Bishop of Hereford's praise after Cliff hits right note for 65 years (From Hereford Times)

Bishop of Hereford's praise after Cliff hits right note for 65 years

9:10am Friday 3rd July 2009 in

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A HEREFORDSHIRE man has hit all the right notes on his way to notching 65 years with a church choir.

Cliff Davis joined the Kingsland Church Choir a month before his eighth birthday and the 73-yearold is still a regular today.

Born and bred in north Herefordshire, not even the possibility of National Service could prevent him keeping up his hobby.

“You weren’t usually allowed to join the choir until you were eight years old but I joined a month early,” said Cliff, who lives in Kingsland with his wife of 36 years, Val.

“I thought I was going to have to leave the area to go on National Service but they wouldn’t have me because they didn’t think I was fit enough.

“I was very disappointed because all my friends were called up. But what was their loss was the church choir’s gain,” he said.

Cliff still practises with the 20-strong group every Thursday and sings during the Sunday service.

“The choir has always been very important to me,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed singing.”

To celebrate his incredible achievement, the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Rev Anthony Priddis, made a surprise visit to the village.

He presented Cliff, a former churchwarden, with a gift of a framed map depicting Kingsland in 1885.

“It’s amazing to think I’ve spent so many years in the same place,” said Cliff, who used to work for the former Hereford and Worcester County Council’s highways department and latterly at the quarries near Kington.

He is also a keen cricketer and still turns out for Luctonians 2nd team, for whom he opens the batting and has topped the averages for the past two seasons.

“I’m only averaging 15 at the moment having won the averages the last couple of years,” he said. “But there’s always next season.”