How we have helped

Since 1956, we have made grants totalling £5 million to help maintain and develop the work of choral foundations across the UK.

CATHEDRAL CHOIRS’ EMERGENCY FUND, 2020

The closure of places of worship and the silencing of choirs and organs during the Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on cathedrals’ income and their ability to fund their choirs. In response, the Trust set up the Cathedral Choirs’ Emergency Fund in partnership with the Ouseley Church Music Trust and the Choir Schools Association. In 2020, we raised £1 million thanks to the support of our partners, trusts and thousands of individuals. This was awarded in grants to 43 cathedrals across the UK by December 2020.

Together with the matched funding from the Church Commissioners, this brought the total awarded to support choirs in need to £2 million in 2020, ensuring that redundancies of singers for financial reasons were avoided in all Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals across the UK. 

Past Grants Awarded

Coventry Cathedral

The Trust has funded voice training for new choristers at Coventry Cathedral through our Diamond Fund since 2016.

“Coventry Cathedral is enormously grateful to [the Trust] for helping us in the work we are seeking to do among musically-gifted young people from a wide variety of backgrounds across the city of Coventry. Living with difference and celebrating diversity is one of our core values and it’s great to be able to express this so practically and publicly in the life of the Cathedral Choir.” (Canon Precentor David Stone)

St Mary’s RC Cathedral, Middlesbrough

In 2019 a grant was made to support Middlesbrough Cathedral’s Choral Scholarship scheme, which aims to assist young singers to develop their skills as singers and choral conductors. The scheme is vital in providing a stepping-stone for young musicians who aspire to study music at universities and conservatoires, helping nurture the next generation of artists.

St Mary’s, Warwick

St Mary’s, Warwick has a long-established choral tradition and is a major church where a number of prominent cathedral organists have served. In 2019 a grant was made to support an organ scholar to accompany the choirs of boys, girls and men.

York Minster

York Minster Choir were awarded a grant to support bursaries in 2018, helping ensure that talented young singers from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply to join the choir and to thrive there.

“This grant will have a transformative effect on the lives of talented young people with real singing potential. We are immensely grateful to [the Trust] for the award and the huge opportunity that it will bring.” (Former Acting Dean and Canon Precentor Peter Moger)

See who we have helped in recent years

View recipients of our grants