I joined the Culwick in 1987, making me one of the longest serving members in the choir. At that time, conductor Colin Block expanded the size of the choir from 40 to 120 members, so there was lots of new blood. I was given four weeks to learn the work for my first concert – the Beethoven Mass in C. I’m naturally a bass, but because I could sing the high notes, I was put in the tenor section and remained a tenor for 16 years. Then time caught up on me: I went back to my ‘real’ voice and joined the Culwick basses. In my years in the choir we’ve sung some amazing works – highlights for me include Mahler’s 8th Symphony (with more than 1,000 singers), Bach’s Mass in B Minor, the African Sanctus, Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers and Roxana Panufnik’s Westminster Mass.