Rev Steve Bailey met with the local branch committee of the Royal British Legion, which organises the parade, to discuss the issue and both agreed to scrap the usual song choice at the service to mark the war dead in St Peter’s Church in Oadby, Leicester.
Their decision however was met with outrage from another branch of the Royal British Legion club in Oadby, which is just across the street from the church.
Ian Thorpe, vice-chairman of the Oadby legion club told Leicester Mercury: “The new vicar is not happy with Onward Christian Soldiers being sung.
“It’s been done nearly every year in recent memory but he said they’re not doing it because not everyone at the service will be Christians – it’s not the ‘soldiers’ bit, it’s the ‘Christian’ bit.
“He’s going to have the hymn All People That on Earth Do Dwell instead.”
He added that the club’s chairman, Pete Green, was planning to boycott the service and just lay a wreath instead.
Rev Bailey has defended the decision to drop the hymn at the multi-faith event on 12th November.
In a statement issued through the Diocese of Leicester, Rev Bailey said: “We agreed the change in hymn with the Oadby Royal British Legion who run this major civic event because members of the community from a wide range of cultural backgrounds attend this parade, service and laying of wreaths at the war memorial.
“It is because the legion’s committee recognised that people from different…
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