OrganFax Directory

Worthing Wurlitzer

Telephone Number :  01903 206 206

Email address :  contact@worthing-wurlitzer.org

Website :  www.worthing-wurlitzer.org

Contact name :  Box Office

Venue address : Worthing - The Assembly Hall, Stoke Abbott Road , Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 1HQ

About Worthing Wurlitzer

Thank you for visiting the Organ Fax website for the Worthing Wurlitzer.   Please note that our dances start at 2.00pm and our concerts start at 2.30pm.

The Assembly Hall, Stoke Abbott Road, BN11 1HQ is one of the Worthing Theatres' venues which possesses resounding accoustics, perfect for the sounds of the magnificent Wurlitzer.

SATURDAY TEA DANCES at 2pm

October 17th with Cameron Lloyd

January 9th 2027 with Elizabeth Harrison

April 10th 2027 with Phil Kelsall

Blackpool comes to Worthing!! Come and experience the atmosphere of dancing to the sounds of the mighty Wurlitzer Organ, just like in the Ballroom at Blackpool Tower. Dance the afternoon away with Ballroom, Latin and popular sequence dances on the vast sprung dance floor of the Assembly Hall. 

The entry price includes tea, coffee and delicious cake, provided in the interval.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON CONCERTS at 2:30pm

October 11th - David Gray and Simon Gledhill - Two of the world's finest theatre organists return to the Worthing Wurlitzer for a stunning afternoon of superb music. David, Professor of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music, will also treat you to Chopin's Fourth Ballade in F Minor, the most complex and emotional of Chopin's piano ballades.

November 22nd - David Lobban and Damon Cox

February 14th 2027 - Michael Wooldridge

April 11th - Phil Kelsall in true Blackpool Style

Our Sunday afternoon concerts comprise two halves of about 50 minutes each with an interval of about 25 minutes.   We do hope that you can join us! Tea and cake are available.

Second hand CDs and vinyl records are available to purchase before concerts and during the interval. All proceeds will go to the Sussex Theatre Organ Trust to help ensure the future of the Wurlitzer events. 

Further Information

For those of you who are new to cinema and theatre organs, Wurlitzer pipe organs are historic musical instruments that were originally designed to provide accompaniment to silent films in cinemas. After the 'talkies' were invented, the instruments were played to provide music before and after film shows and during the interval. Many cinema buildings were demolished in the latter half of the 20th century but a number of the organs were saved and reinstalled in other buildings. The Wurlitzer installed in the Assembly Hall is just such an example and the excellent acoustics of the hall make the best of this organ's rich sounds.

Worthing's wonderful Wurlitzer is one of the largest theatre organs in England, indeed Europe. The sound you hear is produced from over 1500 organ pipes installed in the two organ chambers located behind the grilles on either side of the stage. The pipes range from 2 inches in length to 16 feet in length. Alongside these pipes are real percussion instruments; a xylophone, sleigh bells, drums, cymbals and even a set of cathedral chimes! The organ is a powerful instrument using air produced by two 5kw blowers housed under the stage. The console rises majestically to its playing position on a lift, as all proper theatre or cinema organs should. The console is where the organist sets the sounds (registrations) required from the organ pipes and other instruments from within the chambers, and of course where the notes are played on the manuals, also known as keyboards. The smallest theatre organ will have two manuals of five octaves in length; Worthing's Wurlitzer has three manuals (see photo) and some organs have four or more.