By Jill Taylor
It is always nice when you get a lovely surprise! May is normally the month when we welcome the Albion Quartet as part of the Honeymead Festival, led by Tamsin Waley-Cohen. Their chosen programme always fills our performance space in the Nave with the most sublime music, the finest you would hear anywhere in the world. As part of the preparations for the evening our development volunteers, brilliantly orchestrated by Judith Kauntze, give their time to make sure everything is perfect for our guests and ready on hand to serve chilled fizz in the interval.
Fun and sociable fundraising events, like many things, have necessarily had to go by the board and with them the opportunity to raise valuable pennies for the development and sustainability of the Cathedral. Imagine how unexpected it was then to receive an email to say the Honeymead Festival would like to donate £1,500 towards our Chapter House project, as they knew we would lose out on the fundraising opportunity for the evening.
If we can raise the funds, in due course this project will see improvements to both the Chapter House and the adjacent chapel. The intention is to create a small ‘Green Room’, better storage and the addition of some much needed toilets in the area, so that we can in turn better enjoy the Chapter House. Those of you that know the Chapter House will, I am sure, agree with me that it is such a lovely space for meetings, social gatherings and for family activities in the holidays – and also agree that it will benefit greatly from having some ‘facilities’ near at hand!
I was delighted and most grateful to receive such kindness – what a generous surprise.