Shrewsbury baritone, 94, to be honoured for his decades of service to choir

Baritone Ken is a choir veteran – and now he is to be honoured for his services.

The former Royal Naval patrolman, who lives at Swan Hill Residential Home in Shrewsbury, sang with the Canoldir Male Voice Choir for 25 years.

And Mr Davies is set to be honoured with a plaque and a song dedication during the choir's performance at St Chad's Church in Shrewsbury next Saturday.

He said: "I sang in a lot of choirs and it was a big thing back then, although I suppose they've lost their attraction lately. The first choir I sang in was at St James as a boy.

"I took up with the Canoldir choir in the early 80s. It was by chance, really. I was talking to a bloke who was in the choir, and we were just having a chat and he said 'come and join us', and so I did."

Originally from Handsworth in Birmingham, Mr Davies found freedom and camaraderie when he joined a church choir at the age of eight, a release from the toughest of starts to life. At the age of just two, the sudden death of his mother saw him moving between extended family members, who took it in turns to care for him.

He found himself living with various aunts and uncles who were landowners around Whitchurch, and describes how he found comfort from singing.

His daughter Beverley said: "They used to take it in turns to look after him, so every couple of months he'd move from one to another but he spent a lot of time on his own and he just used to sing. I think it was almost a comfort to him in what must have been unfamiliar surroundings.

"It's always been his outlet really, if that makes sense. These days they'd play a game on the computer or something, for my dad it was always singing."

Mr Davies's life took a remarkable turn during the Second World War. While serving as a signaller on the tanker ship "Grey Ranger" as part of the Arctic Convoys in 1942, his ship was struck by a torpedo fired from a stalking German U-Boat several hundred miles north of Iceland. Ken survived, despite breaking his wrist on the slippery deck as he raised the alarm.

Although now long retired from the Royal Naval patrol, and having handed in his notice with the choir in 2007, Ken has been made "choir master" at Swan Hill Residential Home where he has resided since 2012, and says he still sings whenever he gets the opportunity.

He will be guest of honour when the Canoldir Choir performs at St Chad's in Shrewsbury on Saturday from 7.30pm.