A message from the Chairman of
The Friends of Coventry Cathedral
July 2024
SENT FROM COVENTRY, the art exhibition sponsored by the Friends of Coventry Cathedral, has proved to be a popular success. I have been talking with visitors to the exhibition and as well as many Coventrians I have met people who have travelled long distances to see art that would otherwise only be available in London.
At the well-attended MEET THE ARTIST event that was held in the John Laing Centre, Paul Catherall, the artist, explained the techniques he uses to an audience that was clearly fascinated by the many examples he gave of his work. He explained the principle of “ Less is More” that he applies to his initial designs and drawings before producing his final prints.
Since the FRIENDS launched the SENT FROM COVENTRY exhibition, the Royal Academy has accepted two of Paul Catherall’s works for its Summer Exhibition. One of the accepted prints is “Underpass” that is part of the Chapel of Industry exhibition.
There is another week of the exhibition SENT FROM COVENTRY to run, so there is just enough time for you to take advantage of it (again?). Visitors to the exhibition are able to pick up miniatures of two prints on display (unless we run out because of the demand!). The exhibition ends on 7th July 2024.
June Ordinations
ON THE 30th June the Rt Rev Ruth Worsley, Acting Bishop of Coventry, presided over The Ordination of Priests in the morning and The Ordination of Deacons later that day.
(photo above)PRIESTS: Matthew Arnold (Edgehill), April Gold (Hillmorton), Robin Griffiths (Berkswell, pictured right), Joshua Grimwood (Styvechale), Emma Harrington (Stratford), Rebecca Henney (Foleshill), Julie Lindsay (Alcester), Cerys Smith (Lillington), Helen Smith (Wellesbourne), Dee Badland (Bedworth), Helen Merrigan (Hillmorton), John Samuel (Finham). (lower photo)DEACONS: Either side of the Bishop at the end of the service stand Rolene Cort (Whitnash), Rebekah Rothnie (All Saints, Coventry), James Sampson-Foster (Rugby), Adrian Thacker (Clifton upon Dunsmore), Luke Thomas (Budbrooke), Modupe Adeoye (Nuneaton).
Coventry Charterhouse
WE WERE ALL impressed by the facilities created back in the middle ages by Carthusian monks when the FRIENDS visited Charterhouse on the London Road.
Two guides were needed as the FRIENDS’ outing proved very popular with members. This is hardly surprising when you consider that the house is only open two days a month - and it is a real gem! I remember attending an educational talk in Charterhouse some 40 years ago at a time when the rooms were clearly furnished with local authority educational furniture – very utilitarian.
Everything is different today. Charterhouse is now the responsibility of the Coventry Historic Trust and has been brought up to date.
Archaeologists have unearthed a great deal of fascinating information about the medieval lifestyle of the resident monks, and much of their work is displayed and explained clearly for visitors. Every effort has been made to render the site accessible, and when funds become available the archaeologists will continue to explore the surrounding areas.
Many thanks to Phil Morris for making all the arrangements.
Where shall we go next? Any suggestions?
The Annual General Meeting will be held on 12th October 2024.
The Friends Council is looking for members with new ideas to share. Could that be you? Are you willing to give it a try?
I Remember It Well
I CAME ACROSS this picture taken in the Cathedral Ruins in 1968. Here is an international entertainer almost 80 years old who visited Coventry that year on his farewell tour of the UK. Can you name him?
ANSWER - at the foot of this newsletter.
Coventry is No.1
RESEARCH INTO THE percentage of attractions classed as "hidden gems" on TripAdvisor reveals that Coventry is in the number one position as a city full of history with things to do and see. The research by “Bounce” discovered that Coventry has the highest percentage of hidden attractions in UK cities. "Coventry is home to 193 attractions, 19 of which are classed as hidden gems on TripAdvisor. The highest-rated hidden gem attraction in Coventry is the Coventry Music Museum.”
Come on in!
If you are enjoying this newsletter and are not yet a member of the Friends of Coventry Cathedral I invite you to join us today. The Friends support the ministry and buildings of Coventry Cathedral so that it can be there for future generations. Joining is easy. Simply use the online
membership application form.
https://www.friendsofcoventrycathedral.org.uk
In 1951 the Coventry Cathedral crypt chapel (then also the temporary Chapel of Unity) was drawn by John E Dodd, one of the members of The Vacation Choir. For ten years after 1948 this chapel housed regular Cathedral worship until New Year's Eve 1958 and the transfer to the Chapel of the Cross in the new undercroft. The crypt chapel shown in the drawing is no longer in use.
THE ASHES OF John Rathbone were interred in the churchyard beneath the spire of old St Michael’s after the Sunday morning service in June. As I stood there in silence I reflected on the life of John who contributed to the Cathedral’s ministry at every stage of his life.
John (pictured left in 1990) was a pre-war chorister in Coventry Cathedral choir. His was one of the voices heard around the world singing The Coventry Carol in the BBC Empire Broadcast on Christmas Day 1940. (newspaper photo below)
He went on to serve the new Cathedral in a number of different ways – including as a choral clerk in Coventry Cathedral Choir under the direction of David Lepine; as a churchwarden, following in the steps of George Rathbone, his father; and as Cathedral Archivist. He was an active member of the Friends of Coventry Cathedral.
But it is John’s contribution after the bombing of the old Cathedral to the re-establishment of the Cathedral choral music tradition to which I draw particular attention in this newsletter.
John Rathbone and John Steane were two of the choristers who sang in the old Cathedral. Singing together, they developed a strong bond of friendship and a shared love of choral music. (John Steane went on in later life to become a leading UK music critic and choral expert, and the author of a number of books on the subject.) The two boys kept an unpublished detailed hand written record of their wartime music activities, which I have recently been privileged to read. They record how a keen group of young people kept alight their musical interests during the dark wartime years. They also record how Coventry Cathedral Choral Evensong was revived in the bombed building after war ended.
As World War II began and the blackout was imposed across the country, a number of Coventry's young musicians started to meet together in each other’s houses to make music. Amongst them were the friends John Rathbone and John Steane.
The evacuation of Bablake School pupils to Lincoln reduced the group for a time (John Rathbone was a pupil at Bablake School) but once the Bablake students returned, there was enthusiasm amongst them all to form a Madrigal Society. The Madrigal Society put together music selections (mainly secular pieces) to present occasional concerts in private homes. As the war years rolled by the Madrigal Society membership was disrupted from time to time by call-ups to national service. John Steane and John Rathbone attended the choir whenever they were available.
Bearing in mind their pre-war grounding as trebles in Coventry Cathedral Choir (singing Byrd, Tallis etc.) it is not really surprising that they both developed an infectious enthusiasm for Tudor music and for Tudor church music in particular.
The large crypt chapel beneath the Cathedral Ruins (pictured in the drawing above) served as a bomb shelter during the war, but when war ended in 1945 it was prepared for worship. In the crypt chapel regular Sunday services at the Cathedral started and they were accompanied by a “parish” choir drawn from the congregation. The two Johns sang in that choir when available, but they also aspired to something more. Their secret ambition was to create in Coventry a Cathedral Choral Evensong such as they had both sung before the war.
In 1948 the Cathedral Ruins were cleared of rubble and the Cathedral buildings tidied up for use. By that time UK university life had re-started and the members of the Madrigal Society interested in singing church music became The Vacation Choir. Provost Howard and Canon Proctor (Precentor) were approached and agreed that The Vacation Choir could sing a Cathedral Choral Evensong.
Holidays and other absences meant that rehearsals took several months. Then, at last, on the 14th August 1948 for the first time since the destruction wrought by the 1940 Coventry Blitz, the building resounded to the music of a Cathedral Choral Evensong. This remarkable return to pre-War normality was picked up by The Coventry Evening Telegraph whose reporter called it “a landmark in the post-war story of Coventry Cathedral”. CRYPTOGRAM (the Cathedral newsletter) recorded the occasion in detail including both the personnel and the music.
After the service the singers posed together in the garden of 59 Rochester Road, Earlsdon for a photograph. In the picture you can see (sitting L to R) Mary Harrison (alto), June M Steane (soprano), Eileen Anstey (soprano) and (standing L to R) John B Steane (piano), A L Barton (bass), John E Dodd (alto) and John Rathbone (tenor). The photo was taken by June Harrison (soprano). Other singers joined The Vacation Choir from time to time at future services.
Following the success of that first Choral Evensong, The Vacation Choir was invited to continue singing Cathedral Choral Evensongs in the crypt chapel.
As the name implies, the members of The Vacation Choir were generally available for choir practice only during university vacations. This restricted the time available to learn new music. Nevertheless, during that first year The Vacation Choir managed to sing six full Choral Evensongs, which became the pattern for the following years until staff for the new Cathedral took up their posts.
In 1950 Alan Stephenson, the Cathedral’s pre-war music director, died and The Vacation Choir arranged an additional Choral Evensong in his memory. Alan Stephenson served the Cathedral as choirmaster from 1934 until the Coventry Blitz. He was a major influence on the lives of both John Rathbone and John Steane. John Steane later wrote about the Stephenson Memorial Service: In a sense the singing itself was of no importance in comparison with the (to us) immense importance of the occasion…. He was a great man, and what is still more rare, a great choirmaster. After the Blessing the congregation stood while the Choir sang “Lord, In Thankful Love Adoring” by Schubert. It was the anthem sung on the last Sunday morning before the Blitz of 14th November 1940. It was the last which Mr Stephenson accompanied in the Cathedral. We were joined for this memorial anthem by Mr George Rathbone and Mr Ernest Smith, who sang the bass and alto parts in the quartet. For them and for John Rathbone and myself, who had sung as boys in the 1940 service, it was an especially moving occasion; and for everybody else, whether they knew Mr Stephenson or not, it must have brought some realisation of the strength of this personality which has always been of so much inspiration to those who sang under him.
Last month I stood in St Michael’s churchyard as John Rathbone’s ashes returned to the Cathedral which had been such an important part of his life and to which he made such a major contribution. I thought of the debt owed by us all to TheVacation Choir for keeping alive in Coventry the Cathedral choral music tradition in those years after the war. The Vacation Choir’s principal members and leaders were John Steane and John Rathbone.
The story of The Vacation Choir did not go entirely unrecorded. 1956 was a key year in Cathedral history and it attracted many news reporters to the city and they often referred to The Vacation Choir in their reports. That year H M Queen Elizabeth laid the foundation stone of the new Cathedral, and Bishop Cuthbert Bardsley was enthroned in the Cathedral Ruins. (And, when recalling 1956, it would be remiss of me not to mention the wedding of two members of The Vacation Choir, John and Mary Rathbone ,formerly Harrison.)
Visiting reporters were often surprised by the quality of the music coming from the chapel beneath the Cathedral Ruins. I reproduce the report that appeared in The Guardian on 4th May 1956.
2024 (BELOW) Last month Jonathan, Tim and Rachel Rathbone gathered with other members of the Rathbone family and friends in St Michael's churchyard when it became the final resting place of their father, John Rathbone.
THE 2024 MOTOFESTConcours d’Elegance was judged in the Cathedral Ruins which you can see in the photo above reflected in the highly-polished bonnet of one of the vehicles competing. The winners were: 1st: Triumph Italia 2000 (Graham Andrews) 2nd: Jaguar XK120 Roadster (Matt Birtwistle) 3rd: Jaguar XJS Celebration (James Tetherton)
COVENTRY CATHEDRAL CHORUS (formerly called St Michael’s Singers) marked the anniversary of its founding with a celebratory Choral Evensong. Worship was led by Canon Mary Gregory and the choir was conducted by Luke Fitzgerald.
The choir was started in 1963 by David Lepine, the Cathedral’s first Director of Music. At the Choral Evensong lessons were read by Paul Leddington Wright (conductor emeritus) and by the well-known television presenter, Pam Rhodes, who is the President of the choir. (photo top left)
Over the refreshments that followed the service a potted history and appreciation was delivered by Kit Lowry, the current Chair of the choir. (photo top right).
The Friends of Coventry Cathedral was founded in 1934. It is an independent Charity No. 1061176 registered in England and Wales, with an annually elected Council.
THE ASHES OF
The two boys kept an unpublished detailed hand written record of their wartime music activities, which I have recently been privileged to read. They record how a keen group of young people kept alight their musical interests during the dark wartime years. They also record how Coventry Cathedral Choral Evensong was revived in the bombed building after war ended.
After the service the singers posed together in the garden of 59 Rochester Road, Earlsdon for a photograph. In the picture you can see 
In a sense the singing itself was of no importance in comparison with the (to us) immense importance of the occasion…. He was a great man, and what is still more rare, a great choirmaster. After the Blessing the congregation stood while the Choir sang “Lord, In Thankful Love Adoring” by Schubert. It was the anthem sung on the last Sunday morning before the Blitz of 14th November 1940. It was the last which Mr Stephenson accompanied in the Cathedral.
The winners were:
