KEYBOARD wizard Joe Mann narrowly failed to complete his heavenly challenge - the restoration of a broken and battered 18th-century church organ close to his coastal retirement home in the Canary Islands.

He died at the age of 75 after a short illness.

But Joe, a retired St Helens college lecturer and musical all-rounder, struck such a deep chord of affection among the people of Lanzarote that a campaign has now been launched to re-name a street in his honour.

Since arriving in Macher during1984, Lanzarote had been his happy adopted home. He was active in the life of the community and cheerfully spent countless hours working on the restoration of the Spanish-Castillian style organ of the 15th-century church of Senora de Guadeloupe in Teguise.

It began after campaigners for the church's restoration learned of the organ-building skills of Joe, a professional engineer who had lectured on heat engines and design. They knew of Joe and his wife Barbara's spectacular reminder of their earlier days, in the shape of a battery of organ pipes, salvaged from a shut-down non-conformist church in St Helens. These formed part of a spendid organ, built by Joe and gracing their spacious lounge.

Unfortunately, Joe's last wish, to complete the renovation of the church organ at Teguise, was not fulfilled. His widow Barbara (presented with a gold pin in Joe's memory) explains: "He was directing this work from his bedroom, four days before he died peacefully at home. The carpenters from Teguise were with him - the room full of pipes , plans etc. - when the doctor arrived."

Barbara and members of her family have, however, pledged to finish the project, with help from friends in the UK.

And Joe's spirit lives on in other directions.

He had donated an organ to a Catholic church in Playa Blanca and one of his harpsichords is now to be presented to the local music conservatory where the couple were the first foreign and the first senior-citizen students.

In addition, Barbara has sent one of his French horns to Bosnia for use by a group who are fashioning a music college from a bombed-out building in Mosta.

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