Wells chorister celebrates 70 years in church choir

Choir member celebrates 70 years

A man who joined a choir in 1940 in Somerset when he was eight years old has celebrated 70 years of singing with the same church group.

Mervyn Salmon, 78, became part of St Cuthbert's Church choir in Wells when Winston Churchill was prime minister and King George VI was on the throne.

Mr Salmon was baptised and confirmed at the church and lives with his older brother in the house where he was born.

He said: "I've sung constantly for 70 years except during national service."

'Everyone is equal'

Mr Salmon, whose job before he retired was looking after the stores at Mendip Hospital, remembered what it was like when he first joined the choir as a boy.

He said: "I remember the evacuees coming - we got on very well with them and we still do because a lot of them are still here.

The continuity is extraordinary, I don't know how many choirmasters have come and gone in that time Peter Kingston - choirmaster

"One of my regrets is how choirs have changed, we've no youngsters in the choir now. In those days, there were about 35 to 40 boys in the choir.

"What I like is that everyone in the choir is equal. In one concert, I had an admiral on one side and a judge on the other side - me, who didn't pass my eleven plus."

Choirmaster, Peter Kingston, said: "Anniversaries are very important - especially for something as rare as this.

"This man has been singing Sunday after Sunday all these years. I think his only time off was when he went to fight at Suez during his national service.

"The continuity is quite extraordinary, I don't know how many choirmasters have come and gone in that time."

Archdeacon Dick Acworth said: "It's a great achievement, the thing about it now is the consistency.

"He's been here all this time and for many of us today, we take something up and then we drop it and then we move on to something else."