The Salvation Army were based in Gorey village, in the New Road from the late 1800s until it closed in the late 1950s. The Salvation Army has a love of playing music and their bands are particularly famous. However people in Gorey did not also like their music.
On 28th February 1889, an article in the Guernsey Star was titled ‘The Salvation Army in Trouble – an exciting scene in Gorey’. The article describes how many people complained about the noise of the Army band and despite the police asking them to stop, they continued. Eventually, the band were arrested by the police. Before the matter came to court however the band went back to Gorey Village and started to play again. The person causing the most noise was apparently the drummer. The police were summoned again and tried to take the drum away – this led to a fight over the drum, with the drum finally ending being hidden in the Centenier’s house!