WHEN dance band pianist Ashley Smith heard his five-year-old daughter Shelley picking out tunes with two fingers he decided that she ought to have piano lessons as soon as possible.

It was a wise decision. By the time she was 15 Shelley had won just about every regional festival prize that was open to young piano players.

Now 42 and with a string of letters after her name already she has just been awarded a rare Fellowship of the London College of Music.

Leading local piano teacher Alan Wicker, who still gives her tuition, believes that she is the only pianist from this area to have gained the achievement for at least 30 years.

Shelley, who is married to company director Des and lives in Caraway Drive, Woodhall Park, now teaches other people to play.

But when she was still a pupil at Hreod Burna, now Hreod Parkway, school she wanted to be a doctor.

"I was a very serious child and I enjoyed music so much that I felt that if I set out to make it my career it would be spoiled for me," she said.

Instead she became a laboratory assistant at Roussel.

In 1981 she moved from piano keyboard to word processor keyboard and did a full-time secretarial course at Swindon College.

From there Shelley prog-ressed through a series of jobs in personnel management until 1998 when she quit industry and trained as a nursery teacher.

"Working in human re-sources taught me a great deal about life and people, but I found that the more I pursued my career the less time I had for music," she said.

Shelley, who has no children, combined the piano with working part-time at Westgate Nursery and now as a full-time piano tutor teaches piano theory and musician-ship to pupils from the age of five upwards.

"They include the first person I recruited to work for me when I was in personnel management at Thorn. She was also a bridesmaid at my wedding."

Shelley is currently accom-panist for Thamesdown Ladies Choir and Opus One.

When needed she also accompanies the Janice Thompson School of Singing, where she is also a pupil.

She recently passed her grade eight singing exam with distinction.

She has also accompanied Swindon Gilbert and Sullivan Society, Wootton Bassett Light Operatic Society, Highworth Choral Society and Swindon Operatic Society.

She says she could not have achieved any of it without Alan Wicker.

"He has such an amazing knowledge of the instrument and for 30 years he has been a big part of my life."

As an accompanist Shelley also owes a lot to baritone Clifford Friend, clarinettist Helen Pysanczyn and violinist Richard Couldridge who played for her when she was preparing for and taking her Fellowship exam.

"They gave up hours for practising and rehearsals," she said.