Blackburn Cathedral Choir took part in one of the country’s biggest church music occasions this week, singing beneath the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral in London at the 371st Festival of Clergy Support Trust.
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The service, held on Tuesday 12 May, brought together choirs from Blackburn Cathedral, St Albans and St Paul’s Cathedral. Around 1,500 people attended.
The festival is described as the oldest choral music event of its kind in the world and is a long-standing date in the Church, City of London and choral music calendars. Over the years, composers including Edward Elgar have written music specially for it.
The service included a procession involving The Lady Mayor of London, bishops, Masters of Livery Companies, judges of the Old Bailey, representatives of the City of London and other civil dignitaries.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Revd. and Rt Hon. Dame Sarah Mullally, one of the Trust’s Honorary Presidents, gave the sermon.
Clergy Support Trust is the largest and oldest charity focused on the wellbeing of clergy and their families. The service was held to honour and give thanks for the ministry of clergy and those who support them.
After the service, Blackburn Cathedral’s Director of Music John Robinson said it had been “such an honour” to be invited to take part in what he called “the oldest continuous music festival in the world”.
He said the scale of the occasion gradually became clear to the choir’s young choristers, who travelled down from Blackburn by coach, leaving at 6am for the six-hour journey to London.
Robinson said the choristers “had the time of their lives” and described the chance to sing in St Paul’s, alongside two of the country’s leading cathedral choirs and in front of 1,500 guests, as a hugely positive experience.
He also said the Blackburn group received warm feedback from colleagues including Carl Jackson RVO, long-term Director of Music at The Chapel Royal, Jonathan Mayes, COO of Cathedral Music Trust, and Andrew Carwood MBE, Director of Music at St Paul’s Cathedral.
Also attending from Blackburn were the Revd. Canon Andrew Horsfall, Interim Dean of Blackburn, and The Bishop of Burnley, The Rt Revd. Dr Joe Kennedy.
Blackburn Cathedral said its choir tradition on the site goes back more than 1,000 years. Today, the choir includes girls and boys from age seven, drawn from a range of local schools, and offers a free musical start for children, most of whom arrive with no previous musical experience.
In 2024, Clergy Support Trust said it supported almost 2,800 households, awarding more than £6 million across over 6,700 grants.
