Santahatchie 2022

Santahatchie 2022 Report: This year’s Santahatchie Mission project was a great success! Approximately fifty volunteers spent the week after Christmas providing needed repairs to several homes located in and around Florence. Additionally, the youth spent the week at the church participating in worship led by Gage Russell, learning more about God’s calling with lessons from Rev. Thomas Smith, and having a little fun with activities planned by Julie Knight. The work of many volunteers, including the individuals who helped plan, prepare, and serve meals, the onsite staff who ensured Central was able to host the youth for a week, the overnight chaperones, and the people who served as site leaders and volunteers at the homes helped ensure that the mission of providing warmer, safer, and drier homes in the community was met.

Organ Revoicing Project

As part of our recent organ renovation—that included a brand-new console crafted by Orgues Létourneau of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec—much of our existing pipework was revoiced. A team from Greenleaf Organ Company was engaged to work on each of nearly 2,000 pipes to improve the overall sound quality of the instrument.

Various techniques were employed including increasing the cutup (making the opening at the base of the pipe taller), nicking the pipes (making a series of small cuts along the base of the opening), increasing or decreasing the size of the opening at the base of the pipe, and changing the position of the languid (a plate of metal or wood fixed horizontally that blocks the airway, except for a small slot)

The result is that the instrument has a more even, balanced, smoother, and pleasing tone.

Here are the experts who worked on our organ:



Samantha R. Koch
Samantha Koch is Organbuilder of well-rounded experience and expertise, with particular skills in voicing and a keen understanding of the technical design and operation of the pipe organ. Samantha is a graduate of the American Organ Institute at the University of Oklahoma (U.S.A.) where she earned a master’s degree in both organ performance and organ technology. Equally facile in many elements of the organ-building craft, Samantha brings experience in tonal design, flue and reed voicing, woodworking/carving, pipe-making, action assembly/regulation, electrical components, installation, and tonal finishing. Prior to her leadership role in establishing the Greenleaf Organ Company, she practiced organ building with Quimby Pipe Organs for four years, where she worked in all departments, and continued her voicing tutelage under head voicer Eric Johnson. This was followed by a tenure at Orgues Létourneau during which she served as Head Voicer. A brilliant performer, Ms. Koch has concertized and held church positions across the United States and Europe. An active member of the American Institute of Organbuilders, she maintains an acute interest in the advancement of women and younger generations in the organ building profession.

Christopher A. Bono

Christopher Bono brings a wealth of expertise and experience as an Organbuilder who is equally adept across all disciplines of the craft, including practical and decorative woodworking, the understanding and design of mechanical actions, and voicing. During his childhood in Attleboro, Massachusetts, Chris was, as a part of a musical family, introduced to classical music from infancy, and developed a particular love for the music of Bach—an affinity which naturally led to the organ and a resulting strong curiosity about its construction. Following the completion of a music major at Bridgewater College in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Chris began his career at Taylor & Boody in 1988, where he spent thirty-four years in instrumental roles for projects such as the restoration of the 1797 and 1800 Tannenberg organs in Old Salem, North Carolina, the construction of the meantone organ in Marquand Chapel at Yale University, and the construction and voicing of Taylor & Boody’s magnum opus (IV/96) at Grace Church in New York. Alongside this, a large roster of work for independent clients have provided a depth of exposure that extends beyond mechanical action organs, as have joint ventures with other firms such as Buzard Pipe Organ Builders and Orgues Létourneau. In 2022, Chris became a founding partner in the Greenleaf Organ Company. He serves as music director and organist at St. Francis Roman Catholic Church in Staunton, Virginia, and Augusta Stone Presbyterian Church in Fort Defiance, Virginia.

Organ Console Replacement Project 2020-2022

Organ Console Replacement Project 2020-2022
Central United Methodist Church | Florence, SC

Background

 The current organ at Central UMC Florence was built by Schantz Organ Company of Orville, Ohio, and installed in 1988. The organ consists of wind chests, nearly 4,000 pipes of various sizes and materials, wind supply and conduits, electronic components, and the console—the part with the keyboards, pedalboard, and all controls, that the organist plays. The console of the 1988 organ began to fail approximately 5 years ago. In particular, the combination action that allows the organist to preset various combinations of stops/registers became unreliable and was determined to be irreparable.

 

The replacement project

 After receiving proposals from 4 organ building companies, a decision was made to contract Orgues Létourneau of St. Hycainthe, Quebec, Canada, to build a new console. The rest of the organ consisting of pipes, chests, blowers, wind supply, etc. remains unchanged from the 1988 instrument. The new console arrived October 10, 2022 and is currently being installed. We expect the work to be completed within a month.

 

While we are excited about getting a new console, this does not mean we are getting a new organ. A good analogy would be if you had an airplane that needed a new cockpit, you would replace or update the cockpit, but you would still have the same plane. We still have the same organ with one exception; we are getting one new rank (set) of 61 pipes in our positive division. This will expand the usefulness of that division, particularly in accompanying singers/instrumentalists.

 

Here are some of the features of the new console:

 • a reliable combination action—that is the system that allows the organist to preset various combination of stops
• a greatly expanded memory capacity increasing the number of levels from 8 to 300 
• a sequencer allowing the organist to with the push of a single button to advance through a sequence of registrations (combinations)
•  a transposer
• the ability to record/playback from the console.

 

Here are some images including before and after pictures of the project.

 

 The 1988 Schantz console has been relocated to the third-floor choir room. We are exploring the option of utilizing digital technology to find a new use for it as a rehearsal and practice instrument. More details on this to come.

New Organ Console Being Brought into the Church (sped up footage)

UMW BBQ Returns as Huge Success!

UMW BBQ Returns as Huge Success!

Your United Methodist Women are so grateful to each of you for the tremendous outpouring of support for our 18th Annual UMW BBQ fundraiser! We served a total of 2,407 plates of delicious Schoolhouse BBQ with pound cake made by our own UMW members. Of those, a record 1,372 plates were delivered to community businesses. Our thanks go out to all the men and women of the church for these orders, and to those who assisted with so many deliveries.

The proceeds from this project will go directly to local missions supported by the UMW, including Lighthouse Ministries, House of Hope, Pee Dee Coalition, Wesley Fellowship, Courtney McGinnis Graham Community Shelter, Central’s Costa Rica Mission, and Santahatchie.

God has blessed us with a loving, caring church family, and we are indebted to you for making this fundraiser a huge success and a blessing to so many in our community.

BEDS Building Day | October 8, 2022

BEDS Building Day | October 8, 2022

On Saturday, October 8, we had a great turnout for our BEDS Build Day. Imagine the joy of a child getting a bed of their own, knowing they no longer have to sleep on the floor.

In December, the 25 beds we built today will be delivered to grateful children and their families who the school district identifies as not having beds. We are still looking for folks to sponsor a BEDS bag stuffed with bedding, linens, and comfort item/stuffed animal.

If your church would like to come alongside to build beds and increase the number we give, please let us know. We would love to partner with you!

FUNtastic Fall Fest - Boys and Girls Club of the Pee Dee

FUNtastic Fall Fest
at the Boys and Girls Club of the Pee Dee

On Thursday, October 6, members of Central UMC brought some fun and games to the Boys and Girls Club of the Pee Dee. We had a blast getting to know some of Florence's best and brightest kids. Thank you to Helping Florence Flourish for bringing the Body of Christ together throughout our city throughout the month of October.

From one of our volunteers: “I thought that I was going that day to help over there in that under-served part of our community, to bring the joy of the Lord to the boys and girls. In humility I admit, I was the one changed! The joy of the Lord was shared with me! I was the privileged recipient, watching God unfold the miracles in that unexpected place in ways that I had not imagined. I guess that God had been waiting there for me to show up for the surprise?”

Have a prayer request? Let us pray for you.