A MAJOR restoration is under way of an historical 19th century organ.

The Forster & Andrews pipe organ, dating from about 1877, has been taken to Liverpool where it is being restored by Henry Willis & Sons, before it is reinstated at the Wesley Centre in Malton.

Fundraising is taking place to pay the work, which also has the support of David Liddle, a British concert organist and composer.

“It is marvellous to know that this historic instrument will be heard again,” said Paul Emberley, the trustee and development lead at the Wesley Centre.

“The Forster & Andrew pipe organ was the first instrument on which the famed blind-from-birth Yorkshire man, organist and composer, Alfred Hollins, first learned to play the organ, before becoming a global super-star of his era, dubbed Alfred the Great.

“We are calling upon Malton and the wider Yorkshire community to donate to help with the restoration.”

Taking centre stage at the Royal Normal College, in Norwood, the instrument was played by many musicians until the Second World War.

After the organ was moved into safe storage, it was installed into a parish church in Hailsham, East Sussex, in 1955.

Preventing the organ being exported overseas or scrapped altogether, the team at the Wesley Centre is fundraising to give the instrument a new lease of life, renaming it the Alfred Hollins Organ.

“This historic organ will be coming home to Yorkshire,” said Paul.

“It will have pride of place within the Wesley Centre’s Grade II listed building, which is currently undergoing a £1.9m transformation, but sensitive to its heritage.

“Alongside being the heartbeat of a vibrant community in Malton, we are partly re-purposing the Wesley Centre as a fine classical concert venue, and a place for the whole community to use.

“We expect that the reinstatement of such a magnificent instrument will inspire young people to take up the organ; an estimated 750 young people in the UK still play, something we want to change.”