Three new girl choristers admitted to the Salisbury Cathedral choir and four more promoted

Four other girl choristers were also promoted to senior positions at Evensong at Salisbury Cathedral on Sunday, October 2.

The new choristers all have strong cathedral connections.

Daisy’s brother Harry sings with the boys choir; Harriet’s father is the director of music at Bishop Wordsworth; and Carys’ father is a Lay Vicar in the cathedral choir.

Like the boys, girl choristers are ‘bumped’ into the choir in a ritual that began more than 30 years ago.

In keeping with the boys’ bumping tradition, each new girl chorister is lightly tapped on the head with an enormous prayer book into which their names are inscribed afterwards.

Four other choristers - Tilly, Mary, Faith and Ava - were promoted to senior positions during the same service.

The new choristers can now look forward to playing their part in the upcoming Advent and Christmas Services including the magnificent Advent Procession, Darkness to Light which takes place at the end of November.

Choristers will also help to host the Cathedral’s Be A Chorister for a Day event, which takes place at 1.15pm Saturday October 8.

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This year, along with special T-shirts and the chance to sing with the cathedral choir at Evensong, visiting children will make a video Christmas card, which they can send out to friends and family. Evensong is also being recorded and each child will get their own personal copy.

David Halls, director of music, said: “During lockdown we started livestreaming and recording services, and experimented with lots of different online musical activities, so when we were planning this year’s Be a Chorister for a Day it seemed logical to do something digital and send children away with a special memory of their time ‘being a chorister’.”

For more details, contact Catherine Mitchell on musicofficer@salcath.co.uk.