PRESS RELEASE
£600,000 boost for cathedral music-making
Gloucester Cathedral awarded £49,000
The Friends of Cathedral Music (FCM) announces today it is handing out a record £600,000 to boost
music-making in British cathedrals and churches, the highest grant of £49,000 going to Gloucester
cathedral.
At a time when some cathedral and church music departments are battling with running costs, the
sum goes some way to ensuring that a priceless 1,400 year-old heritage will be preserved for future
generations, the world-renowned charity believes.
The Gloucester award is in support of an endowment grant for choristers and this is £7,000 more
than the total grants the cathedral has received in a period stretching back to 1970. Wells cathedral
receives £37,500 as an endowment grant in support of a choral foundation.
The next highest awards go to Sheffield cathedral for choral scholarships and Ripon cathedral, in
endowment grants for choristers, both receiving £40,000, while Portsmouth and Southwark have
been awarded £35,000.
For the first time, the cathedral of the Isle of Man is included in the list. It will receive an endowment
grant of £10,000 in support of the Director of Music’s salary. Two Welsh cathedrals – Brecon and St
David’s get £30,000 each and one cathedral from the United States, All Saints, Albany will benefit
from a £20,000 cheque in support of organ scholarships.
In announcing the awards, the chairman of the FCM committee which studied 36 requests,
Christopher Gower, former Master of the Music at Peterborough cathedral, said that it was fitting
that in the year that FCM celebrates its diamond anniversary – it was founded in St Bride’s Fleet
Street in 1956 – the highest total ever to be distributed. The sum doubles the amount handed out
last year.
Last month, FCM kick-started an ambitious scheme to raise £10m for its Diamond Fund for
Choristers, at St Paul’s cathedral , where a chorister from each of 60 cathedrals joined the St Paul’s
choir in a unique concert. The organisation has a 4,000 membership.
The full list:
Endowment grants in support of Choral Scholarships:
St. Michael’s, Cornhill: £20k
St. George’s, Beckenham: £25k
Carlisle Cathedral: £25k (over two years)
Portsmouth Cathedral: £35k
Southwark Cathedral: £35k
Sheffield Cathedral: £40k
Endowment grants in support of choral foundations:
St.Botolph’s, Boston: £25k
Leicester Cathedral: £25k
Brecon Cathedral: £30k
Wells Cathedral: £37.5k
Endowment grants in support of choristers:
Guildford Cathedral: £20k (girls)
Salisbury Cathedral: £20k (boys)
Ely Cathedral: £25k (boys)
Ripon Cathedral: £40k (boys and girls)
Gloucester Cathedral: £49k (boys)
Endowment grants in support of Organ Scholarships:
St.John, the Divine, Kennington: £10k
Albany Cathedral, New York: £20k
St.John’s, Ranmoor, Sheffield: £25k
St.Davids Cathedral: £30k
Endowment grant in support of the Director of Music’s salary:
Cathedral of the Isle of Man: £10k
Grants for special purposes:
The Pugin and St.Augustine Research Centre: £1k for the purchase of copies of
‘Liber Usualis’
Liverpool Cathedral: £10k - for the ongoing work of restoration of the Lady Chapel
organ
Blackburn Cathedral: £30k – a further grant towards the new accommodation for
Choral Scholars, including the purchase of a piano
Winchester Cathedral: £30k – towards the costs of the new choir music library,
within the new Song School project.
Ends