Ten months ago, we featured two members of the choir who had excelled in their singing exams and were moving on to pastures new. Since leaving the choir, they have both been very busy. Ed went out to New Zealand as a choral scholar at Christchurch, survived one earthquake and then managed to avoid getting squashed by a second when the cathedral collapsed there recently.

Besides singing in the choir, Ed worked in the Art Gallery and Cathedral Gift shop as well as becoming actively involved in sports. He coached cricket and swimming at the cathedral grammar school as well as playing and coaching water polo at Christ’s College High School.

Emily has been coaching the choristers in their singing as well as teaching singing and working locally. She went out to New Zealand for five weeks to visit Ed and are pictured outside a famous landmark enjoying a week in Sydney. Emily will be studying music at Durham University from September.

Photo - Will Hay

Congratulations to Head Chorister Emily Burnett and Choral Scholar Edward Reid who have recently attained remarkably high distinctions in their advanced level singing exams. They both toured Belgium recently with their school choir, Abbey Gate College Chapel Choir performing as part of the quartet in Allegri’s Miserere in Bruges.

Emily has been a chorister in the Cathedral Choir for ten years and head chorister for the last four. She will be appearing as soloist with Chester Cathedral Nave Choir in their performance of the Messiah next week. She will be leaving the choir at the end of this term to spend a gap year in Ghana volunteering in a school building programme before taking up further musical study in Cambridge or London.

Edward has been a choral scholar with the Cathedral Choir since January 2009 and recently won the People to People Vocal Award in Chester which operates a musical scholarship exchange with Lakewood in America. He will be leaving for New Zealand at the end of term to take up a post of Choral Scholar at Christchurch Cathedral.