Category Archives: going to services

A Cathedral Christmas

I don’t think I’ve ever spent Christmas within easy reach of a Cathedral before. But this year I managed it by staying just outside St David’s, with a 10-minute stroll through some lanes to the Cathedral. I went to three … Continue reading

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when the conductor is ill

I went along to hear Priory Voices sing Evensong with music by Stanford and S S Wesley at Wells Cathedral. The founder and usual conductor is not able to conduct at the moment so members of the choir are (very … Continue reading

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introit vs anthem

I went along to hear a choir drawn from an RSCM course sing at Bath Abbey (they are resident at Kingswood School every year). Looked out for the distinctive cassocks of St. Ann’s Manchester (no one else wears that shade … Continue reading

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The Three Choirs evensongs

I went to most of the Choral Evensongs at the Three Choirs Festival. These of course are the real Three Choirs – the Cathedral choirs of Gloucester, Worcester and Hereford – and it’s clear that for many festival-goers the evensongs … Continue reading

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Gibbons for the Gaudy

I went back for a Gaudy at my old Oxford College, Merton. It was the first Gaudy I’d been invited to for 9 years, and the first since the choral foundation was set up. A selection of choir members sang … Continue reading

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the sun but not the moon

For the first time in ages I went to evensong at Bath Abbey, sung by a visiting choir in residence for the weekend, in this case the University of Bristol Church Choir. They proved to be one of the better … Continue reading

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On the German border

I made two overseas trips in December, both near the border of Germany. First a short break in Aachen. The Cathedral there had a handsome organ, though its unique shape may give it some acoustic peculiarities (I didn’t hear the … Continue reading

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The Assumption in Milan

I have been fortunate to be in Milan for some major festivals of the Church year, and this year we were there on the feast of the Assumption. I went to Vespers, which included a procession around the building for … Continue reading

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At the enthronement

(adapted from an article written for my church magazine) On June 7th I attended the ‘installation’ (rather as if he were a boiler or a modern artwork) of Peter Hancock as Bishop of Bath and Wells. The doors of Wells … Continue reading

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Dedicating the Dobson organ

It’s not every day you get to go to a 750th birthday event. I attended the dedication evensong for the new organ in Merton College Chapel in Oxford, at which one of my friends and contemporaries was preaching. The choral … Continue reading

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