My Story

My friend and cathedral colleague Fraser Ellson and I have made the ambitious/mad/foolish decision (depending on your point of view) to complete the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage! We will set off from Guildford at the crack of dawn on Easter Monday, and over the course of about three weeks we will be walking or cycling 790km, or about 500 miles, following the ancient pilgrimage route - the ‘Via Frances’ - from the French side of the Pyrenees all across the north of Spain, ending at the Galician city of Santiago de Compostela, near the Atlantic coast. To cover this distance in only 20 or so days, we must stick to a carefully worked out itinerary – we have to walk an average of 30km or cycle about 70km each day.

Through undertaking this long and physically demanding journey, we aim to raise some money to help support musical causes close to our hearts – in my case supporting the music department at Guildford Cathedral. Fraser is raising money towards funding music provision in the state primary schools where he works (for more info, see his fundraising page here - https://www.gofundme.com/f/primary-music-education)

The Cathedral Choir at Guildford is found at the very heart of the services and other goings on which make up daily life at the Cathedral. Five days a week the choir comes together to rehearse and sings for these services, whether for a quiet Tuesday evensong, major celebrations of the church’s year, or on occasions when people gather together to mark something important or to remember someone they have lost. It is one of the most obviously visible groups of people at the cathedral, and one of the greatest assets which the cathedral has.

Beyond providing the music for services at the cathedral, the choir has a much wider impact. As members of the choir our choristers receive a musical education second to none, and through their singing they also learn the importance of perseverance, concentration, and working as part of a team. They grow in self-confidence as young people, through recognising what they can accomplish as a result of their own hard work and dedication. These skills that they develop go far beyond just music, and will be something they carry with them throughout their lives.

We are incredibly proud of our choristers and lay clerks, and of the things which they achieve by the work they do. Keeping the music department here running does however cost significant amounts of money (over £300,000 every year), and with the cathedral’s finances under serious pressure on all fronts we really need your help to keep doing what we do. The experiences choristers gain through their time in the choir directly shape their future, and can even be life changing – former Guildford choristers and lay clerks can be found performing on concert stages all across Europe and beyond, alongside or as part of some of the world’s leading music ensembles, using the same skills which they developed during their time in our choir stalls. With your support and generosity, we can continue to offer these same opportunities to new cohorts of choristers for many years to come.

The costs of making this pilgrimage are being self-funded, so all the money donated will go directly towards running the choirs at Guildford Cathedral. If you are able to gift-aid your donation, then your generosity will go even further!