By Caroline Hull

This autumn the Cathedral has hosted several classical concerts, among them a performance of Haydn’s Creation by the Lancaster Singers and the Lancashire Chamber Orchestra, as well as concerts by the Russian Brass Alliance and Northerly Winds, an award winning wind quintet based in Manchester. A weekend workshop on Gregorian chant, run by internationally known expert Dr. Mary Berry, was extremely well attended and the resulting enthusiasm for plainsong has led to the founding of the Schola Gregoriana of Lancaster. Other events for November include an eagerly anticipated lecture on the Persecuted Church given by Crossbench Peer, Lord Alton of Liverpool, and a performance of TS Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral.

The schedule of concerts and events for the first half of 2006 will be available throughout the Diocese shortly after Christmas. Please take a look and consider attending an event or two; come along on your own or make a block booking for your parish group.

The decision to increase the number of cultural events hosted by the Cathedral was taken for two reasons. Firstly to make greater use of the stunning interior, superb acoustics and large seating capacity. Secondly to raise funds for the refurbishment of the Cathedral’s glorious Victorian pipe organ.

Canon Stephen Shield, Dean of St Peter’s Cathedral and a talented organist, will present a number of organ concerts, recitals and sponsored hymn sing-a-longs throughout the Diocese in aid of the Organ Restoration Fund. The first ‘Meet the Organ’ evening will be held in the Cathedral on 18 November; Canon Shield and an enthusiastic team of organists are working together to provide an extremely informative (and highly entertaining) presentation on the workings of the pipe organ, its history and how we can best work together to preserve our Cathedral organ for future generations. The highly acclaimed Maraini Quartet (Sara Wolstenholme and Kirsty Mangan, violin; Ella Brinch, viola; Lydia Shelley, cello) will play at St Peter’s Cathedral on Friday 2 December (7:30pm). Tickets (£10; concessions £7.50) are available from Cathedral House (tel: 01524 384820; email: cathedralevents@hotmail.co.uk ).

The next time you find yourself in Lancaster with a few minutes to spare, consider stopping by the Cathedral to the see the amazing pipe organ model made by children of the Parish of St Peter’s Cathedral and St Thomas More. Built in conjunction with the Heritage Open Day in Lancaster and the Cathedral Organ Restoration Appeal, the organ is over ten feet tall and constructed entirely from cardboard tubes of varying sizes. The children had a very busy day decorating the console and the various pipes (well over one hundred!), with a number of (slightly) older parishioners helping to assemble the organ where it now stands at the west end of the Cathedral. To learn more about how you could support the Cathedral Organ Restoration Appeal, please contact the Cathedral Events Co-ordinator, Caroline Hull, at Cathedral House, Balmoral Road, Lancaster LA1 3BT (tel: 01524 384820)

THE CATHEDRAL REACHES OUT
Canon Stephen Shield, Dean of St Peter’s Cathedral in Lancaster, will play a series of concerts on pipe organ throughout the Diocese over the coming months. Admission to these events is free, with all donations going toward the Cathedral Organ Appeal. There are three events scheduled for November:

Saturday, 12 November, 7.30pm Organ Concert and Hymn Sing-a-long St Mary and St Michael, Garstang
Friday, 18 November, 7.30pm Meet the Organ Evening St Peter’s Cathedral, Lancaster
Saturday, 26 November, 3pm Sponsored Hymn-a-thon and 8.15pm Evening Recital English Martyrs, Preston

For more information, please contact the host parish or Caroline Hull, Cathedral Events Co-ordinator (tel: 01524 384820; email: cathedralevents@hotmail.co.uk )

CATHEDRAL TALKS
The autumn and winter season of lectures in the Cathedral Hall continues with a talk on Wednesday 2nd November at 7.30pm by Dr. Geoffrey Turner entitled "Music in Church". Dr. Turner is President of the Catholic Theological Association and Vice-President of the equivalent European body. He will talk on the role of music in the Church historically and its position today. Dr. Turner assures us that no knowledge of music is needed in order to appreciate his talk. He will illustrate the talk with extracts from recordings.