Shropshire Star

600 hymns in a day for 80th birthday

A church organ player in Shropshire has made a song and dance of her 80th birthday by playing nearly 600 hymns in one day.

Published

Carol Wood set herself the challenge of playing a maximum of two verses of every song in the hymn book to raise money for the churches she performs in every Sunday.

Having started at 9am and playing for more than 10 hours until 7.30pm, she raised nearly £2,000 for St Mary Magdalene Church in Quatford, where the music marathon took place, and St Nicholas Church in Oldbury.

"It was quite overwhelming to be honest, the support was absolutely phenomenal," she said.

"People were coming through the door all day long to get behind me and wish me a happy birthday, they were singing so well I just didn't want to stop.

"I didn't feel too bad at the time, I had a 20 minute break for lunch and I think the adrenaline kept me going – but my shoulders are feeling a bit stiff now.

"It was wonderful to see it wasn't just the church people that turned out to support me, various choir groups and residents that had heard about it came along to join in.

"We had refreshments going throughout and it turned out to be a really nice sociable day – in fact, it was one of the best birthday parties I've ever had."

The 80-year-old said the idea sparked after her birthday holiday was cancelled.

"Churches are always concerned about fundraising and I wanted to do something different for my birthday this year," she added.

"I was planning to go away on holiday, but the plans fell through and that seemed to be the trigger for it.

"It was such an enjoyable day and I'm sure the money will make a great difference to the churches.

"It's all locked away and secure at the moment but I think we'll be hitting around the £2,000 mark which we're very grateful for."