A KEEN amateur singer had his dreams come true when he received a crash-course in conducting and led the English Symphony Orchestra in Worcester Cathedral.

Businessman David Parry-Smith was taking part in the Bring And Sing Messiah at the end of The Three Choirs Festival, when the chance to conduct the chorus went under the hammer.

The amazing opportunity had originally been auctioned on auction website eBay. But the top bidder - from California - decided it was too far to come, donated the money to the festival and offered the prize back up for grabs.

Bidding during Sunday evening's concert started at £50 and quickly rose until an offer of £300, from Mr Parry-Smith, of Cambridge, pipped Worcester's Chris Jaeger, director of Huntingdon Arts.

After a few words and brief training from conductor Sir David Willcocks, he put in a remarkable performance.

"It was fabulous and really, really wonderful to see David conducting," said festival spokeswoman Esther Blaine.

"He did brilliantly and there were cheers and whoops of applause afterwards. This is definitely something we'll be looking to do again."

An anonymous donor also matched Mr Parry-Smith's £300 bid so The Three Choirs benefited from the original e-Bay cash plus £600 for the idea.

Mr Parry-Smith, the chief executive of a biotechnology company, said: "I'll be able to dine out for ages with this story of me taking Sir David's baton - at a price."

During the once-in-a-lifetime event, the 42-year-old conducted both the English Symphony Orchestra and the choir of enthusiasts, each of whom

had paid £30 to take part.

Many came from far afield to join the concert, with one hailing from Honolulu, in the Pacific island of Hawaii.

didn't they all do well?

NOT only did amateur baton-wielder David Parry-Smith do a remarkable job, but the the soloists who had paid for the privilege of singing came over as confident Handelians.

Whatever Sir David Willcocks did in the afternoon rehearsal of just three-and-a-half hours, it certainly produced a quality performance.

Patricia Rozario's soprano voice was warm and ample, while Christopher Ainslie is a counter-tenor worth our future hearing. His early contributions, such as O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings was well vocalised.

Tenor Allan Clayton too sounded comfortable. His recitatives in the Passion had considerable feeling, while his bass colleague Daniel Jordan was well rounded.

The un-named trumpeter was quite polished, though there were one or two embouchure difficulties in this important obligato accompaniment.

It's good to see the ESO being used in this festival. We are fortunate to have such an orchestra in the Three Counties area. Their recordings successes demand more use locally. I must mention that Dr Roy Massey was the very competent player of the chamber organ continuo.