The series of three concerts, performed on the city’s church organs, was hailed a great success by organising committee secretary Laurel Myers.

“We got the idea for the festival after attending the Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields festival,” Ms Myers said.

“We are lucky to have three very good church organs in Warrnambool and people who can play them. We thought something based on the Ballarat festival might work here.”

Three concerts were held, starting with performances by local organists Phillip Hunt, Ken Stott, Fred Dykstra and Craig Doherty at St John’s Presbyterian Church on Friday evening.

The Anglican church in Henna Street was the venue for a Saturday afternoon concert, where Craig Doherty was joined by the Warrnambool String Trio of Chris Philpot, Philip Trigg and Mike Weise.

The culmination of the festival was Saturday night’s performance at St Joseph’s Catholic Church by master organist Brendan Lukin and his soprano vocalist wife Catherine who performed a selection of French and English pieces.

About 220 people attended the concerts.

Mr Lukin, from the Bellarine Peninsula, teaches organ players in Warrnambool.

Ms Myers said the success of the festival opened up the possibility of making the festival an annual event possibly taking in organs in other Warrnambool churches or those in nearby towns.

“The Ballarat festival has been going for 20 years and we might be able to get something like that established here.”