A LOCAL choir hit the right note at the Devon Festival of Performing Arts where they scooped a prestigious shield in their first ever competition.

South Zeal based 'Moor Harmony' entered in the choral societies and mixed voice choir sections of the 10-day event in Exeter's Barnfield Theatre and received honours for their renditions of Mozart's 'Ave Verum Corpus', the folk song 'Sweet Nightingale' and 'One Hand, One Heart' from West Side Story.

Musical director Jeremy McKnight, a quantity surveyor with a music degree, who formed the choir just over two years ago, said the 18 members were treated like 'real professionals.'

'The only reason we entered was for a bit of fun really — someone anonymously put a booklet about the festival through my door and that's how I found out about it. I would like to thank whoever did that.'

'Moor Harmony', who have played at various local churches and concerts in the South Zeal area and are now organising their own events, won the Victor Whitburn Memorial Shield and got nearly an hour of tuition in conducting and choral singing from internationally acclaimed choral director Robert Latham.

'It was a real pat on the back for us and we had a fantastic time,' said Jeremy.

'The examiner was very pleased with our performance and considering none of us are professional and half cannot read music it was a great achievement.'

All the members, which total 25, are from the South Zeal, Sticklepath, Belstone and South Tawton areas and meet every Wednesday night in Robin Tilley's living room.

'It is very informal — we all squeeze into the back room with a few beers and start singing,' he said. 'We would be glad to welcome anybody new along and at the moment we are very short of men.'

Jeremy said he had confidence in the group and knew they could do well but it was always down to the performance on the day: 'Singing in front of an examiner is pretty scary but all three songs just went perfectly,' he said.

'Now we have done it once, I feel sure this won't be our last competition.'

If anyone wants to find out more about the choir, they can phone Jeremy McKnight on 01837 840741.