By Arts Editor JOE RILEY, who has played the St George's Hall organ
WHEN it was first heard during the 1850s, St George's Hall organ, with its 7,000 pipes, was the world's largest musical instrument.
Not until 1926 was that global title lost to another Liverpool contender - the 10,000-pipe organ in Liverpool Cathedral.
But the St George's instrument is still hailed by many experts as "the finest of all concert hall organs".
Conjuring up more than 120 decibels of sound- louder than the biggest rock band - and giving eight seconds of reverberation, this heroic instrument relies for its power on the air pumped from electrified bellows the size of the engines on an ocean liner.
It is this air supply that needs restoring to bring the organ back to glory.
The instrument was bought by the city council after being demonstrated at the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace, London, in 1851.
It is always thought that the first city organist, William Best, was denied a knighthood because he had shooed Queen Victoria away from the console when he was playing.
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