Bob Prizeman tells the story of the gallery minstrels who played in the old church bands in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Petty tyrants in matters musical, they were feared and respected by parson and people alike, who turned round to 'face the music' coming from the gallery at the back of the church. But though they were bursting with wholehearted zeal for one of their chief delights in life, their performances were often noisy and unwittingly irreverent.
Music by The Madding Crowd Producer STEPHEN SHIPLEY Stereo