Tour Reports 2016

Back: Tours 2020 - 2016 

Peterborough Cathedral - April 2016 

In early April, a large group of choir members (and a small number of spouses) arrived in Peterborough by train, car or coach, looking forward to a weekend of singing in the beautiful building that is Peterborough Cathedral.  An impressive limestone edifice, the cathedral grew out of an early monastic settlement in the Anglo-Saxon period.  Much of the extant architecture today is Norman, following the rebuilding of the Benedictine Abbey in the twelfth century and it is one of only a few twelfth century buildings in England to have remained largely intact.  

 Surviving the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it became an Anglican Cathedral. 

We stayed at The Park Inn, a city centre hotel, ideally situated for the short walk to the cathedral, which took us through the pedestrianised main shopping street to Cathedral Square, a large open area in front of the Guildhall, where fountains spurted intermittently from the paving.  The hotel staff were very helpful and managed to cope with our myriad queries, dietary requests and a medical crisis.  The rooms were spacious and comfortable, if lacking a little in terms of storage space.  Breakfast was the usual buffet-style, with a good selection of alternatives and, for the evening meal, there was usually a choice of three starters, main courses and desserts (chosen in advance).  Both food and service were good and we were very well looked after.

The Becket Chapel was not only very close to the Cathedral (serving as our choir room), it was also very handy for coffee shops and cafés/restaurants in the city centre for our lunch and coffee breaks, as the Cathedral doesn’t have a refectory currently.  Nor does it have an organ – that is to say, the main cathedral organ is currently out of commission whilst it undergoes re-pitching from ‘Old Philharmonic’ pitch to ‘Standard’ concert pitch. William Nicholson, our organist, had to use a much smaller organ for our services over the weekend instead, which he did with great success.

We were welcomed to the Cathedral by Canon Bruce Ruddock, the Precentor, who had also to learn the Benson Responses in order for him to sing the cantor’s part with us at Friday and Saturday Evensongs.  We also met Canon Jonathan Baker, Canon Missionary and Acting Dean, who took the Sunday services.  Both the clergy and vergers’ team were friendly and welcoming – even giving us tea and biscuits before Friday and Saturday Evensongs, which were very much appreciated.

Sunday morning Eucharist was held in the Nave, with its unique wooden painted ceiling with a lozenge-shaped pattern, and so we moved to the nave choir stalls behind the nave altar, giving us a closer view of the Hanging Crucifix, installed in 1975.  A well-known mass setting, Sumsion in F, was complemented by a lesser-known motet, Gounod’s Ave Verum, which we sang during the distribution and which was very moving.

A longish lunch break on the Sunday allowed those of us intending to travel home that day opportunity to get a hot meal before we returned to the Cathedral for the final time – our last rehearsal and Evensong. All too soon we were handing in our robes to Sandra and disappearing in our various directions, no doubt humming snatches of some of the last pieces we had sung.

A very enjoyable weekend, singing in a setting both beautiful and with much historical appeal.  Our thanks, as ever, must go to John Naylor for his preparation work beforehand in choosing music both suitable for us and for services in a Cathedral and for his patience with us during the weekend!  Thank you also to William Nicholson for coming to play the organ for us and for his apparently unfailing good humour.

We look forward to St Alban’s in the summer.

Sheila Whitta

St Albans Cathedral - August 2016 

The arrival of August 2016 with a good weather forecast, were good prospects for the upcoming singing weekend with the OUCC at St. Alban’s Cathedral.

As is our custom, we settled into the weekend with a rehearsal where we could begin to familiarise ourselves with well known music as well as investigating a few new items. As always, John had chosen some new and challenging psalm chants for us, along with great Elgar and Macmillan anthems.

Luckily for me the journey was rather short, allowing time to enjoy a walk through the local Verulamium Park, a quick wander around town and a brief visit to the cathedral to soak up the magnificence of this building and one that I had not before had the chance to sing in.  With the excitement of the weekend building it was great to arrive at the hotel and begin catching up with fellow and new OUCC members.

Our first evening meal together allowed more time for catching up and we were looked after well by the hotel staff, who served us good food from a wide range menu. Our hunger satisfied, it was time to get in a good nights rest.

At the cathedral we settled into the crypt area, our base for the weekend. A good size and comfortable area for us to rehearse in, with good access to the cathedral itself and the town. Rehearsals got under way and we made good progress on getting through a lot of the music. With the town being close it was not long before a group of us found a relaxing pub garden in which to eat lunch and then it was back to preparing for our first evensong.

Singing in the cathedral was a joy. With such a number of us, we did take up quite a space! The enclosed choir did help us to listen carefully to each other and work towards building the best sound we could make. This led to a good first evensong and a solid music foundation on which to build over the forthcoming services.

It is probably fair to say that we were a little tired on Saturday morning and that it took a while to get going both physically and musically. This said, by the afternoon we were awake and following a good rehearsal in the cathedral, working on Sunday’s music as well as that evening’s service, evensong was set to go well. A well sung psalm and Elgar anthem, (played fabulously well by Will), contributed to a really well led evensong service.  

Sunday arrived and after a good breakfast there was some time for those not staying the extra night to pack up, before a later morning rehearsal and service. The choral Eucharist was led confidently by the choir, who performed each section of the sung service with good control and musicality. A point backed up by many of the cathedral staff and clergy, led by the sub-dean who invited us for drinks following the morning service.

A long afternoon break was followed by a final rehearsal and early evening evensong, performing Rutter’s Christiana Canticles and a Macmillan anthem. Yet another successful OUCC event had come to a close and with goodbyes said, we look forward to further developing socially and musically when I am sure many of us will attend the services planned at Liverpool in the spring of 2017.

As always it is important to thank John and Will, along with Ester and all committee members for their hard work behind the scenes in making each of our OUCC events run as smoothly as possible as well as being hugely enjoyable.

Peter Wood (Tenor)

Back: Tours 2020 - 2016