Other Old Choristers' Associations
To mark the closing of Exeter Cathedral School at the end of this academic year, Choral Evensong on Tuesday 30th June was A service of Thanksgiving for Exeter Cathedral School.
Due to the expected numbers attending, the service was held in the nave and extra seating was laid out between the choir stalls and the organ. These provisions were well-founded, as the service was attended by over 700 people (763 to be precise, if the choir and clergy are included!). The congregation included several previous Directors and Assistant Directors of Exeter Cathedral Music, former choristers and members of the back row, two former ECS headmasters, the school governors, as well as many current and former members of school staff and pupils, with their associated families.
Exeter Cathedral Old Choristers' Association provided a drinks reception afterwards in the cathedral.
Order of service:
Conductor: Timothy Noon - Director of Music
Organist: Michael Stephens-Jones - Assistant Director of Music
Responses: Michael Walsh
Hymn: I, the Lord of sea and sky (last verse arranged Timothy Noon)
Psalm 150 - O Praise God in his holiness
First lesson: Isaiah 40: 25-31
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis: St Paul's Service - Howells
Second lesson: Luke 24: 13-35
Anthem: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen - Brahms
Sermon: The Ven. Hilary Dawson - Canon Treasurer (former Chaplain and teacher at ECS, and parent of former Exeter chorister Michael Dawson)
Prayers: read by Cressida Parsons (Chair ECOCA) and two ECS pupils
Hymn: Angel-voices ever singing
Organ Voluntary: An Occasional Trumpet Voluntary - Patrick Gowers
A garden party was held on the afternoon of Saturday 27th June in the Bishop's Palace garden to celebrate the choir's year and make presentations to choristers who were leaving their Exeter choir journey early.
The party was hosted and supported by the Exeter Cathedral Old Choristers' Association and the Exeter Cathedral Choir Association.
Evensong rehearsal - some of the singers, and later joined by the adults of the Cathedral Choir
One of the highest-ever attended Annual Reunions was celebrated on Easter Monday 2026. The Dean, Jonathan Greener, summed it all up so well in the Cathedral Newsletter of 10th April:
"...we welcomed back to the Cathedral our Old Choristers – as we do every year on Easter Monday. This year we reached a new record, at least in my time here [ECOCA web editor - and also in my time since 1976, with the possible exception of the 25 year anniversary in 1989], of 164 singers. [...] the sound was enormous, and inspiring. One of the things our Old Choristers’ festival shows is the impact of singing in the Cathedral Choir, where people learn not just musical skills, but an enthusiasm for music and an attention to detail, all of which last a lifetime.
It is also a real boost for our Choristers to welcome the returnees. Not only had they sung a full service on Palm Sunday followed by the St John Passion, but they had delivered no fewer than five choral services during the Triduum. They were understandably verging on the weary by the time Easter Monday morning arrived. [...] So not only are the choral reinforcements welcome, but the choristers want to prove that they are at least as talented and enthusiastic as their forebears. It was wondrous to watch them giving their all, and focusing intently on Timothy Noon, our Director of Music, who is second to none in drawing energy and life and beautiful music from the youngsters before him.
Although I’m not sure this is based on statistical evidence, we always claim this is the largest Old Choristers’ festival in the country – and it’s certainly hard to imagine anywhere with a greater, more enthusiastic crowd. We are as a Cathedral truly blessed to have this support from our Old Choristers and are very grateful both to the Committee for their immaculate organisation and to all those who give up their Bank Holiday Monday to travel to Exeter for a rip-roaring sing. Next year, do make a note to come along to the Cathedral on Easter Monday, and I imagine this year’s timings will continue: 11:30am for the Choral Eucharist and 3pm for Choral Evensong. But do arrive early for a decent seat at Evensong – on Monday we just managed to squeeze 390 people into the Quire (another record?), with a further 60 sitting in the nave. [editor - there were even congregation sitting on the altar and pulpit steps in the Quire!]
Programme:
10.30 Practice in the Cathedral
11.30 Choral Eucharist: OCs joined the Cathedral Choir for:
Mass: Missa Sancti Nicolai – Haydn
Anthem: Ave verum – Mawby
12.55 Cooked Lunch at the Chantry
14.00 Rehearsal in the Cathedral
15.00 Evensong: OCs joined the Cathedral Choir for:
Introit: Hail, gladdening light – Wood
Canticles: The Gloucester Service – Howells
Anthem: Blessed city, heavenly salem – Bairstow
16.00 Reception in the South Transept
17.00 Annual General Meeting (Chapter House)
19.30 Dinner at Mercure Southgate Hotel, Southernhay East
Guest Speaker: The Dean of Exeter, Jonathan Greener
Tea after evensong
As many former choristers have probably heard, due to financial pressures being faced by Exeter Cathedral School, a decision was made by the school Governors at the beginning of 2026, to close the school in July 2026.
Choristers will be attending Exeter School.
A new addition to this website is the memoirs of Denis Vercoe, who was a chorister at Exeter between about 1925 and 1928. His time at Exeter included singing on the first LP recording the choir ever made. He was one of the choristers shown in the photo below, carrying the bride's train at the wedding of the Dean's daughter in 1928. His chorister-world was very different from today!
The current choir's Exeter Cathedral Choir Association has an essential aim of raising money for enrichment activities for the choristers and to help fund choir tours. You can support this at no cost to you, by simply doing your online shopping using 'Easyfunding'
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/exetercathedralchoirassoc/
Over £1,540 has been raised so far this way!