A CHURCH choir went on strike after the organist and choirmaster resigned.

Unrest broke out at St Mary Magdalene Church, Woodstock, and St Martin’s Church in neighbouring Bladon in 1931.

Mr G Adams, the organist at Bladon, was given three months’ notice by the Rector, the Rev F M Thompson, that his services were no longer required.

When no explanation for his dismissal was given, Mr Adams’s wife, who played the organ at Woodstock, handed in her resignation.

Memory Lane this week

And that led to only seven of the 40 choristers taking their place in the choir stalls at Woodstock the following Sunday.

Mr Adams told The Oxford Times: “My wife has been undergoing dental treatment and wasn’t feeling at all well. The service was the harvest festival and was naturally a heavy one, including a special anthem.

“In case my wife should feel faint, I went with her to Woodstock as a standby, sending a substitute to play the organ at Bladon.

“Apparently, this was not to the liking of the Rector, who has been told by some, I think, that I pay more attention to Woodstock than I do to Bladon.”

A Woodstock chorister told the paper that Mrs Adams was highly regarded and as long as she was not at the organ, they would stay away.

He said: “This isn’t the first disturbance between the church and choir. We mean to show the Rector that he can’t have things all his own way.”

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