National Volunteers Week – Chester Cathedral

“Volunteering in the Nave Choir gives me a sense of achievement, a sense of purposeful practice, a skill, and a fabulous new circle of friends and I feel very fortunate to be part of it.”

Victoria, a member of Chester Cathedral’s Nave Choir

As part of our week-long celebration of our unsung army of volunteers without whom our cathedrals would be so much less, today we shine the spotlight on Chester Cathedral’s Nave Choir – the oldest volunteer choir in the UK.

The oldest serving voluntary choir in the UK – Chester

It celebrated its 150th anniversary in November 2017 and is the oldest continuously serving voluntary choir in the UK.

It was established on Advent Sunday in 1867 by the then Dean John Saul Howson, in the first year of his tenure, and is indicative of the fervour with which he approached a major refurbishment of the Cathedral and its worship in the 1860s and 70s – part of his ambition to break down barriers and broaden the appeal of sung worship so everyone felt welcome.

Soon after its establishment, it was reported, the 200-strong Nave Choir were able to attract some 2,000 people to worship at Chester Cathedral.

The Nave Choir represented Dean Howson’s efforts to broaden the appeal of sung worship to ‘ordinary’ people and provide an alternative to the regular services in the quire that were ‘attended only by the elite.’ Although initially arranged quite informally, by November 1870 it is clear that the Nave Choir – as it had become known – was a more organised affair, with the lay clerk and master of choristers Edward Cuzner as their regular conductor.

Chester Cathedral Nave choir remains a voluntary choir with a high standard of singing. It is directed by the professional musicians of the Cathedral’s Music Department. It continues to be a valued part of the Cathedral’s Music Department, providing sung worship for Compline most Sunday evenings throughout the year, several large services, Evensong, and occasionally joining parishes in the Diocese for their worship.

Much of this information was gathered from a Guide to the Exhibition at Chester Cathedral Library to mark the 150th anniversary of the instillation of the Very Revd John Saul Howson as Dean of Chester and his Establishment of the Nave Choir which can be read here.

We talked to Victoria, one of the members of the Nave Choir, who shared her story and told us what being part of the Nave Choir means to her:

“I feel very privileged to give my time to sing in the Nave Choir, the country’s longest-running Cathedral voluntary choir.

“I first fell in love with choral music at the age of 13 when I was taken to a service at Chester Cathedral and heard a John Rutter anthem. From there, I joined the Nave choir as a teenager and then subsequently was the first Head Girl of the first Girls’ choir at the Cathedral in 1996. I have continued to sing in chamber choirs ever since, and music has helped me through stressful times including through Medical School, working long hours as a Junior Doctor and now during a busy role as a GP.

“My three children all sing and it is fabulous to have a shared interest.

“Volunteering in the Nave Choir gives me a sense of achievement, a sense of purposeful practice, a skill, and a fabulous new circle of friends and I feel very fortunate to be part of it,’ she added.