A wonderful place to sing!

Today we’ve been to Ripon to sing in the cathedral! It was a wonderful experience singing in the choir and a lovely spot to spend a bit of time on a Saturday afternoon.

We were picked up by coach in Bingley and went on to collect more singers from Baildon arriving in Ripon to meet up with another contingent from Harrogate. Once we’d collected our entry tickets we had time to go across the road to get a coffee and a snack to fortify us for the singing to come.

The Cathedral was holding a home and garden fare, so the main body of the building was full of craft stalls. In front of them in the nave was a lovely Easter garden. 
Before going in we had time for a little walk to the canal and across to the River Skell with a view of the cathedral over the water. We returned via the rear of the cathedral.

There was a succession of choirs singing so we had to be in place at a specific time. We took over from a very big group which were excellent, none had music and they did actions to the songs. It being behind the colourful Rood Screen - 1st extra - the sound was a bit muted but we had a seated audience who seemed to appreciate us. It was certainly a great experience singing there. We were being followed by The Military Wives choir but didn’t have time to stop and listen to them unfortunately as we had to get back to the bus. (Some people were singing again early evening in the Piece Hall in Halifax)

I took the blip as we were leaving as the sun had come out. It was quite windy but it had been a nice dry day. Almost as soon as we’d got on the bus it started to rain and by the time we were dropped off in Bingley the heavens had opened.

Quite glad we’re not singing again this evening though I believe they are having a stage so hopefully they won’t get wet.