The Current City Organist
WILLIAM SAUNDERS
William Saunders is an acclaimed organist and musical entrepreneur, praised by Gramophone for his “rhythmic vitality” and by Organists’ Review for his “flawless” playing. He has performed widely across the UK and Europe, premiered new works, and recorded for Regent Records. In 2025, he was appointed Colchester City Organist, where he presides at the historic Moot Hall Organ for major civic occasions including the annual Mayor-Making ceremony and the Oyster Feast, as well as a wide range of cultural and community events. In demand as a performer and accompanist, William has collaborated with ensembles such as Kings Voices, London Voices, and Aldeburgh Voices, and has held posts at Edmundsbury Cathedral and Ipswich Minster. Alongside his performing career, he is also active in education and music leadership, committed to sharing the organ’s heritage and inspiring new generations of musicians.
Past Honorary Borough Organists
Ian Ray
Borough Organist 1988-2025
Ian Ray served as Colchester’s Borough Organist since 1988, presiding at the Moot Hall Organ for annual civic occasions such as the Mayor-Making ceremony and the Oyster Feast until the instrument’s demise in 2004, as well as for a variety of cultural and social events. Well known across East Anglia as an organist, conductor, singing coach and pianist, he has performed widely in Hertford, Harlow, Chelmsford, Long Melford, Lavenham, and Ipswich, presented recitals in London churches including St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and directed performances in Prague, Reims, Rouen, Wetzlar, and at Snape Maltings. Since 1976 he has been director of Colchester Choral Society and the Colchester Sinfonia, bringing nationally distinguished soloists and musicians to the town, while also working extensively with school choirs in a diverse repertoire ranging from Carissimi to the Beatles and James MacMillan. A strong advocate for new music, he has commissioned works from composers including Alan Bullard. For forty years he lectured in music at Colchester Institute, where he directed more than thirty operas and musicals from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas to Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, conducted choirs, and served as Head of Singing. Since 1969 he has also been Director of Music at Lion Walk Church in central Colchester, where he runs a regular programme of lunchtime concerts and often appears as accompanist to visiting performers.
Leonard Simpson
Borough Organist 1950–1988
Ian Leonard Simpson, Borough Organist from 1950 to 1988, was born in Dulwich in 1909 and moved to Colchester at the age of six. Educated at Hamilton Road Central School, he first learned the organ at St. Leonard’s Church, Lexden. At 16 he joined Paxman Diesels, the town’s largest employer, working in the costs-accounting department until his retirement in 1974. Though a member of the Royal College of Organists, he did not hold examination diplomas. He began his church career as organist at St. Paul’s Church in 1928, later moving to Culver Street Methodist Church, where he met his wife Betty and served for fourteen years. After his appointment as Borough Organist in 1950, he became organist at St. Mary-at-the-Walls, later serving at Lion Walk Congregational Church, St. Peter’s Church, and finally the Garrison Church from 1977.
E H Turner
Borough Organist 1940-1950
Ian Ernie Turner, Borough Organist from 1940 to 1950, had gained his ARCO in July 1911 and served as organist at All Saints’ Colchester between 1910 and 1932 before moving to St. Nicholas-cum-St. Runwald’s Church in the High Street. During the Second World War he regularly played the Moot Hall organ to entertain the troops, alongside others such as Leonard Simpson, his eventual successor as Borough Organist, and Desmond Pye, later a Patron of the Friends of the Moot Hall Organ. During Turner’s tenure it was also noted that W. F. Kingdon had served the Borough in 1949; a distinguished musician, Kingdon was a Fellowship diploma holder of the Royal College of Organists (1896), a Bachelor of Music (1906), and had been both a friend and assistant to Sir Walter Alcock. Having moved to Colchester around 1916, he appears to have been organist at St. Mary-at-the-Walls (now Colchester Arts Centre) from the early 1920s until 1950. Although he occasionally deputised for Everett or Turner, Kingdon never officially held the title of Borough Organist, and it remains uncertain whether he was related to Edna May Kingdon, wife of the renowned organist Percy Whitlock.
W Christian Everett ARCO ARCM
Borough Organist 1904–1940
Ian Christian was the first Borough Organist, appoin¬ted in 1904, at the age of 44, having played the organ on a number of occasions since it was instal¬led. He had passed his Associateship of the Royal College of Organists (ARCO) in July 1894, and was one of 44 candidates who passed, out of a total of 140 candidates. He served as organist for 36 years until his death on 6 February, 1940. ‘Billie’, as he was known, joined Lion Walk Congregational Church as organist in 1877 following two years at St. Leonard-at-the-Hythe and remained in post until his death. He composed some pieces of music inclu-ding a setting of The Lord’s Prayer that was played at his funeral. It is recorded that he felt he owed a great deal to his master, Sir William Parry, whom he described as ‘one of the finest exponents of organ playing in the country’.