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Cinema organ 'thrills' guests to enthusiasts' home

Simon & Edna Martin spent a year renovating the 1934 Compton.

A husband and wife with a lifelong love of organ music have installed an original 1930s cinema organ in their home.

Simon and Edna Martin, from Weston-super-Mare, spent a year renovating the 1934 electric Compton, which was previously in use in two picture houses.

The organ has become the centrepiece of a small room, where Mr Martin, 51, said he regularly entertains his friends and family.

"People think you need a cinema to install one of these, but actually, with Comptons you don't need a lot of room," he said.

Edna and Simon, with his arm around her, sitting in front of the organ in a small room
Edna and Simon Martin bought and renovated the original 1934 Compton cinema pipe organ

Mrs Martin, 89, said they kept the organ, which was first bought in 2005, a secret until she had finished designing their home auditorium with the traditional colours of the cinema - crimson and gold - and the organ was ready to be unveiled.

"Every single person to open that door says 'wow'," she said.

"To me, the music is the heart and soul of it. Simon plays from the heart, he doesn't play conventionally, and you can hear that in his music."

Mr Martin with his back to the camera playing the organ, which is tucked into an alcove with a cinema-type curtain behind
Mr Martin enjoys playing music from early to mid-20th Century, including jazz and light orchestral music

The Compton pipe organ was originally designed to accompany silent films and contains a full selection of tuned percussions and effects.

Mr Martin's instrument has more than 500 pipes, ranging from one inch to 16ft (4.9m) in length.

"The organ is really like a small orchestra, but you're the conductor, you're all the members of the orchestra, and sometimes you're the arranger too, so orchestral pieces, or popular music, can sound halfway decent on the organ," Mr Martin said.

Mr Martin smiling to camera in a Christmas snowman jumper, at the back of the organ showing all the mechanics.
Mr Martin bought the organ in pieces and spent a year restoring the instrument to its former glory

Each Compton produces a slightly different sound and Mr Martin's is especially rare as it has a Melotone - an electronic unit fitted to some Comptons from 1935 until 1939 to generate tones electrostatically.

"The sound is very unlike what we would think of as contemporary music," Mr Martin said.

"I just like the tones that the theatre organ produces. I love it to pieces and I'm going to keep playing it as long as I can.

"If other people enjoy it and get pleasure from it, that's just a wonderful bonus."

Weston-super-Mare has another historic Compton cinema organ in the town's Plaza, which is one of three in public use in the UK and has been entertaining audiences since 1935.

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