A NUMBER of West Oxfordshire residents were among 174 pensioners from the Oxford Anglican diocese who received Maundy money from the Queen at Oxford’s Christ Church Cathedral on Thursday.

Royston Hanson, 81, a retired builder from Wootton, attends the village’s St Mary’s Church. He said: “I started out singing in the choir in the 1940s and I help out where I can.

“I was Poppy Appeal organiser for Wootton and Glympton for about nine years and served in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry.”

Dora Simms, 83, from Glympton, is a church warden at St Nicholas Church, in Kiddington.

She said: “I was surprised to be nominated and it really is an honour – it has been a great day.”

The Rev Michael Farthing, 85, lives in Eynsham. Before he retired in 1995, he worked in parishes in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Another recipient of the coins was Derek Fowler, 80, the verger of St Mary’s Church in Charlbury and chairman of the town’s Royal British Legion branch.

Mr Fowler, who was born in the town in 1932, has also served the church as a choirboy and a bellringer over the years.