BRIAN TRENHOLM has been pulling out all the stops to celebrate Easter, with the return of a much-missed church organ following an overhaul.

Services have not been the same at St Mary Magdalene Parish Church, in Yarm, with the 100-year-old pipe organ silent while undergoing maintenance.

"It is an absolute delight to be able once again to play the church organ following its cleaning and overhaul,'' said church organist Mr Trenholm.

He added: "It is so important to be aware of the enormous responsibility to provide the appropriate music for services where people are emotionally involved, such as weddings and funerals, and the pipe organ enables the organist to be sensitive to these occasions.'' Members of the congregation, local businesses and even people with no previous connection to the church, helped raise the £3,000 needed for the work.

While the organ was undergoing restoration, the church was able to borrow a digital piano from the nearby Fellowship Hall in West Street, Yarm.

The loan was much appreciated but, said Mr Trenholm, who has been playing church organs since he was a teenager, it gave no variation in sounds.

He said: "The volume was insufficient to control our Sunday morning congregation and was not able to create the elements of sound, silence, time and space.

Hymns were taken at three speeds - organ, choir and congregation.

But everybody saw the lighter side.

"It is most satisfying now to be able to pull all three together to make a joyful sound, together.'' The restoration work was arranged to be carried out before the calendar of weddings, to avoid brides walking down the aisle to a muted bridal march.

However, there were funerals while the work was in progress when the organ's absence was felt.

"The organ can sound the depths of sadness, the heights of joy and praise. It also has a distinctive role at the offertory in the Mass and at the Eucharist,"

said Mr Trenholm, who has given two celebratory recitals on the organ, following its return.