Whiteley George need not have worried. Despite the former Organ Trustees concerns about Percy Banks and his periodic outbursts, the Vicar’s encounter with Laverne and Verney at the Parish Church had gone well. There had been no remonstrating with Verney about unauthorised use of the organ and no hostility to the French visitor.  Quite the opposite: Banks was charm itself, realising that he could not afford to offend either player if his ambitions were yet to be realised. By the evening of  20th October, it had been announced that Olivier Laverne would become Organist of Hartley Parish Church. Given that the appointee was from the French tradition, where the titulaire was not responsible for the choir, and because Laverne had insisted on maintaining his role as a concert organist, the Vicar also agreed to appoin...

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