Melbourne man brings ‘Joy to the World’ with 70 years of carol singing

Alan (Tut) Floyd has lived in the village all his life and sung carols around Melbourne since he was 14.

The certificate of achievement was awarded to Tut during a service at Melbourne Methodist Church.

Before the arrival of many cars, the stalwarts from the chapel walked around the village and visited all the outlying farms – sometimes finding folk in bed.

On returning to the village a welcome supper would be provided.

This tradition took place for three nights before Christmas, In the Bleak Midwinter, come rain, snow, or good weather, making sure no nights were silent.

As time went by the “Farms Night”, the Sunday before Christians became motorised – first in a borrowed minibus, then cars, then a transit van, and finally Tut's own van.

Newcomers to the tradition had no idea where they were going, and the group sang to cows, people in hot tubs, and even a man in his bath.

Singing on three nights has now become four as the village has grown – and it has become more difficult to get people with the stamina to sing for more than an hour.

The Farms Night ended during the COVID-19 shutdown.

Anthea Ayres, at Melbourne Methodist Church, said: “Tut has lived in the village all his life, working on farms etc, and has been a committed, reliable singer with his good tenor voice for 70 years.

“He has been taking part in the carols since he was 14. When he first started the rounds, the choir used to walk around the village and farms.

“It was a major undertaking. The village has grown dramatically over the years so it takes longer to get around everywhere now, and since Covid we’ve stopped the Farms Night.

“In the past we used a variety of vehicles, including a minibus from the potato factory. We then used lots of cars which proved to be difficult and my husband’s transit van.

“Tut used to drive us around the farms in his van, which had bales placed inside to create seating.”