Choir Holiday to Ripon Cathedral 2006
It was an early start right at the beginning of the school holidays, when shortly after 7am on Monday 31st July most of the choir (plus a few ‘extras’) piled into two minibuses and a few cars at St. Peter’s Church. After being blessed and sprinkled with holy water by Father David, they left for Ripon in Yorkshire. Two days later, my husband and I drove up to find out how they were getting on. Ripon is a lovely city, small and friendly, surrounded by beautiful countryside and three rivers. The cathedral faces the town, with a pretty river running behind it. The choir were staying at Ripon Choir school, about five minutes drive from the Cathedral, an enormous building in its own grounds, looking very grand with an impressive entrance rather like a stately home.
The choir were having a great time. As well as practising in the mornings and singing Evensong at the Cathedral, they had already spent a day at Fountains Abbey, where they dressed up as monks and walked around on their guided tour doing some spontaneous chanting led by Roger! (What a treat for the other visitors!) They had also spent the day we arrived in York, visiting the Jorvik Centre and York Dungeon as well as shopping and sightseeing. On Thursday we joined them on a trip to Forbidden Corner, an enchanted folly surrounded by the most amazing countryside. On Friday, most of the choir went to Stump Cross Caverns, while our daughter Anna took us back to Fountains Abbey where she gave us her own brilliant guided tour. On Saturday we had a very interesting guided tour of the Cathedral, then free time to enjoy Ripon. It was St. Wilfred’s day and there was a carnival procession with ‘St. Wilfred’ riding on a horse surrounded by ‘monks’ ending up at the Cathedral (after stopping off at every pub on the way!) for a very unusual celebration service. In his sermon the next day, Father Keith said how wonderful it was to have people coming in to the Cathedral who would not normally do so. There was also a fair in the town square, which most of the choir enjoyed on several occasions during the week. On Sunday, after singing at the morning Eucharist and Evensong, and enjoying lunch at the Unicorn Hotel in the market square, we went our separate ways, whilst most of the choir travelled back to Bexhill.
The best part of the holiday for me was the singing in the Cathedral. It was a joy to hear anthems like They that go down to the sea and Panis Angelicus sung so divinely in such a beautiful setting (very like St. Peter’s but more so!). It was good to see Kit and Emma join the choir for a couple of days, and wonderful to see our own Father Michael being a Chorister for the week. Both preachers on Sunday thanked the choir for transfiguring the worship and asked them to return again very soon. After the morning service, Canon Keith laid on a drinks party for the
choir, where he thanked them. “There is ‘a choir’ and ‘A Choir‘ ” he said, “and you are ‘A Choir!’ ”. As we left the Cathedral after Evensong, I said goodbye to a lady who had been very helpful on our arrival and had been present at every service, clearly enjoying the music. She told me that she had looked up Bexhill on the map, but could only find a very small place on the coast, “but surely you are a city with a choir like this” she said. “That’s us, I said, “small but great!”.
Very well done to St. Peter’s choir and all the helpers and organisers. You’ve but Bexhill on the map!
Kate Graebe