The Cathedral Music Trust, formerly the Friends of Cathedral Music (FCM), is a charity which seeks to maintain and expand the work of choral foundations of cathedrals, collegiate churches, chapels, and other appropriate places of worship in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. To this end, it makes grants and distributes a number of publications.

History

The Friends of Cathedral Music was founded in 1956 by the Revd. Ronald Sibthorp at a meeting at St Bride's Church Fleet Street. It was prompted by a decision of the Provost of Southwell at Southwell Minster to abolish the Saturday choral evensong so that the lay clerks could watch the weekly football at

Newark-on-Trent Newark-on-Trent () or Newark is a market town and civil parish in the Newark and Sherwood district in Nottinghamshire, England. It is on the River Trent, and was historically a major inland port. The A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road bypasses th ...

. There was also a similar incident at Truro Cathedral. Sibthorp, in an effort to reverse the decline in interest in cathedral music after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, sought to create a promoting organisation the Cathedral Music Advisory Committee. However the committee failed to get off the ground, so he tried a new tack and sent a letter on 2 June 1956 that jump-started a new cathedral music organisation, ''The Friends of Cathedral Music''. Friends of Cathedral Music became the Cathedral Music Trust, a charitable incorporated organisation, in 2020. HRH The Duchess of Gloucester became Royal Patron of the Trust in 2021.

Aims

The Friends of Cathedral Music makes grants to choirs as endowments in support of chorister scholarships, or the purchase of capital equipment such as rehearsal pianos. The aims as spelt out in 1958 were to: # Widening public interest in cathedral services # Supporting and encouraging cathedral chapters # Restoring the pre-war levels of cathedral services # Expanding to churches where there is no choir.

Publications

The Friends of Cathedral Music publishes: *''Cathedral Music'' – a twice-yearly magazine covering a wide range of subjects relevant to the objectives of the charity. *''Singing in Cathedrals'' – a directory of choral services in choral foundations in Great Britain and Ireland. *''Cathedral Voice'' – a twice-yearly newsletter.

List of presidents

* Martin Shaw 1956–1958 * Herbert Howells 1958–1983 * George Guest 1983–2002 * Christopher Robinson 2004– * Harry Christophers

List of chairmen

*Ronald Sibthorpe 1956–1971 * Christopher Hugh Dearnley 1971–1990 * Alan Thurlow 1990–2002 *Professor Peter Toyne 2002– *Jonathan McDonald 2020-

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.cathedralmusictrust.org.uk/ 1956 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1956 Music charities based in the United Kingdom Music organisations based in the United Kingdom Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom Charities based in the Republic of Ireland British church music