'The Ash Grove' is the only non-hymn I can remember singing in our primary school choir, run by dear Mr Horsfield. He made sure not only that the members of his choir stood upright, didn't fidget and didn't pick their noses but that all his class members knew by the end of the first term with him how to spell 'difficulty' and 'necessary', two words he said were most often spelled wrongly.

He would almost invariably play 'The Dam Busters' theme or some other rousing tune after morning assembly. And we always had morning assembly at which we all sang two hymns.

What chance to the kids have to sing now? No music at the one or two assemblies they have each week.(Primary schools may be different but I work at a secondary school and hardly ever hear children's voices raised in song). Almost no one goes to church. The best most of them can hope for is a quick blast on the karaoke at a friend's birthday party. And the sad thing is they don't know what they're missing.

We really were lucky.