The show went on, but not without a lot of heartache beforehand.

When Peter Bridges, founder of the North Oxford Junior Dramatic Society, chose Lionel Bart's musical Blitz! for its 1984 production, he knew there would be problems.

He couldn't possibly reproduce at Wolvercote village hall the exploding scenery and firemen on a turntable ladder which featured in the London production of the show.

What he didn't bargain for was the difficulty of getting hold of the musical score.

It appeared that when the show closed after 567 performances in the West End in the early 1960s, the score disappeared.

All Mr Bridges could offer his cast was a shilling programme from the show he saw at the Adelphi Theatre, an LP of the show and sheet music of five of the songs.

The North Oxford cast had to rely on that for their early rehearsals.

Mr Bridges made a number of fruitless inquiries with music publishers and agents and was on the point of abandoning the show when he came up trumps.

He was put in touch with the Royal Court Theatre, which had produced its own version of the show, and the musical score was found.

The cast had just two weeks to learn the songs before the show took to the stage in front of a delighted audience.