A COMMUNITY choir of 1000 members has been formed to welcome the
Lindisfarne Gospels back to the north-east of England.
Rehearsals for the Lindisfarne Gospels Community Choir start
tomorrow at Durham Cathedral's Chorister School, and already more
than 140 individuals and a number of choirs have signed up. A
concert is to take place in July next year, on Palace Green, in
front of the cathedral, which will coincide with the opening of the
Gospels Exhibition in the city.
The Gospels are on loan to Durham from the British Library for
three months, and some of its staff are expected to join the choir
next summer.
The organisers particularly want singers from places along the
route that was taken by the Gospels, and the remains of
Lindisfarne's founder, St Cuthbert, when they were moved during the
ninth and tenth centuries to avoid Viking invaders.
The director of music outreach at Durham Cathedral, Mish Kelly,
said: "We would like to have singers from as far away as
Lindisfarne, out west to Carlisle, and down south to York."
Tomorrow's rehearsal is intended as a welcoming session, and
will feature anything from traditional hymns to songs by The
Beatles. "It is all about the joy of singing, and the more
people who join us the merrier," Ms Kelly said. It is planned to
hold rehearsals in participants' own areas throughout the year.