WORK is set to commence in order to restore a Grade II pipe organ in St Mary’s Church in Great Bedwyn.

The 19th century instrument will have a £35,000 transformation paid for in part from a grant worth £23,200 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The organ was delivered to Great Bedwyn 130 years ago by train, as over 650 individual pipes were taken apart to be moved from Romsey Abbey to St Mary’s Church.

Andrew Hutchinson, of the Great Bedwyn Music Society has campaigned to have the machine restored and regularly plays the organ himself.

The work will take several weeks and include a professionally trained organ builder Geoff Griffiths taking apart the instrument piece by piece and assessing each one for damage.

He said: “There is no way of knowing what we will find when we started to take it apart. If we do this now it will hopefully ensure the organ can continue for another 130 years.

“My hope is that once it is restored it might inspire people to find out about the organ and learn to play. It is very difficult to play because it requires both hands and both feet but once you can it is very rewarding.”