The following article is reproduced by kind permission of its author Don Bray and was first published in the Electronic Organ Magazine (September 1998) 

“Take anything you want” he said!

A ‘first person’ account of the way the Society came by all these Wersi parts.
by Don Bray

Surprise

     Back towards the beginning of March (Probably Wednesday 11th) I received an unexpected ‘phone call from someone I’d never met. He gave his name as Roy Roberts and explained that he was a Director of ‘Electrovoice’ and that he had been advised to contact me (wearing my EOCS hat) by Bill Walker.

     It transpired that Electrovoice used to be the UK distributors for Wersi. They had passed the task on to someone else about 1985 but had kept the residual stock ‘in case it came in handy’. Obviously a man after my own heart - and the heart of many another EOCS member too no doubt. Bill Walker felt the equipment was not appropriate to the St. Albans Music Museum (where Bill is Curator) but referred him to me as the man most likely to know someone who would like the material.

     “That is very fortunate” said I “The next EOM is just being ‘put to bed’ we can advertise it for you. What have you got on offer?” “Oh no” he replied “We have to be out of these premises on 25th March - If you can’t find someone to use the stuff it will have to go in the skip.” “Oh!!" said I. "We can’t let it go in the skip. I will ‘phone round and see if there is someone near you who can use it. If the worst comes to the worst I will hire a van and come and collect it myself”

The Problem

     The worst did come to the worst!

     I ‘phoned Roy Roberts back and explained. “Will an ordinary transit will be big enough or should I hire a ‘Luton’” I asked. “I’ll collect things together in the factory, assess the situation and ‘phone you back” He answered and was as good as his word! “I have our driver with me and he says you will need a ‘Three tonner’”

     Somewhat shattered I hired the biggest enclosed van that could be found - a 35cwt Iveco - for Tuesday 17th March. The journey to Rickmansworth was very smooth and I arrived before 11 o’clock. One of the people I had ‘phoned was Peter Cox - our Treasurer and my fellow Womble. He arrived by public transport to help load soon afterwards. He and I and the Director and the Works Manager loaded non stop without even a lunch break until 3.30pm. Fortunately the ladies working in the factory were a kind hearted crowd and made us many cups of tea to comfort us and replace the lost perspiration. By the time we had finished the van was full but full!! It is just as well that most of the parts were packed in lightweight boxes and surrounded by low density packaging or the load would have been overweight. Even so not everything was loaded. Peter hired a ‘taxi truck’ to collect another consignment on 22nd March ....... but that is another story.

What can we do with it all?

     Dropping Peter off part way home to make life a little easier for him after his exertions I went home to the South Coast. My very good neighbour not only gave me a cup of coffee to restore my body and spirit but helped me unload and stack things in our sheds until we were both too tired to unload any more ....... and the van was still half full. Fortunately we have brick built sheds and three neighbours had given me permission to use all the spare space in theirs as well as my own. At 6.50am I was unloading again and twenty minutes later my neighbour (who is not a fit man at the best of times) was out helping me. Around 8 o’clock I said to him “John, we are not going to get finished in time to return the van”. So we took out all the small and medium cartons and stacked them on the grass verge, covered them with blankets from his car and placed a large piece of card labelled ‘Don will remove this during the morning’ on top. It is as well that we live in a quiet close with tolerant neighbours.

     I drove the van to my son’s recording studio. Neighbour John followed behind in his car. My son has the misfortune to have a subsidence problem which is slowing down the development of the new studio and his problem is EOCSs gain. The consoles and the organ benches are stored there for a short time. Removing these large items from the vehicle released some more smaller cartons. These were transferred to my neighbours car. I drove the van to the garage from whence it came. John followed to take me home. We had just three minutes to spare before the insurance would have run out.

What have we got?

     We seem to have everything that couldn’t be sent back for credit or be passed on to the next importer. This includes things from showroom demonstration kits to kits that have been ‘robbed’ - sometimes of just a few resistors but sometimes of all the ICs. There is a Saturn console which is short of a pair of chrome plated legs. These seem to have been sent to a customer who had a pair with the chrome peeling off. The original console complete was listed at £1439.00!! Now someone will have to think of another idea to complete it.

     Unpacking the cartons has been like Christmas every day. Kits that were too badly robbed have been sorted as components (see next page) Other kits have been ‘made up’ and all these goodies are available to members at ‘near jumble sale prices’! There can be no guarantees but what a treasure trove for ingenious organ builders.

Anyone in need of WERSI analogue organ parts may contact the Electronic Organ Constructors Society   A list of these items can be found on my Repairs page