CHURCH chorister Alf Hebden needed to be on song at the Easter weekend.

For on Sunday he was the focal point of a special celebration at a North Yorkshire church.

Mr Hebden has just notched up 70 years as a member of the choir at St Helen's Church at Ainderby Steeple. Fellow choristers and parishioners marked the occasion in style.

Along with two other long-serving choir members, he received a medal and certificate from the Archdeacon of Richmond, the Ven Ken Good.

In a thank you speech, Mr Hebden recalled how he was "press-ganged" into the choir in 1934.

The vicar at the time - the Rev Cowgill - had been scouring the parish for likely choir recruits.

Mr Hebden was working with his father, also called Alfred, on the family farm between Warlaby and Solberge when Mr Cowgill popped his head over the garden fence and said: "I want you and your dad at choir practice on Wednesday night."

They went. And that was the start of Mr Hebden's long association with the choir.

Now 87 and living in Borrowby Avenue, Northallerton, Mr Hebden worked the mixed farm until he retired in 1982.

He says he has seen a lot of changes in his years in the choir.

"Mr Cowgill was a great musician and the choir at that time was not very good. He did a study of everyone in the parish who might be suitable," he said.

"I had always had an interest in singing. I came from a very musical family and I enjoyed it."

Mr Hebden did a lot of the evensong sessions, as working on a farm did not allow him to go to many morning services.

But he says the main change over the years has been from singing psalms and canticles to more joyful hymns.

He admits he was amazed by the extent of the Easter Sunday occasion, which included a radio slot and attendance by many of his family and friends.

"It was more elaborate and meaningful than I had dreamed it would be," he said. "I thought there would be just a presentation. I had no idea there would be radio cover and such. It was wonderful what they did."

The service included Mr Hebden's favourite hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, and All in the April Evening, which had just been released when he joined the choir.

As he suffers from cataracts and glaucoma, Mr Hebden says he will continue to sing with the choir for as long as he can see well enough.

A second tenor, he was a member of male voice choirs in Bedale and Northallerton from the time of the Second World War, but retired from Northallerton in 2000 when his eyesight made him too slow to read the music.

"I have a large print book at the church and I know the tunes well. As long as I can get there, I will," he said.

Mr Hebden's wife, Gladys, was equally impressed with Sunday's celebration.

"It was a shock, the trouble they had gone to. I never expected anything like that. They really went to town," she said.