Its supporters say it’s one of the island’s best kept secrets so to change that, they have organised a demonstration day to promote the Wurlitzer organ.

The former cinema organ was installed first in Summerland during the 1980s then, after a period in storage following Summerland’s demolition, was resurrected in a specially created space in the newly refurbished Villa Marina Arcade, about six years ago.

Peter Jordan of the Friends of the Isle of Man Wurlitzer, said: ’It was built in 1929 and was originally destined for a cinema in London but was deemed too small and ended up being installed in a cinema in Leicester,’ he said.

When it was taken out in the 1950s it was bought by a private individual before coming to the Isle of Man.

Mr Jordan said the Friends meet on a regular basis to play the organ but they were keen to promote it and recruit some younger members.

To that end, they are having a meeting today (Tuesday) in the Villa Marina Arcade when anyone can go in and listen or talk to members.

If anyone has some keyboard skill they may be able to have a turn on the instrument. Members may also be able to offer tuition to anyone genuinely interested in learning to play.

The sessions start at 10am to midday then continue in the afternoon 2pm to 4pm. The idea is to catch some of the additional people who are out and about over half term.

’Ideally we’ll get a few new members who will be proficient at playing when we are all in our dotage,’ he said.

Because it was originally built to accompay silent films, the Wurlitzer has a range of extra features and special effects not found, say, on a church organ.

Among the special effects are drums, a cymbal, glockenspiel, car horn, horses’ hooves, a whistle, sleigh bells and a siren.

’The Wurlitzer is what most people think of when you mention theatre organs but in the British Isles they were comparatively rare. The main manufacturer in Britain was Cromptons, who made all the ones in the Douglas cinemas of the time,’ Mr Jordan said.

Anyone interested in finding out more should go along to the arcade today or log on to www.villagaiety.com/wurlitzer/

Two organ concerts are planned. The first, featuring Phil Kelsall is on June 22 at 7.30pm; the second, with Len Rawle is on August 31.