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"Your playing really created the right atmosphere"
Reverend G Garrett - Holy Trinity Church, Bardsley
Hi,
Thank you for visiting my website.
My name is Chris Thompson, im 30 and live in Swinton, Manchester.
Oscar Hammerstein wrote in the Sound of Music "let's start at the very beginning - a good place to start" so here goes:
I am originally from Stourbridge, near Dudley in the West Midlands where I was born in 1979. At the age of 20 I met Michelle, fell in love and we lived in Wolverhampton for 4 years before moving to Worcester with work where we lived for just a year. In 2005 we moved up to Bury and now live in Swinton, Manchester. We love being up north and feel well blessed in having such wonderful and loyal friends in the Methodist Church. Although from the Midlands, I consider myself very much a "northerner" and this is becoming more evident as time goes on in the way I speak!
So how did I come to start playing the organ? Well, an accident at the age of 5 resulted in me having restricted movement in some facial muscles. Over the years this has much improved with the help of physiotherapy.
However, the accident resulted in me having much time off school and developing low confidence. I therefore spent much time alone rather than with other children and so started "tapping" on a reed organ we had at home.
I later grew fascinated by the organ at New Road Methodist Church in Stourbridge, West Midlands and began learning having organ lessons at the age of 10. I had been well and truly bitten by the organ bug!
Since moving up North in 2005, I became organist at St Mary's Methodist Church in Handforth, Cheshire and then from November 2008 at Manchester Road Methodist Church in Swinton, Manchester. I am also on the "bank" list of organists at many crematoriums and funeral directors in the North West.
My biggest inspirations have been from listening to recordings of German organist Barbara Dennerlein playing both pipe and electronic organs and seeing BBC organist Nigel Ogden give concerts on church organs.
My concerts usually consist of light classics, popular hits, novelty tunes, jazz pieces, and show tunes - in short, the kind of music you would expect to hear at a theatre organ concert. The church organ can handle entertainment music as equally well as a theatre organ - even better in some cases. My aim at every concert is to show the organ off rather than myself! And I have a policy in that "just because im at the front doesnt make me anymore important than the audience". With this is mind I make every effort to speak to EVERYONE present before or after the event.
My other interests include travelling, vintage vacuum cleaners, clocks, architecture, driving and maintaining my BMW and looking after our 9 cats!
I hope you will find this site of interest and I very much look forward to being able to assist with your fundraising event, wedding etc.
God Bless,
Chris.
PS: Many thanks to all those church's for keeping me well refreshed during my visit!
