Most of the Three Choirs Festival rehearsals are on home territory in Gloucester, but there are a couple of away fixtures at the other two cities. First up was Worcester, which I had to drive all the way to as I missed the coach (and failed to head it off at Tewkesbury). The rehearsal was in the ‘big room’, and I couldn’t help noticing how comfortable and solid the staging was. In my time I’ve sat on some rather rickety temporary staging; I recall being on the extreme top corner of a fragile setup singing Gerontius in Ely, and Bristol Cathedral’s is rather gappy in places. Memo to Cathedrals: get your staging from whoever supplies Worcester’s.
I did make the coach to Hereford, and enjoyed the ride through rolling countryside. We rehearsed at the Cathedral School, in a building which was once a telephone exchange. I imagined the room as it might have been once, full of machinery and cables. There must be lots of former telephone exchanges around as they take up much less space than they used to.