The Society of Crematorium Organists

Maurice Merrell, President

Maurice Merrell has had a life-long involvement with all aspects of organ and church music. He is an organist of much experience, and was for thirty years Organist and Director of Music at the Central London church of St. George, Bloomsbury. There he played for a wide range of services, bringing him into contact with choirs and soloists, and also planning and organising many prestigious recitals and concerts. He is Managing Director of a well-known and long-established firm of organ-builders, a position he has held for many years. Besides being a Fellow of the Incorporated Society of Organ Builders (also serving on the Council) he is currently President of the London Organists’ Guild.

Maurice Merrell is a Founder Member of the Guild of Musicians and Singers and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1981.

Jonathan Buchan FGMS FSCO, Registrar

Jonathan has been involved in the Funeral Industry since 2000 as an Organist at various Crematoria in Scotland. He has played at well over 15000 services in that time. He is currently Director of Music at Kings Park Church in Glasgow. He is also Organist for different Masonic Orders. He is a Director & Schools Convenor of the Bridgeton Burns Club and an adjudicator of Burns Competitions and Gaelic Mods.

He is delighted to take on the role of Registrar for the Society of Crematorium Organists.

Michael Walsh, Founder

Michael Walsh studied singing and organ at the RSCM and Trinity College of Music where he was awarded prizes for choir training, conducting and research. After eighteen years as Head of Music at a large comprehensive school and a Lay Clerk in Chichester and Portsmouth Cathedral Choirs, he divides his time between working as a freelance organist and as the owner of The Better Book Company, a publishing company based in Chichester.

For many years, Michael was Conductor of the St. Richard Singers, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Chichester Symphony Orchestra and Musical Director of the Chichester Amateur Operatic Society. His current positions (2019) are as Principal of the National College of Music, General Secretary of the Guild of Church Musicians and Treasurer of the Guild of Musicians and Singers. He is also Chairman and Composer-in-residence to the Chamber choir Chichester Voices.

Over the years Michael has conducted many concerts for charity, including a notable Fauré Requiem in aid of Kosovo, the 'Millennium Messiah' in Chichester Cathedral in the BT “Voices for Hospices” series and 'The Armed Man - a Mass for Peace' by Karl Jenkins in aid of the St Richard's Hospital Cancer Day Care Unit, and more recently for 'Help for Heroes'.