THE 75-year-old pipe organ at Haggate Chapel, Burnley, is now on it's way to a new life in eastern Europe.

The organ is to be rebuilt and installed in a Lutheran church 30 kilometres from Riga, the capital of Latvia.

The decision to donate the organ to the church in Latvia was taken after it was decided that the 135-year-old Haggate Chapel was unsafe and would have to be demolished.

Minister Philip Elson said it took a team of five men from Latvia two weeks to dismantle the organ and to pack it carefully into crates to be transported out to Latvia on a container. He said: "It is being sent as a gift from Haggate to Latvia which is a world centre for pipe organ music."

The organ was built by an East Lancashire craftsman named Driver with the case being fabricated by a man named Atkinson and some of the metalwork by Taylor's, both of Harle Syke.

It cost a "tremendous" £2,000 to install 76-years ago, the same price as it cost to build the chapel half a century earlier. Mr Elson said the organ was found to have no fewer than 1,750 pipes of various lengths from under one foot to 25 feet as well as numerous other parts.

Each had to be carefully labelled and packed. The five man team worked from 8am to 10.30pm throughout their two week stay.

Members of the Haggate church had been invited to visit Latvia when the organ is again being played in 15-18 months time.

Mr Elson said: "I am sure local people will take up the invitation. There will be a permanent relationship between us."