67 years on.....

To celebrate his 86th Birthday and 67 years after leaving Christ College he is still playing the organ

A Magical Afternoon  of Organ & Jazz

On Saturday 9th of March talented theatre organists Simon Ellis and John S. Batts, in association  with the David Clegg Quartet presented an afternoon of light music from the Swing era.

This is the second show at West Ryde featuring the David Clegg Sextet with the Christie Theatre Organ. The venue was St. Columb's Anglican Church, West Ryde, NSW where Simon and John played the beautifully restored Christie Theatre Pipe Organ. The David Clegg Sextet is a jazz quartet with many years experience playing in numerous venues.

John became interested in pipe instruments because his father was a diploma-holding organist, John began piano lessons at six and organ lessons when his legs were long enough. He then played the Chapel Oragn at CCB.The interest in theatre organs probably began with BBC broadcasts. His first cinema organ was at The Ritz, Hereford, a 2-manual, 4-rank Compton plus Melotone. Later he played in public for film sessions on a small Compton at The Regal, Henley-on-Thames. As an adult in Canada, he enjoyed a 28-rank Kimball and was organist on a 7-rank Moller/Warren at The O’Brien Theatre, Renfrew. A member of TOSA since late 1990s, John is now in his 19th year as presenter of Theatre Organ Magic on RNB-FM.