FORMER members of Chester Cathedral Choir are being invited to a grand reunion later this year.

During the weekend of August 12, former members will be reunited in a visiting choir that will sing at the Cathedral’s services throughout the weekend.

The event is a great opportunity for former choristers to sing together again and reminisce about all the good times they enjoyed during their youth.

The Chester Cathedral Choristers’ Association has organised annual reunions for many years. However, as co-organiser and professional soprano, Emily Burnett, explains: "This reunion is extra special as it is a youth outreach intended for those choristers who left the choir in the last couple of decades.

"Many of the girls and boys who were in the choir when they were at school will not have sung together since, particularly after the boys’ voices broke."

Singing in the Cathedral Choir has certainly had a lasting effect on the lives of those who had the privilege of singing the weekly services when they were at school.

Former head chorister and founding member of the Girls’ Choir, Rhiannon Pugh, who is helping to organise the event alongside her busy day job as a corporate lawyer in London, says that she is particularly grateful for the opportunities that singing in the choir provided.

She said: "It gave us all a sense of responsibility, dedication and performance that are vital life skills, which many of us were not otherwise taught at school."

Their time in the choir has certainly had a lasting impact on brother and sister, Tom Coxhead and Lizzie Coxhead, who were both head choristers. The siblings have jointly composed pieces of choral music, including one that was recently performed at the Royal Maundy service in York Minster.

While Tom is studying for a masters degree in choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Lizzie works for BBC Radio 3.

Lizzie said: "We are so excited about the opportunity to perform together again with those with whom we sang in the choir and those who were choristers after we left. There is a strong and very special bond that ties those who have shared the experience of being in a cathedral choir at some point."

The reunion will be a fantastic chance for those who want to re-live their experience in the choir in recent years in a relaxed environment.

The event promises to be particularly fun as the choir will be conducted by Tom Coxhead.

Tom said: "I can’t wait to have the chance to conduct a choir in the very stalls where my musical career first began. I will certainly be much less scary than some of the choir masters who have previously stood at that music stand!"

Any former members of the Cathedral Choir who have left in recent years, and who are keen to take part in the reunion weekend, can email one of the organisation team at the following addresses for further details: emilyeburnett@outlook.com Elizabethcoxhead@yahoo.co.uk s.r.pugh@hotmail.co.uk.