Seeking a musical noise

Once in Ireland I visited a church service as there was advertised a choir performance that appeared attractive. I recall this was St. Mary Church, although it was the protestant church, not Catholic, which one may think so, given the status of Mary in Ireland.

While I was in... the church, there was music vibrating below my feet in my pew. This seemed odd to me, but it must be a practical matter for pumping music throughout the church.

A man, David Jacob, saw me as a stranger in the church and I inquired of the vibrations at my feet. It turned out his wife, Hilda, was the church organist. He introduced me to her and she later invited me to see a small pump organ in a country church. She described the organ to me as a two-person job, one person, in this case me, would pump the organ with a bevel at the side, while the other, her, played.

The organ was worth a trip, but the adventure was ever more delightful. We first had to go see the church elder, who was in a farm field at the time of our stopping. We needed his permission to enter the church. His wife made us tea while we waited for him to join us, and I enjoyed some Irish stories during the chat. Soon the church elder came in for his tea, and we chatted some more. All of this took about an hour. Then he gave us the key to the country church. Well, he gave us a key to the lockbox at the back of the country church. The lockbox stored the huge key, about 10 inches long, to the front door.

I wish I had a photo of the small church organ, and I hope it is still there. Hilda told me then that there were only two left in all of Ireland.