A SERVICE in Malvern Priory later this month will celebrate 75 years in the choir for Jack Lewis.

Mr Lewis, who now lives in North Malvern, was born and brought up in the town and attended Lyttelton School, in what is now the Lyttelton Rooms.

Attendance entailed a walk from his West Malvern home up the Dingle, over the Hills and down the 99 Steps.

"If it was raining or snowing, you were still expected to turn up," he said.

Because Lyttelton School was the source of choirboys for the Priory, eight-year-old Jack found himself auditioning for the organist, Dr Louis Hamand.

"I remember the organ being installed because there were wooden scaffolding poles coming down into our choir stalls. "Dr Hamand was a friend of John Ireland, the great composer, and one day he sat with him in a choir practice. But I was too young, I don't remember if John Ireland said anything about our singing," he said.

Mr Lewis has sung under the directorship of 10 organists, and has known five vicars - and has sung almost every week in the Priory, except during the Second World War, when he served in the Army.

"I still enjoy singing as much as I ever did," he said.

But Mr Lewis is modest when people congratulate him about reaching 75 years in the choir.

"I don't feel it's something I have striven for," he said. "I've just lived in Malvern all my life and continued singing."

A choral evensong is being held on Sunday, September 24, when the choir will sing settings of the canticles chosen by Mr Lewis, as well as his favourite anthem, Oh For The Wings Of A Dove.