IT has taken just 11 years for musician Ben Bloor to achieve the highest award an organist can achieve.

The third-year music student at New College, Oxford, started learning the organ at the age of 10 and now he is 21, he has been awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists.

Mr Bloor, who plays for the chapel choir at his college, and at St Michael at the North Gate church in Cornmarket Street, achieved the feat following a practical exam and two three-hour written exams.

If that was not impressive enough, he has also been honoured with the Limpus Prize for the highest mark in the practical exam, the Harding Prize for the highest mark in the written papers, and the Baker Prize for the highest overall mark and awarded £340.

Mr Bloor, who hopes to pursue a career as a cathedral organist, said: “I am really pleased to have got all the prizes that I have got, I am really lucky. I just hope that it will help me get a good job in a few years time.”

Mr Bloor also plays the piano, which he started learning at the age of seven.