Thank You For Your Support From Our Fundraising Lead

The Christian year begins at Advent, not January 1, so this is a good time to look back and reflect on the support freely given to the cathedral in the past year and the benefits it has brought.

Each year the cathedral has the privilege, and the worry, of caring for its historic Grade 1 listed building. The genius of John Loughborough Pearson has given us beautiful Gothic revival architecture and luminous stained glass, but it all requires constant maintenance. What a joy it was, then, to re-open St Mary’s Aisle in June this year, following the successful project to re-roof it and make it watertight once again after many years. The success of the project was due to the support it received, whether through a grant, legacy, donation or through other means such as joining the Friends of Truro Cathedral. It’s been a team effort, just as it was in the years after 1887. At that time, the cathedral was half-finished and struggled to find the funds to complete the founders’ dream of having a Cornish cathedral. 

Music is a special feature of cathedral life. On behalf of the cathedral, I would like to thank every person who has made a donation, left a gift in a Will, joined our music supporter group Truro Cathedral Music, or sponsored a chorister. Through your kindness, the support of our partner school, Truro School, and the generosity of grant-giving organisations, music at the cathedral continues to thrive.

This year, the choir sang at St Davids Cathedral, Pembrokeshire; the Stanford Centenary Festival in Salisbury; St Paul’s Cathedral; St John’s College, Cambridge and St George’s Chapel, Windsor, as well places much closer to home like St Stythians Church in Stithians. Highlights for the choir in 2024 included the summer concert ‘Sing Joyfully’ and, still to come, the Christmas Concert ‘Rejoice and be Merry’ on 14 December. It’s also been an honour for the choir to be asked by Radio 3 to broadcast from St Michael’s Mount on December 1.

Heartfelt thanks are due to St Mary’s Singers, visiting choirs and the many volunteers who support different aspects of the music programme. The latter include Paul Comeau, Chris Rowe and Judith Whitehouse, who have worked tirelessly on the summer concert and organ recital programme. The cathedral is very grateful to them and all the guest musicians for their performances, which give an enormous amount of pleasure to audiences.

The cathedral is one of the main homes of classical music in Cornwall, and its work as a centre of excellence provides public benefits that extend far beyond the congregation. Funding continues to be a significant challenge, however, and thank you to everyone who has helped to sustain the extraordinary heritage of Cornwall’s cathedral and the opportunities it provides through choristerships and scholarships for young musicians. It is sometimes easy to forget that two-thirds of Truro Cathedral Choir are aged 18 and under. The Choir sings in public an astounding 230 times every year, and in this whirlwind of activity, the choristers not only cope but flourish, thanks to the wonderful training and pastoral care enabled by supporters.

The friendly feel of our cathedral means that we have welcomed many visitors this year in addition to our regular worshippers. I am pleased to say that visitor donations and congregational giving (e.g. through the Parish Giving Scheme) have risen, but running a cathedral is expensive and we struggle to keep pace with inflation. Total expenditure is nearly £1.3 million, and there are some big bills. Essentials such as gas and electricity, along with staff costs, are unavoidable.

All the individual gifts of visitors and the congregation, plus events income, Gift Aid and grants towards some of our staff costs from the Church Commissioners and others, made it possible for the cathedral to continue to open almost daily in 2024 with no charge for entry. That is a record we can all be proud of.

In giving to the cathedral, you have given it, and all it offers, to everyone in Cornwall. Thank you for your support throughout 2024.

Judith Field

Fundraising Lead and Strategic Governance Officer