Oscar Woods lived in Benhall Green near Saxmundham,
Suffolk. His father took up farming when Oscar was about
five and as a boy he had a lot to do around the farm before
he could get off to school. Close by lived an old farm worker,
‘Tiger’ Smith, and it was he who provided inspiration for
Oscar to play the melodeon. In the summer evenings he
would often play an old-fashioned gramophone in his back
yard, or else play his button melodeon. The sound of this
fascinated Oscar and he would sit beside him and listen to
him play. Eventually Oscar’s father came home with an old
melodeon and this was were he started. He bought ‘Tiger’
Smith’s melodeon and concentrated on those tunes that
‘Tiger’ played.
When he was older and he had an old car, he and ‘Tiger’
would play around the local pubs. There were a number of
other melodeon players about at this time and Oscar learned
from them - in particular, the Seamen family of Darsham.

Oscar mainly played a one row Hohner melodeon in the key of C