It’s an achievement of some note.

Christine Durham has notched up 50 years service with Huddersfield Choral Society.

To mark the occasion, Christine, who sings first alto, was presented with a silver salver and flowers by society president Jane Sargent.

There were 25-year awards, too, for stalwarts second soprano Thelma Simpson, second tenor Tim Wilkes and first bass Barry Williams, who all joined the society on August 21, 1989.

Christine, who lives at Hipperholme, took up singing in her teens as a pupil at Brighouse Girls’ Grammar School.

At 16, she was encouraged to audition for the society by her singing teacher Audrey Marshall, who was also a member of the society.

“The audition was quite daunting – and it still is,” said Christine. “I had to stand in front of an oval table and the committee members and sing a piece of my own choosing as well as technical exercises and sight reading. The audition has to be testing to keep up the standards.”

Christine joined on August 7, 1964, and over the years has sung under many conductors and chorus masters, including Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir Simon Rattle and Jane Glover.

She has also travelled with the choir on many musical engagements to places including Boston in the USA, the Czech Republic and Japan as well as being a regular visitor to London for the Proms.

Even when she lived at Whitby for 10 years, Christine travelled back to Huddersfield each Friday for rehearsals.

Christine is one of just three current singing members of the 190-strong choir to hold a 50 year’s service badge, along with tenor David Croft and bass Conrad Winterburn.

The choir are now rehearsing for their next big event, a performance of Mendelssohn’s oratorio St Paul, which will be given at the end of October at Huddersfield Town Hall. Then, it’s into rehearsals for Handel’s Messiah.

Christine remains passionate about the choir, saying: “It’s the singing I enjoy most and the sense of achievement you get when you have worked on a piece. Working with all the superb professionals has been such a great opportunity. I hope to carry on singing with the choir as long as I’m good enough.”

Speaking about the awards, Jane said: “We are so lucky to have such dedicated members setting the standard for everyone else. I hope these awards inspire the choir’s younger members at the start of their own journeys of musical discovery with the choir.”