HE was 11 years old when he first joined the choir of St
Andrew's Episcopal Church, in St Andrews, Fife, in St
Andrews diocese. That was 82 years ago, which means that
Melville Reid became a choirboy in the far-off days of 1932, and
hung up his robes for the last time only on Easter Day this
year.
The sole break in that time was the six-year interval when he
served as a medical orderly with the Royal Army Medical Corps,
during the Second World War. Otherwise, he attended choir practice
every week, and sang morning and evening in church on Sundays. He
has served, he says, under nine rectors, and "about 20 directors of
music".
Besides singing tenor, Mr Reid has been a prolific composer of
music. At the reception to mark his retirement which followed the
Easter Day eucharist, the choir sang his setting of "O little town
of Bethlehem" before the Rector, the Revd Professor Trevor Hart,
thanked Mr Reid for his long contribution to the life of St
Andrews.
The whole congregation, he said, looked forward to seeing Mr
Reid sitting regularly in the body of the congregation from now
on.