HARRY CHRISTOPHERS

Friends of Cathedral Music has changed not just because of this pandemic, they have been thinking
about this for some time – creating a charity that has a much more robust structure and has a
proper professional team. At present there are volunteers who are absolutely brilliant but there
needs to be a professional fundraiser and a professional team that will be in place by September we
hope . It’s toi raise awareness, to keep the grewta hcoral tradition going.

So it’s keeping the principles of Frinds of Cath Muisc, but putting it on a much stronger basis so it is
able to respond to the challenges that lie ahead, which will be great.

MONEY?

What’s happened recently with the Cathedral Choirs Emergency Find, is that this was started
because of the pandemic and has already raised over £180,000 already, we heard 2 weeks ago that
the Church Commissioners will match our fundraising pouynd for pound up to a million. So when
wer raise one million we will have two, which is phenomenal. And the timetable of that is that
assuming catehdrals get back to some sort of sung services in September the idea is that it helps the
back rows for the rest of the year, and the second phase is that it will help cathedral choirs that are
having difficulites with choristers. Both Anglican and Catholic, by the way. In the long term the CMT
will be the umbrella of quite a few charitable trusts.

This had been in the planning for quite a time, but they brought the announcement forward just to
do something positive, and by the end of August we will be announcing a high-profile ambassador
who is an ex-chorister. Those of us who know and love the cathedral world, this is now a time when
we have to step up and sustain it, and do that in as professional a way as we can.

CATHEDRALS ARE IN TERRIBLE FINANCIAL TORUBLE. ARE CHOIRS VULNERABLE

I think they are, sadly. With the 42 CATHEDRALS OF THE Cof E projected to lose over £28 million, a
lot of them are going to look to music for cuts. We have already had shock scenarios up and down
the country. 12 lay vicars reduced to 6. Those are necessities, but this pandemic mustn’t become an
excuse for cathedrals simply to say “look, let’s get rid of the music, it’s costing far too much”.
Fighting that attitude is part of what the CMT is all about. There have been one or two instances of
cathedrals who have been on the brink of doing that but Peter Allwood (chairman??) persuaded
them out of it. The help is there. But we have to get through the next few months and that won’t be
easy.

I fear there will be one or two casualties. But I hope there will be reductions not wholesale
disbanding of choirs.

AND THAT’S OK?

Thinking back to when I was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, we had six lay vicars, one per part
on each side, and we thought that was great. Then they went up to 12 thanks to endowments and
such like. Now I gather that Canterbury will have to reduce back to six again but they will in time
rebuild. What we don’t want to see is choirs disappearing altogheter

SHEFFIELD – DOES THAT SUGGEST DEANS AND CHAPTERS IN SOME CATHEDRALS USING THE
PANDEMIC AS A COVER, OR EXCUSE, TO GET RID OF TRADITRIONAL CATHEDRAL MUSIC FOR
IDEOLOGICVAL REASONS.

There is a scenario where that could happen. In the case of Sheffield, I think it’s more a case of
things have been dealt with badly. It says a lot that they have had four different directors of music in
four years, and there’s clearly been a breakdown in communications. We have to believe what the
Dean says when he claims that they want to rebuild and have a good choral programme there, and
of course such an aim will have all the support possible from CMT. But at the same one has to think
about all the present choristers, all the investment of time that has been put in by their families, all
the music staff who are now out of a job. What I don’t understand is why the basis of the choir
wasn’t maintained and the rest built around that. It’s all very well Dean and Chapters having
meetings, but they need to communicate clearly to their music staff. This isn’t the first time that this
sort of breakdown has happened. Funnily enough, again at Canterbury not long after |I left there
was a powerful canon who got rid of the choir school – the choristers were saved because another
school took them over. These things aren’t new, they happened in the past but unfortunately Covid
is bringing to light a few too many instances.

In Sheffield if they are building I hope to God that they are looking at the places that are succeeding
with divervity programmes. Look at the brilliant way that Leeds Roman Catholic Cathedral operates
– five or so different choirs, from all the local STATE schools, ticking every single diversity box, Ben
Saunderts doing an amazing job. Places like Bradford, Blackburn and Coventry, too.

HAVE THEY BEEN SLOW TO CHANGE THE IMAGE?

We all have to do better on this. Obviously the cathedrals that have choir schools that are principally
boarders have a much more difficult task ahead of them. They do need to do better but I think they
are very conscious of that. There’s a much broader aspect too. The state of music in state schools at
present is so dire in many places. That is why the Leeds thing is so fantastically encouraging. Their
whole membership comes from inner city state schools, reaches over 4,000 kids weekly. That needs
to be spreading everywhere. It’s crucial to the future of music generally, and cathedral choirs can
play a huge part in that. We have to learn from the places that are really working well.

HOW MUCH HARDSHIP IN LAY CLERKS

A Lot, most have been furloughed, and that comes to an end this month (end of Aug). Lots of our
own Genesis alumni have one back to live with their families. The heart has been ripped out of what
we do. In the Sixteen we have people working at Tesco, and one of our guys is retraining as a
plumber. We made a decision to have funds to be up and going early next year. Our choral
pilgrimage has been put back a year.
TIMETABLE FOR SINGING AGAIN.

We are all waiting on the research by Declan Costello. The results are expected the third week of
August. We will know what happens. The Oxbridge chapels hope to get choristers back rehearsing in
chapels in the first week of September. Same with West Abb, which is a royal peculiar. I find it totally
and utterly bizarre that child choristers are able to sing in their school halls but not in churches or
cathedrals. Someone like Andrew Carwood, director of music at St Paul’s, could give a huge amount
of space to social distancing if he was allowed to do so.

Contiunuity of training children has been broken.

DIVERSITY AND SIXTEEN

Genesis starts 10th year. We decided to start from a different approach. Not to say “it’s not our
problem”, because it is our problem and with the Genesis we have a vehgicle to do something about
it. We know we can’t do it on our own. But what we are aiming to dois set up a bodyt of advisors
who can help us to do this, to get partnerships and collaborations and do more to create divesty
within Gewnesis 16. We need a higher percentage of state schools applying, and we have done. So I
was really pleased with that. Diversity is a really broadranging subject.