Garth Hitchens has always loved music. The church organ has been the instrument closest to his heart but it was not the first he learned to play. "When I started music first I was 9-years-old. My first music lesson was with a Mrs Betty Keast out at Sticker. I had my push bike and went up over what we called May's Hill which went up to a place called Five Turnings." But for his first lesson Garth was a bag of nerves. He almost did not make it.  | | Old Cottages in Polgooth's village centre |
"I went down the wrong road and I got lost. I came home squalling. My brother took me down. I can still see Mrs Keast knitting in her porch. From then on I was learning the piano with her. She was a very nice lady, not at all strict. I didn't like the piano and after a while I gave it up." But fate was to deliver a new challenge for Garth in the form of an organ with a big family connection. "My Grandfather said to my mother if I would like to take up the organ he would pay for my lessons," says Garth. "I started with a professional musician called Mr Crocker. I continued with him and used to go to the Congregational Chapel which was in St Austell where the Halifax Building Society now stands. I was with Mr Crocker until I was 20-years-old."  | | The organ in the old chapel where Garth first played in front of the Polgooth congregation |
When Garth was 14-years-old, he did his first public performance on the Polgooth Chapel's Children's Anniversary, taking over from his Grandfather May. "I was very nervous, no matter how much training you do, you always get nervous to this day," says Garth. "From the day when I first started playing the Polgooth organ, I have been playing in Polgooth for 54 years." Garth's playing has been heard in numerous chapels over the years.  | | The present day chapel where Garth still plays |
"I go around to various churches and chapels all over St Austell. My priorities lie with Polgooth Chapel, I was brought up in the village and I wont let them down." For Garth music is a big part of his life. "I can always remember when we used to practice with the children for the Anniversary events, I was sitting up on the organ stool, and I was always one for discipline. I used to bark at them quite often. But we all enjoyed the rehearsals." "I think its my duty to God that I have got to continue my work," says Garth. "Music is my hobby and my life." Meet Polgooth's oldest resident
Read about chapel life in Polgooth
Find out about the Mays of Polgooth
Take a walk around Hawke's shop
An amazing Polgooth mining discovery | 
