Tour Reports 2026

Lincoln Cathedral - April 2026

Once again, we arrive for a weekend with the OUCC, this time in Lincoln.   Seeing the Cathedral from a distance, then seeing it on the signposts, and entering the city we start spotting our fellow choristers as we get close to the hotel.   All confirmation that the weekend is here after all that practising.

We found the Lincoln Hotel to be very welcoming – with a letter accompanying our keycards.  Despite the fact that most of us are old enough to remember what letters are, several of us failed the ‘initiative test’ of reading it before attempting to fill in the registration card with its cryptic ‘breakfast’ question and trying to find a wi-fi code by such methods as asking the reception staff who gently referred us to the letter (while answering the question politely if a trifle resignedly!).  As we were to find the staff were very helpful and attentive.

Once we had done a circuit round the outside of the cathedral to find the way in, we did another one round the cloister to find the hidden door to the Catherine Wickham (rehearsal) room.  Rather fewer stairs to access it than the official song-school, but we filled it to capacity, to the extent that we did not do much practice standing up, but waited for the practises in the choir stalls. Mind you, despite John’s dire anecdote about one visiting choir being sent home in disgrace before they had completed their services, we must have been doing something right as we were given Saturday morning off. 

Although the practice room had something of a lacklustre piano, (there were other descriptions, but we don’t want our wonderful hosts to be offended) it was graced by Willow, so we felt we would be in safe hands.  Although we had our traditional practice on arrival, it feels as if work really begins on Friday, and we were grateful that Pam had brought special cake to fortify us.

The Friday evensong was based around plainsong responses and psalm, complemented by William Byrd’s second service and an anonymous 16th c Motet ‘Rejoice in the Lord alway’, which was not as hard as it seemed at first, and very suitable for Eastertide.

Plainsong is a bit of a challenge for some of us – who, if you are like me, nervously look through the words of the psalm when it arrives in the inbox, thinking ‘should I or should I not practise it, in case I get the wrong interpretation stuck in my head?’ and make some attempt to familiarise myself with the words and general shape.

And then there was the glorious Easter Office hymn, with two tunes.  One of which was ‘normal’ and one which had had a quasi-plainsong rhythm.  It took a while to grasp the esoteric system of fitting the words to the notes, with some lines leaving us with rather more notes than we quite knew what to do with………  Fortunately, the warm and friendly Succentor explained that it was his responsibility to sing some of the verses, and the starred ones were already missed out… so that reduced the opportunities for error somewhat!

It was exciting to sing Byrd’s Second Service in a place where there is such a strong connection with the composer and there was a memorial stone in the quire floor for him as well as a facsimile of one of his part-books in the cathedral’s Exhibition gallery.  We didn’t hear him turning in his grave after we had sung.  I do hope that was not only because the stone was not actually over his grave, which is somewhere else entirely:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9927927/william-byrd

The ins and outs of processing can be a minefield for a visiting choir, and although we were actually in the same location and formation for all the services, we did have a slight expansion of numbers for Saturday and Sunday which affects lining up.  It also increased the number of basses by 50% to an unholy trinity (sorry for that Charles, David and Derek, you are actually wonderful), as well as some further ladies to fit into the wee-boy-chorister-sized choir stalls.  But perhaps we will get braver in not actually trying to dodge mines (of which there are not so many in our cathedrals) and keep to closer to the ideal of straight lines.

I hope John felt that the Saturday morning helped to keep our voices fresh for Colin’s wonderful canticles in the evening, and the allotted Psalm verses to 3 chants. We also had two joyful Easter anthems for Saturday and Sunday evensongs, as well as the Rutter ‘Christiana canticles’ on Sunday.

There was certainly a lot of fresh air in Lincoln.  I believe I heard somewhere that it comes straight across from Siberia, that may be apocryphal, but there were certainly a few blasts of cold air that made it into the Cathedral.  Rain had threatened to spoil our free time for a bit, but in fact it mostly held off, so that there was a nice opportunity for some of us to see the historic city.  Apart from the cathedral, it offers its castle, museums and art galleries, find some Lincoln plum bread or just test our mettle on the famous ‘Steep Hill’ and live to tell the tale. 

Within the Cathedral itself, we were warned to allow extra time as it has the largest area of any cathedral, and like on so many of our tours we have a sense of privilege and to be exploring it from the inside.  It had a lovely cloister and a deeply resonant bell chiming the hour.  It houses the moving wood sculptures, ‘Forest Stations of the Cross’ by William Fairbank, around the walls.  I also loved the ‘Gilbert Pots’ – large ceramic candle holders that I later found out were meant to represent nuns and monks of a local monastic order founded by St Gilbert of Sempringham in Lincolnshire, that were fashioned by Robin Welch in honour of the 900th anniversary of St Gilbert in 1984.  are

https://lincolncathedral.com/conservation-of-a-gilbert-pot/

The Eucharist on Sunday was also in the Quire, and although a few of us found the Darke in E a little high, the acoustic made the most of our voices, and we could enjoy the Mildinhall anthem – ‘Bread is blessed and broken’.

In the week after Easter it was good to enjoy the season of celebration with our choir friends and the Cathedral community and with special thanks to Ester and the team who make this all happen, I look forward to seeing you again before too long. 

Gillian Hogg

Exeter Cathedral - August 2026

Thursday 13th

After much travel in the heatwave by car through the dust and drought seen from the M5 or by train with standing room only or by plane to Exeter airport, it was a relief for us to be greeted by the tranquil setting of the River Exe and the Cathedral.

We checked into the Mercure and the majority then made it to the first rehearsal. It was in the Song School. It was rather small to fit us all in comfortably but with some boxing and coxing we slotted and squeezed into place. There were familiar faces and new faces who were made very welcome over the days ahead and whom I hope enjoyed the weekend.

The first night is always an example of the collegiate spirit we enjoy to the full and so it was.

Friday 14th

Despite a late Evensong (5.30pm), the day was pretty full on. We were a full complement. Plainsong can be difficult when everyone sings in unison. There was plenty of it. For example, as well as a set of Responses there were 2 Psalms totalling 51 verses excluding the Glorias. The short solo passages in the Byrd “Teach me O Lord” by Elaine were sublime. Having run through much of the other work for the following two days, I thought we were well on the way to the high standards of the past. There was of course an elephant in the room. Tomorrow was the 15th of the month. See Saturday…….

Up to this point, our Director of Music, so as not to over rehearse, announced we could have Saturday morning off to sight-see etc. That meant staying up late at the Mercure. A small group after dinner took advantage and went off down memory lane. “Do you remember black and white television? Do you remember the Clangers?” (pause for a round of strangled whistling). “Do you think Dylan the hippy rabbit in the Magic Roundabout really was stoned on psychedelic mushrooms. I thought Ermintrude was doubtful too and where were Dougal’s legs?” Before the intellectual content reached levels worthy of the Oxford University Debating Society, the group immediately disbanded and went to bed.

Saturday 15th

Leisurely breakfast. Sight-seeing. Some to the quayside: some to the seaside (at Exmouth). A guided tour round the Cathedral with its huge medieval vaulted ceiling, the world’s longest uninterrupted ceiling according to the brochure, its 14th century oak Bishop’s Throne, its 15th century unique astronomical clock in the North Aisle, and its many other features – it was founded by Edward the Confessor in the 11th century after all.

Now the elephant. Is 78 your favourite number? If so, you were in for a treat. Psalm 78. It is the specific Psalm appointed for the 15th evening in the month if you are following the 30-day cycle of Psalms in the BCP. It had 73 verses, 7 different chants, 3 changes of key and lasted over 15 minutes and tells the stories of the people of Israel through their past with their wanderings in the wilderness and the plagues of Egypt. When we performed it this Evensong, we had rehearsed it, I think, 4 times. The reason we accomplished it without detriment to the rest of the choral passages was because of the masterful arrangement by John turning the story from one section to the next. The chants were familiar thankfully but the concentration and diction had to be total. The various musical transitions, I thought, were without fault. We then sailed through Dyson in F and finished with Richard Shephard’s ‘Secret of Christ’ with the beauty it deserved.

After Evensong, we were all invited back to the Deanery for drinks outside in the garden—a very relaxed end to the day and all within walking distance of the Cathedral – 78 steps perhaps?

Before I leave Saturday, I must mention the superb solos from Jan with us for the first time and the bass renditions from Jack in the Dyson, both setting the scene wonderfully for the rest of us to follow.

Sunday 16th

Early start. Rehearsal at 9.00. Eucharist in the Nave at 10.00 with live streaming. Evensong 4.00pm. Mixture of modern (Benson ‘Send out thy light’) and old (Rachmaninov ‘Bogoroditse’) – both sung quietly (as written) for grateful throats from yesterday. We thereafter had a long rest for the remainder of the morning to mid-afternoon. Evensong with another young modern composer for the Responses, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, whose setting for the Lord’s Prayer in particular deserves special mention – lovely. We polished off another Psalm (17 verses, 2 chants this time) with consummate ease and finished the weekend with Macmillan’s ‘The Lamb has come for us’ with a flourish.

Throughout these 4 days we were very grateful for the accompaniment which Graham Eccles gave us both in rehearsal and in the Cathedral on piano and organ in the services and subsequent voluntaries. Not forgetting the 3 Evensongs either where we followed and listened to Peter’s unhurried and confident lead with the Collects. Perfect setting. 

Understandably quite a few stayed over the Sunday night to get home in comfort the next day – humming snippets from Noble in B minor to ourselves no doubt.

A very enjoyable weekend in Devon. The weather started perhaps too hot for comfort but became cooler.

We got through the tour confidently, all the more so by the assured musical direction from John coupled with the calm administration given to us all by Ester both of whom have our respect and grateful thanks.

Patrick Hay

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