Congratulations and thanks were offered at St Eustachius Church, Tavistock, on Sunday as one of the choristers was presented with an award from the Devon Area of the Royal School of Church Music.
The Mike Ball Shield is awarded annually in memory of a former organist at Dartmouth Church to a young musician under the age of 18, who has given exemplary service to church music in Devon.
This year, Christian Stuart of Tavistock was judged the most meritorious.
Christian has sung in three choirs — first at Mount House Chapel Choir as a treble, then at St Eustachius Church, where he sang treble and then bass. He was also selected for the National Youth Training Choir of Great Britain.
In addition to singing, Christian also plays the church organ, initially taught by Dr Sean Sweeney at St Eustachius, before being awarded an organ scholarship to the sixth form at Marlborough College in Wiltshire.
The shield is normally presented at Exeter Cathedral in November at the Royal School of Church Music Annual Festival, but Christian was unable to attend that event due to school commitments.
However, on a weekend visit home to Tavistock, he was presented with the shield during the morning service by his choir master and former organ tutor, Dr Sweeney, and priest-in-charge the Rev Michael Brierley.






