A MALVERN church has launched an appeal to pay for a new organ.

The instrument currently in use at Holy Trinity, Link Top, has had two major breakdowns in the last 12 month and has been given only another year to live.

It is 30 years old, and spare parts are no longer made, so when they are needed, they have to be found from other organs that have been scrapped.

And the church now wants to raise £51,700 to buy a new organ.

The instrument they have chosen is a Viscount electronic organ, which has 215 notes and 51 stops.

And they are offering local businesses and residents the chance to sponsor individual notes, at £250 each, or stops, at £1,000.

Rev Canon David Nichol said: "The problem is that our organ is so old. It's an electronic organ but the technology is obsolete and it's becoming more and more difficult to get it repaired when it breaks down.

"We want to get it replace within a year because we don't want to risk being left without an organ.

"It's not just used for the Sunday services; the church hosts concerts in which it is used and the Malvern Male Voice Choir rehearses here. Music is very important to the life of Holy Trinity."

Mr Nichol said that although the sponsorship of the notes and stops is an important part of the fundraising, it is not the only one.

He said: "There will be events, such as the concert we had on Saturday with the Arrow Valley Brass Band.

"That was very successful and raised £300 for the appeal.

"We have also got a couple of murder mystery evenings coming, and depending on how successful they are, we may have more."

He said that Viscount, the makers of the organ they have chosen to replace the existing one, loaned the church a similar instrument for a couple of weeks at the end of last month so that churchgoers could ,hear what it was like.

He said: "I think people were quite impressed with it."