OBE adds to special CD for retired organist

Mr Bielby retired last year having been principal organist and led the choir at Wakefield Cathedral since 1970.

Under his leadership it came to be recognised as one of the leading church music centres in the country.

Mr Bielby was only the fourth such organist to serve at Wakefield since it became a cathedral in 1905.

When he took up his post as a 25-year-old he was the youngest cathedral organist in the country.

He went on to be the country’s longest-serving organist working with five bishops, three provosts, two deans and eight precentors.

The boys, girls and men of the Cathedral Choir recorded a special CD as a tribute to him last year.

It is called 40 Years at Wakefield and features many of the compositions that Mr Bielby has written over the years to mark important occasions in the life of Wakefield Cathedral.