A CHORISTER who has been singing in the same church since the days of George V will today celebrate his 90th birthday.

Henry Rennison, of Askham Lane, York, was only eight when his voice first soared above the congregation in St Clement’s Church in Scarcroft Road, York.

Eighty-two years later, he is still singing in the same church.

He said: “I have been a singer all my life and felt I should keep it up if I liked it so much. I shall keep singing until my days come to an end. I used to have a good voice at one time and used to enter competitions. My family think it’s great.”

When Henry first entered the choir stalls in 1930, the future Elizabeth II was four years old, Britain still had an empire, Adolf Hitler was a minor German politician, neither the NHS nor free state education for everyone up to their 16th birthday existed, very few families had telephones or cars and there was no television service in the UK.

Six years after his debut, he was joined in the choir by his brother, David, of Norfolk Street, York, who was seven years younger. They sang together at St Clement’s Church for 62 years until David’s death, aged 69.

Both brothers also sang together in the York Railway Institute Male Voice Choir and both worked in the railway industry at British Rail Engineering’s York Carriageworks in Holgate. Henry is also a member of The Merrybank Singers.

Over the years, numbers in the church choir declined until today, Henry is the only chorister left. But that doesn’t stop him singing at the church where he worships every Sunday.