train technicians on the organ because the connecting cable with 800 wires that join to the console is much like finding and fixing a problem on a telephone exchange.

He said it was then moved to Thorngate Hall in 1981 when the college no longer used it after everything was digitised.

The council board heard how the Thorngate organ is “unique” because it still operates in its original way and is one of two surviving organs. It was one of three of its kind – one got destroyed in the WWII blitz, and one is the chapel organ in Wormwood Scrubs prison in London but has been digitised. 

For more information, email gosportorgan@gmail.com.

The council’s heritage fund was set-up to protect heritage assets in Gosport and each individual bid can be for up to £50,000. Bids can be for removing property from the ‘Heritage at Risk’ register, improving a heritage asset, improving sustainability and tackling climate change, creating employment or enhancing public access or interpretation.