WROUGHTON Parish Church organist John Henderson has been awarded an honorary fellowship by the Royal School of Church Music.

Dr Henderson, along with three other recipients, received the highly prestigious award from Lord Gill at a special celebration service in York Minster on Saturday.

There have only been 154 Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music awards made since this honour was instituted in 1963 and it is the church music equivalent of the film industry’s Oscars.

These have mostly been awarded to eminent cathedral organists and internationally known composers and so Dr Henderson said he was “particularly proud to receive this as a parish church musician.”

He added: “The principle reason for the award however is not my work in Wroughton but in recognition of my three published books charting the history of the Royal School of Church Music and for my internationally recognised and prize-winning book about organ music.”