Three choristers joined Salisbury Cathedral Choir for the first ‘in person’ Choral Evensong since Christmas.

Sunday, May 2 marked a slow return to ‘normal’, and the trainee choristers, or probationers, were admitted to the choir during the first ‘in person’ Choral Evensong since Christmas.

Safiya Laycock-Wright, Mollie Johnson and Cecilia Davies were welcomed to the choir in a specially choreographed, Covid-safe service, at which they received their chorister medals and distinctive green robes.

This year is a significant anniversary for the cathedral girls’ choir. In October, it celebrates the 30th anniversary of its founding, the first English Cathedral to allow girls to sing in parity with boys.

The special Evensong was followed by the traditional ‘bumping’ ceremony unique to Salisbury Cathedral Choir. The boys’ time-honoured tradition involves bumping newly-admitted chorister’s heads on a special stone opposite the Vestry. The girls’ ceremony is equally quirky and takes place in the Trinity Chapel where girls are bumped on the head with a giant prayer book containing the names of all girl choristers admitted since 1991, when the girls’ choir was founded.

Mollie Johnson, a doctor’s daughter from Salisbury, is keen on sport and reading, as well as playing flute and the piano. Her mother works at Southampton Hospital.

David Halls, Director of Music at Salisbury Cathedral said:

“It has been a tough year for all musicians, particularly those that work together to perform, like choirs and orchestras. Virtual rehearsing and performing isn’t a substitute for singing collectively. That having been said, both the boys and girls are singing remarkably well – perhaps it is the sheer pleasure of being together again that has got them going.”

Choir recruitment has been hard hit too.

Voice Trials due to take place in January and February were pushed back to Sunday, July 3 – and the 2022 recruitment season gets underway not long after, with the Be A Chorister for a Day event on Saturday, October 2.

Find out more at: chorister.recruitment@salcath.co.uk, or 07979 378926.

Application forms can be downloaded via the website: https://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/worship-music-cathedral-choirs/choir-recruitment