1. Seal of the Vicars Choral, 1415
2. Statutes for the Syngingmen, 1608
3. The Nave, circa 1840
4. The Nave, circa 1880
5. Pencil drawing by Jim Gott of the Oldrid Scott Nave Stalls, 1899
6. The Queen and the Dean, 1923
7. Staff and Pupils of Jepson's Hospital Bluecoat School, circa 1915
8. Head Chorister, Eric Witts. 1933
9. Eric in his Cantoris Stall, 2006
10. The Four Cathedral Organists, 1934
11. The Choir Screen
12. Dr Moody and his Choirboys, circa 1950
13. F. Llewelyn Hughes, Dean 1951-1968
14. Stone carving of Archdeacon Harry Graham
15. The Ripon Cathedral Choir School
16. Duncan Thomson
17. Choir School Staff and Pupils, 1964
18. The Choir, 1937
19. Choir boys with tape recorder, circa 1955
20. The Choir, July 1957
21. The Choir, 1964
22. The Choir, circa 1968
23. The Choir, 1972
24. The Choir, 1974
25. The Choir, July 1981
26. The Choir, May 1989
27. The Choir, 2006
28. The Nave Choir Stalls, circa 1885
29. Charles Bielby, circa 1946
30. The 'Sacred Spinnaker'
31. 'Rejoice', Christmas 1987
32. Kelvin Gott, the Choirboy, circa 1950
33. 'In the Nave', pencil drawing by Jim Gott
34. Kelvin Gott (1939-2004)
35. The Girl Choristers, 2006
36. George Bates, Organist
37. George Bates Memorial plaque
38. Edwin Crow, Organist 123
39. Charles Moody circa 1902, Organist 126
40. Charles Moody 1952, Presentation Portrait 130
41. The Lawrence Café and Ballroom 131
42. Lionel Dakers, Organist 131
43. Philip Marshall, Organist 133
44. Rectus et Inversus Sed Upsydounium 134
45. Ronald Perrin, Organist 135
46. Kerry Beaumont, Organist 137
47. Andrew Bryden, Organist 140
48. Positive Organ, circa 1480 145
49. The 1695 Schmidt Organ 151
50. The Wooden Hand 152
51. West face of 1835-1837 Organ 153
52. The Choir, circa 1865 154
53. West face of Sir George Gilbert Scott's Organ Case of 1878 157
54. The 1926 Organ Console 162
55. The 1878 Organ 164
56. The Organ, 2007 167
57. The Nave Console 170
58. Title Page of John Barnard's Collection, 1641 177
59. Jubilate by Thomas Preston, bass part 179
60. Chant in B minor by Thomas Preston 181
61. Title Pages of 'Sacred Music' and 'Hymn' by George Bates 183
62. Arms of the City, from 1762 Bell 214
63. The Taylor 10 Bells, outside West End 1932 216
64. The Taylor 10 in the Bell Tower 217
65. One of the New Bells arriving at the Cathedral, 2008 220
66. The 1886 Stained Glass Peal Board 223
67. The Ripon Ringers, 1908 227
68. The Ringing Chamber, 2008 231
69. The Head Chorister's Badge, 1920 234
70. Cathedral Choir Old Boys' Reunion. 1920 235
71. Cathedral Choir Old Boys' Reunion, circa 1937 235
72. Cathedral Choir Old Boys' Reunion, circa 1956 236
73. The Choir; on the eve of a Cathedral Concert Society recital 243
74. Ripon Choral Society Concert, 1956 245
75. Alice Dyson, 199

Music in liturgy goes back thousands of years. Long before the birth of Christ, for example, the first prophet Isaiah records his own calling which happens within the context of Temple worship. In that episode he attests to the glory and majesty of God and writes down Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. These words, used then in the Temple and now the substance of our Sanctus with the Eucharistic tradition of the Christian Church, have inspired many a musician, thus reinforcing the fact that the worship of God is often supported by the art of music.

At Ripon Cathedral this integrity of music accompanying worship has been evident from the beginning. One thinks of the time when Cuthbert and Wilfrid were here and undoubtedly used their voices to praise their Lord. After them have come many others; singers and instrumentalists, organists and composers, lay clerks and choristers, clergy and teachers. As you will read, it has not always been easy, but then the best things in life and faith are worth all the commitment we can give to them. It is as a testimony to that commitment that the music goes on and continues to flourish here.

In reading the chapters of this book myself, I have been particularly engaged by the sheer amount of music composed at or for Ripon Cathedral. What is clear is that those responsible have not only developed music at Ripon, but have also contributed to the wider cause and tradition of cathedral music throughout Great Britain.

As I remarked at the beginning, this book would never have happened without the time and energy given to it by many people. However, I end by offering thanks to four people in particular, those being Malcolm Beer, Howard Crawshaw and their wives. The publication of the book may now mean that the two wives can claim their husbands back!

Now read on, and thank you for supporting our music through the purchase of this memorable book.

Keith Jukes
Dean of Ripon
Lady Day 2008

Funding the publication was happily a short-lived problem. Thanks to Andrew Kitchingman and the Ripon Cathedral Music Custodians and a small group of Major Sponsors, the finance was kick-started, and there then followed an overwhelming response from a large number of people who readily agreed to support the book by becoming Patrons or Subscribers.

We, the authors, cannot adequately express our immense gratitude to all those who have made the production of this book possible, whose names are printed in the list of Major Sponsors, Patrons, Subscribers and Music Custodians. As a result of their generosity the entire publication costs have been met, and therefore all the income from the sales of this book will go to the Music Foundation, thus helping to ensure that the great heritage of music at Ripon Cathedral continues for many years to come.

We are conscious of the enormous debt owed to a multitude of people who have encouraged us and been extremely helpful in providing personal recollections, photographs, old documents, music and service sheets and in directing us to other sources of information. We have also benefited from advice from specialists in various fields (historical, liturgical, linguistic, musical and technical) and we are most grateful to them. We have endeavoured to include all of these persons in the 'Table of Acknowledgements' but apologise to any who have been inadvertently omitted.

There are some people we would like to mention by name; Kerry Beaumont, Andrew Bryden, Paul Burbridge, Joy Calvert, Alan Dance, Martin Davies, Simon Deller, Mike Deeming, Bill Forster, Susan Goldsborough, Alasdair Jamieson, Brian Kealy, Xenophon Kelsey, Tom Leech, Richard Moore, David McKay, Oliver Pickering, Eric Record, Tony Russell, John Sayer, David Suddards, Maurice Taylor, Stephana Thomson, Mark and Katherine Yenning and Eric Witts.

We are particularly indebted to Alan Duffield (a former Ripon Cathedral lay clerk and now member of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden) who has undertaken an immense amount of research at The British Library into the music of Ripon Cathedral, and acted as our music advisor. He has also, virtually single-handedly, compiled the list of radio broadcasts from Ripon Cathedral by spending long hours at the BBC sound archives library at Caversham. We likewise wish to give special thanks to Graham Hermon (also a former Ripon Cathedral lay clerk) for acting as our photographer and graphics advisor, scanning and digitally editing the numerous old photographs and images used in the many illustrations in the book. Last but not least, our grateful thanks to Sylvia Pinkney who carried out invaluable editing and improvements to our often less than flowing prose, and to Janet Pickering who undertook the final meticulous proof reading and compiled the index. To our wives, Joan and Susan, we wish to pay special tribute. Their constant encouragement, guidance and patient counselling of their often book-obsessed husbands has been little short of saintly, and we cannot thank them enough. Without their unfailing support this book would not have been possible.

Finally we would stress that neither of us are literary scholars and our only qualification for undertaking the writing of this book is a love of Ripon Cathedral and its music.

We hope you enjoy reading the book and dipping into it from time to time.

Malcolm S. Beer
Howard M. Crawshaw