I made this request at the end of 2005 and here it comes again.
Every year I buy a calendar with photographs of British Cathedrals. The format has varied – perhaps they haven’t all been produced by the same publisher – but it’s often been called ‘Cathedrals and Greater Churches of Britain’. Our 2016 calendar was produced by Judge Sampson. I like to buy it when singing in a Cathedral with a visiting choir, along with Christmas cards depicting the Cathedral, so I can support it.
This year I drew a blank. Gloucester were selling one of their own with 12 views of Gloucester Cathedral. Wells likewise had a Wells-specific one. Southwark Cathedral shop, which I visited in November, had cleared calendars off their shelves ‘because the manager wants the space for Christmas stock’. (Evidently it hasn’t occurred to them that some people give calendars as Christmas presents, or indeed that they are most likely to sell them at the end of the year. I wonder how many unsold 2017 calendars they will have left over?) Other Cathedral shops I’ve tried, such as Lichfield, Bristol and St David’s, weren’t selling them. You can’t order from Judge Sampson direct online, or even find out what their range is.
So if anyone has seen such a calendar on sale, especially if there are still copies on sale now, I’d be interested to know!
A quick google found a few, although the best one appears to be out of stock everywhere:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Gifted-Stationery-Company-Cathedrals-2017-Calendar/1785245686
http://www.calendarclub.co.uk/travel-and-transport/world-travel/cathedrals-calendar-2017-r190871
http://www.eden.co.uk/shop/cathedrals-and-abbeys-2017-calendar-4476756.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Anglican-Cathedrals-Selection-Inspiring-English-Calvendo-Places/1325142352
Or you could try making your own – either take the photos yourself or grab them online, and then use a service like http://www.vistaprint.co.uk – I realise it doesn’t support the cathedrals that way, but you could always send a donation if you wanted.
(I have a bit of a calendar obsession, and Vistaprint is a great enabler! I have 20 different calendars waiting to be put up tomorrow night!)
Thanks for that. I was alerted to a Cathedral calendar available on eBay and quickly ordered one. It’s not very good (rather flimsy and two Cathedrals are repeated) but better than nothing. Teal’s looks all right, but given the source I worry that it might have hidden evangelistic content, and I don’t really want sermons or inspirational words on my walls! Calvendo’s would also have done, but is more costly than what I usually pay. But it does look as if neither Judge nor Salmon produce them any more. Hard to tell in the case of Salmon, as their shop has gone offline precisely when you’d think it would be most needed. No wonder I couldn’t find them in Cathedral shops.
Hope all is well in Manchester. I’m encouraged to see that the chamber choir scene there took off just after I moved away (several small choirs were founded around the millennium). If only that had happened a little earlier! And that the Cathedral voluntary choir now has a soprano top line – something that was long overdue.