STOPS History
The society was established on 29th October 1972 at the opening concert of the Christie Unit Organ (from the Lonsdale Cinema, Carlisle) then installed in Bangour Village Hospital, West Lothian, Scotland. STOPS was the first dedicated Scottish theatre pipe organ orientated society. The first Honorary President was Gerald Shaw, then resident organist at the famed 5/17 Compton organ of the Odeon, Leicester Square, London.
The society promoted regular concerts at Bangour until given notice to vacate the premises in the hospital in 1979, and the organ had to be removed, and due to lack of storage space, was subsequently sold. During its 7 year stay in Bangour, performances were given by many of the world's leading players, to large audiences, members of which traveled considerable distances to hear this incredible little instrument.
 Larry McGuire |
 Gordon Lucas |
During this period STOPS members had taken over the maintenance and upgrading of the two remaining pipe organs in cinemas in Edinburgh. These were the HiLSDON 3/35 Orchestral Pipe Organ of the Playhouse Theatre, Edinburgh and the little 2/4 Ingram organ of the Astoria Cinema, Corstorphine, Edinburgh.
Founding STOPS members Gordon Lucas(1935 - 2002) and Larry McGuire were resident organists at the Playhouse and Astoria organs respectively, with Larry moving over to join the Playhouse team as Deputy Organist when policy changed at the Astoria, and the organ there was taken out of regular use.
The Astoria Cinema closed in 1974, and was soon demolished, the little gem of an organ was saved. After removal, it unfortunately suffered various losses over the years from different owners, but at least the console, relays, pipework and percussions, were intact. Although it is still in storage, under the present owner it has a good chance of being installed and playing again in the near future.
The Playhouse Theatre had closed as a cinema a year earlier than the Astoria but was soon reopened for live performances, with the organ being played by Larry McGuire at regular periods as preludes or during intervals.
Promoting many concerts at the Playhouse over the years, STOPS regularly had full houses (3300 seats) for the Organ and Variety Concerts, until yet another change of ownership in 1985 brought not only an end to that era, but took the organ out of use.
Subsequently Gordon Lucas and Larry McGuire obtained a suitable property in Greenlaw in 1991 to house their own organ project. This was formed around their 2/8 HiLSDON organ from the Palace Picture House, Princes Street, Edinburgh. Naturally STOPS were soon invited to use this 'music room' as their base.
In 1993, the organ of the Playhouse was donated to STOPS by Apollo Leisure, the current owners of the theatre, with Historic Scotland insisting that to safeguard its future, it should be removed and rebuilt. As the organ had suffered some considerable damage over the previous 8 years it was decided that it should be combined with its 'little sister' in Greenlaw. Thus STOPS is preserving the best of the craftsmanship of the firm of H HiLSDON & Sons of Glasgow in a single unique instrument.
And so, a new phase in STOPS history started as the New Palace Centre was formed from Gordon and Larry's Music Room.