Eccles Congregational Church

20/07/2026

04/06/2026

Eccles Congregational Church are saddened by the tragic death of Henry Nowak and hold his family and friends in our thoughts and prayers.

01/06/2026

Today is the start of national volunteers week and so a good opportunity to say thanks to everyone who makes Eccles Congregational Church run.

There are the obvious roles like the deacons but there are a lot of 'unseen' roles like the secretary, treasurer etc etc etc etc etc. Without these people Eccles Congregational Church would not be able to function so a BIG THANK YOU to all these wonderful people who do these tasks for free and give up their own time to do it.

And of course we say thank you to the many other organisations who would not be able to function without volunteers such as museums, heritage railways, food banks, homeless shelters etc etc etc etc etc.

01/06/2026

At Eccles Congregational Church we:

* Worship
* Pray
* Study the bible

and....

Have a lot of fun as evidenced here at a social event last Saturday night!

And EVERYONE is WELCOME! (And there is no requirement to dance!)

17/05/2026

Last Friday 15th May a few from Eccles Congregational Church went up the road to the wonderful Theatre Organ Heritage Centre in Peel Green owned by The Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust where our organist Chris played both the Wurlitzer and Compton organs there.

As well as being organist at Eccles Congregational Church, Chris is a keen cinema organ enthusiast as well as a huge admirer of Compton organs of all types and has a 1950s Compton 'electrone' organ in his home.

Eccles Congregational Church has a Compton pipe organ also (one of the last pipe organs to be built by Compton in 1964) but it was fascinating to see Chris play a Compton cinema organ and the Wurlitzer as well.

The morning started with the hymn "Love divine" on the Compton with a drum roll and crash cymbal thrown in at the end! Now Chris wants these on the Compton at church! Then we moved into the more typical numbers you expect to hear on cinema organs such as show and pop tunes as well as a couple of light classics. Almost every novelty sound effect on the organs was featured at some point including the Bird Whistle, Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Tambourine and the rare 'melotone' unit on the Compton.

The Wurlitzer was built in 1927 for the Trocadero Cinema in Liverpool before moving to the Gaumont Cinema in Di**le before eventually coming here. The Compton is 10 years younger and built for the Davenport Cinema in Stockport.

As everyone is aware now, the centre is sadly to close at the end of June so we were pleased we were able to visit when we could. We hope and pray that the organs will find new homes where they will continue to entertain people for many years to come.

A BIG thank you to the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust for making last Fridays visit possible.

Photos courtesy of Pat Tibbs.

19/02/2026

We are now in the season of lent and yesterday Eccles organist Chris was on his travels again swopping the Compton organ at Eccles for another Compton of a very different kind! The organ featured is at Fentham Hall in Hampton-in-Arden near Solihull and was originally built in 1935 for the Tower Cinema, West Bromwich.

Here is an appropriate hymn for lent "Forty days and forty nights" with a few little surprises you would not get on a church organ.

Hymns on cinema organs are nothing unusual. Some of the big names from the past such as Dudley Savage and Sandy Macpherson often included a favourite hymn tune or two in the days when cinema organists did radio broadcasts.

Me playing the organ at Fentham Hall in Hampton-in-Arden, Warwickshire. The following information is taken from the Cinema Or...

31/01/2026

Remembering when BBC organist Nigel Ogden visited Eccles Congregational Church to record a few items for "The Organist Entertains" back in about 2017.

One item he recorded was the beautiful "Brother James Air". Unfortunately we do not have the recording he made on our Compton pipe organ here at Eccles but here is Nigel playing this on his Compton electronic organ model 363...

NOTE: this is sound only

29/01/2026

We at Eccles are sad to hear that the brilliant organist Nigel Ogden has passed away.

Nigel was not only presenter of the "The Organist Entertains" radio show for many years but he was an outstanding organist and played at hundreds of churches and cinemas and back in 2018 he visited us here at Eccles Congregational Church and made some recordings on the Compton organ here which were aired on the radio show.

May you rest in peace Nigel and I am sure heaven will be blessed with a superb organist there now to entertain...

00:00 1 Organ Showtime00:17 2 From This Moment On04:25 3 I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside05:32 4 March Medley: Spanish Gypsy Dance/Marche Lorraine/El Abani...

06/01/2026

Eccles Congregational Church pop-in cafe returns this Thursday.

Every Thursday at 12:15pm.

Everyone welcome of all faiths and none!

04/01/2026

Its a New Year, with new opportunities, and new adventures. Why not consider a new years resolution and look to attending a church.

God declared Sunday as a day to rest, to recharge, and refocus. Why not do it, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!