WORK on the installation of Malvern Priory's new £375,000 organ is due to begin in September.

Brigadier Mike Selby, chairman of the fundraising committee, said the work would take a year to complete.

The announcement comes after several years of fundraising for repairs, after the current organ broke down during a carol service in 1999.

Church officials launched an appeal in September 2000 and Malvern organ builders Nicholson and Co were selected to do the work.

Brigadier Selby said £329,000 of the total amount needed had already been raised. "We are making some more applications to trusts and foundations which is where some of our funding has come from," he said.

A CD recorded by the Priory Choir has sold over 600 copies since it was released in December to contribute to the appeal and is still available

Copies of the CD can be purchased from the Priory shop and office, the Lyttelton Well, Holland Opticians and Beacon Books.

The next fundraising event is on Saturday, March 8, at noon when former priory organist Graham Davies will return to give a recital.