Southwick drummer enjoys double celebration for 70 years of drumming and his 85th birthday

Steve Percy had been planning a huge celebration for his 90th, following in the footsteps of his mum Florence, who went up in a helicopter at Shoreham Airport when she became a nonagenarian. But he said he brought it forward five years 'in case he doesn't make it' as he has prostate cancer.

Steve said: "My mother and I went up in a helicopter for her 90th and I was going to do something similar for my 90th. But then I got prostate cancer. At the moment, it is on zero but they have told me the giant will rear its ugly head, so I may not make 90."

The party was held at St Michael's Church hall in Lancing on Saturday, October 29, and included a session with Steve drumming. He said: "We had a great time."

Steve was born in Eastleigh in 1937 and the family moved to Southwick when he was 11 years old. His father, the Rev Joseph Crosswaite Percy, was a parson and took a job in Brighton.

Steve said: "I came up through the war times so I knew what it was to go hungry. We came here because I had asthma and the doctors advised living by the sea."

Steve's dad died in 1985 and his mother died from cancer aged 91 in December 2002. Steve had been planning to retire to Greece but instead, he was able to buy the house he grew up in, in Albion Street. He had the property converted into two flats and has lived there ever since.

After he left school, he trained as an apprentice electrical engineer and went on to run his own business, South Coast Automatics, making fruit machines. He then had System Electronics at Seven Dials and ran the business for 37 years, until retirement.

He took up drumming as a teenager and regularly played with a trad jazz band on Shoreham Beach on a Sunday, as well as with bands in Brighton.

Steve said: "Over the years, I have worked in every pub in Brighton. What I enjoyed most was playing with Tony Ross, who played with Ronnie Scott in London. I was in there one night and we got chatting. He lived in Peacehaven and we became quite pally. He set up a trio at The Brunswick pub in Hove and I was with him there for five years."