Thanks to all - especially Bonnie & Jack.

The asbestos was in he building - NOT the organ pipes.

The instrument was being looked after by enthusiasts, who are knowledgeable about such things. They were putting on concerts in the hall, up until it closed for refurbishment. These people have an extensive experience of looking after organs, in Churches, halls, and cinemas, in the area. I was told that they (temporarily) sealed over the shutters with tape before the building work started, to prevent dust getting in to the pipe chambers and damaging the pipes - seems a bit of a pointless exercise, with hindsight. They have been presenting organ concerts in this hall for some years, so any asbestos dust would have been blown out in to the auditorium during these events. The council didn't seem to mind about it then. If they had been informed, they could have gone into the pipe chambers and removed the pipes to a safe place, for re-use later.

Jack - I have heard about the Compton "cube" for the bass end, but never actually seen one in the flesh. Those clever people at Compton's put some strange devices on to their organs! One such was known as a "Solo Cello" - a single steel string, with a tensioning device at one end for tuning, and an electormagnetic pick-up, with a resin coated wheel, at the other. Steel fingers were positioned along the string, to stop the string off - a bit like an electric hurdy-gurdy. They fell out of use pretty quickly, due to their tendency to go out of tune - just like the "normal hurdy-gurdys we sometimes see in folk clubs.

John Compton was perhaps the most innovative English organ builder of the 20th century.