2025 was celebrated as Play the Organ Year – a national initiative created by the RCO and its partners to spark a year-long programme of engagement and outreach.

The aim was not only to encourage more people to learn the organ, but also to help many more discover the pleasure of hearing and enjoying organ music, both live and recorded.

The campaign aimed to show that the best way to achieve these goals was to get as many people as possible close to the instrument: not only hearing it and seeing it, but actually playing it.

The Play the Organ Year resources – the information sheets, session plans, templates and other resources created to help organists and venues plan and deliver their own Play the Organ Year activity – are all available for download on this page, and the My First Encounter Films can also be found on First Stop!