Three Boys from the College’s Infant and Junior Department Gain Prestigious Places in the Chester Cathedral Choir thumbnail image Three Boys from the College’s Infant and Junior Department Gain Prestigious Places in the Chester Cathedral Choir Published on 14th December 2021

William Churchill-Evans (J4), and Kodi (J5) and Otto Mitchell (J4 ) have recently auditioned for and successfully gained places as Cathedral Choristers at Chester Cathedral.

This is an incredible opportunity for them since, out of over 10 million school age children, only around 1000 in the country are Cathedral Choristers.

Abbey Gate College has had strong links with the cathedral since its founding and William, Kodi and Otto join a long line of Cathedral Choristers at Abbey Gate College, including six previous Heads of School.

The current Director of Music Philip Rushforth, himself an ex-pupil of Abbey Gate College said:

‘’Being a chorister is more than just having the opportunity to be involved with music-making at a professional level. It is also about learning other life skills such as time management, performance preparation and the ability to concentrate for sustained periods of time from an early age. Learning to support each other as part of a close-knit team, the Cathedral Choristers make friendships with others outside of school in other year groups and the skills they learn together help in all other areas of their education.’’

Currently at the College we also have Will Skyrme-Walker, Henry Kitchen, Sophie Lewis-Jones, Ellie Gillespie, Poppy Raynor, Christian Gregory, Rhys Duffty, Sam Tomlins, Will Kitchen and Joe Martin, all of whom have been or still are Cathedral Choristers, with Joe now being employed as a Lay Clerk in the choir – a position usually only available to graduate musicians.