FOLLOWING its recent annual meeting, the Liskerret Male Voice Choir was pleased to announce the appointment of its new musical director.

The baton is being passed to former deputy musical director Phil Harriman (pictured right), who has been lead second tenor with the choir for 13 years.

Phil lives in Callington and is well known in the area as a town councillor and deputy portreeve, through his work as a postman for many years and his involvement with various organisations, including Callington Lions Club.

Born in Yorkshire, Phil has a lifetime of interest in music. Introduced to music by his father, who was a choir singer in his youth, Phil followed his lead and joined church and school choirs and also honed his instrumental skills in the school orchestra. He was a member of the Royal Marine Band Service as a violinist and saxophonist and spent seven years serving as a professional musician before joining the Royal Navy following the Falklands conflict. He joined Saltash Male Voice Choir and then when it disbanded in 2002, he transferred to Liskerret MVC.

Choir chairman Geoffrey Harris said he was delighted that Phil had agreed to take over the choir and felt that it would be good for the choir to have a relatively seamless transition to continue the excellent progress the choir had made under his predecessor Roy Wilton.

Phil spoke of his intention to introduce more opportunities for members of the choir to do some solo work, as well as a little audience participation.

The choir's next scheduled concert is at the Cornwall Festival of Male Voice Choirs on May 2.