WHEN Brenda Killick first sat down to play the organ at St Luke's Church, she could not have imagined that more than six decades later she would still be playing for the congregation.
It was during the Second World War that Brenda was called on to fill in after the usual organist was called up to serve in the Army.
On Sunday, she sat in the church in South Park, Reigate, surrounded by friends and family as she celebrated her 90th birthday – very much still a big part of parish life.
A former Sunday school teacher who used to help with the boys' choir and mend choristers' cassocks, Brenda has always been on hand to help when the church called and was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to the community in 2012.
"I used to play the organ for the choir at practice," she said.
"Then the young lad who played during the service went off to National Service and the organist asked if anyone could give him a note. I was volunteered and the rest is history."
A pianist since childhood, Brenda considers her almost 70-year stint as an organist to be a smaller part of her involvement in the church than the work she has done with the parish's youngsters over the decades.
She said: "I used to teach Sunday school and I did lots of work with the children. I always have. I have always loved children and working with people."
Her efforts have left an indelible mark on the memories of the people she has met, many of whom packed St Luke's Church, for the party on Sunday.
Frances Pankhurst and her sister Annie Coombes lived next door to Brenda and were students at her Sunday school.
Frances said: "It was a great time, she is a wonderful lady.
"Brenda was born in the house she lives in now. She is the heart and soul of the church; she has been coming here all her life."
As young boys were evacuated and older ones called up to serve during the war, more and more girls got involved with the church and Brenda was first in line.
"At the time we had a boys' choir – girls weren't allowed to do much in the church back then – but as the boys moved away or got called up they recruited more of us," she said.
"I remember coming into the church during the war. I could hear the bombers overhead and wondered if we were going to make 19 let alone 90."
But nevertheless, Brenda retains fond memories of her childhood in South Park, where she has lived all her life.
"The children don't have the freedom now that we did," she said. "In my early days the church was open day and night, it was never closed, but you couldn't do that now."
