6 Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 July 2017 Annual Report August 2016 – July 2017 Introduction Christ Church Cathedral is multifaceted. It is one arm of the Foundation of Christ Church which comprises the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Oxford and a College of the University of Oxford. The Cathedral has a dual role as both ‘mother church’ of the Diocese and College Chapel for Christ Church. Christ Church Cathedral is outside the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Oxford, and the Ordinary of the Cathedral is the Dean. All year round the Cathedral offers a daily round of prayer, praise and worship. Daily services start with early Morning Prayer and Eucharist and the day closes with everyone coming together at 6pm for Evensong. Worship As always, the year has seen a vibrant programme of services and events in the Cathedral. In addition to our daily and weekly services, Christ Church is host to the bi-monthly ‘Turning of the Pages’, an act of remembrance for the soldiers of Oxfordshire’s two regiments, the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and the Queen’s own Oxfordshire Hussars, who gave their lives in war. In November on Armistice Day, this forms part of the Cathedral’s main Act of Remembrance. As evidenced in our cover photograph (courtesy of K.T. Bruce Photography) the highlight of the year was the Inauguration Service in October 2016 for our new Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd Dr Steven Croft. This joyous occasion brought together people from across the city, Diocese and country, as well as from our partner dioceses overseas, the music being led by the Cathedral Choir and a diocesan worship band. It was streamed live on Facebook – a first for us! Throughout the autumn, and especially in October’s Frideswidetide, worship at the Cathedral celebrates many aspects of the civic life of the city and county. Special services included the Court Sermon, the Civic Service (focusing this year on responsible business), and the Patronal Eucharist service dedicated to St Frideswide, Patron Saint of Oxford. After Eight, our services of contemporary worship, continued with two series: Theology through Art, including the priest-poet, Mark Pryce, the potter Andrew Hazelden, and the sculptor and visual artist Sophie Hacker; and The Future of.., featuring, among others, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson. Advent and Christmas are always both exciting and joyful periods in the Cathedral. The beginning of the church year is filled with the anticipation of the season to come. It started with two Advent Carol Services; the College Service for all staff and members of the House, and the Cathedral service for the regular congregations and the Diocese. Advent music old and new was sung. Page 2 of 18 In 2016 the Cathedral Chapter’s Charity Concert was in aid of Parkinson’s UK. The special concert on 4 December was a great success, raising much-need funds for the charity’s work. We were delighted to host Oxford Brookes University Christian Union’s Carol Service on 7 December, for which the Cathedral was full to capacity. For the first time the Cathedral Choristers sang an afternoon family concert fundraising for Christ Church Cathedral Music Trust. This proved very popular and we will be repeating the event as part of our Christmas offering in 2017. Our ever-popular services of Nine Lessons and Carols were held on 23 December and Christmas Eve with a packed Cathedral on both dates. In January 2017, the Cathedral was delighted to host this year's Unity Service for Churches Together in Central Oxford. At the heart of the service was a series of works of art on the theme of care for creation, produced by children from local schools in collaboration with the artist, Nicholas Mynheer. Seven new Canons were installed at Christ Church Cathedral on Saturday 28 January: the Revd Kevin Davies, the Revd Dr Emma Percy, the Revd John Rees and the Revd Jeff West as Honorary Canons; Sarah Meyrick and Richard Fisher as Lay Canons; and the Revd Dr Ralph Waller as an Ecumenical Canon. In the same service Michael Hardman was admitted to the Diocesan Order of St Frideswide. During the year we were delighted to announce that the Revd John Witheridge, one of our team of Honorary Chaplains, was appointed a Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen. Lent began with a special service of Words and Music for Ash Wednesday. On Wednesday evenings during Lent, the men of the Cathedral Choir sang a series of Compline services, offering a peaceful, candlelit setting in which to reflect, worship and pray. Compline each week featured Chapter and Verse: a short reflection on a single verse of the Bible by members of the Cathedral Chapter. Holy Week was observed with the usual sequence of services, enhanced this year by an organ recital of Tournemire’s Seven Chorales-Poèmes for Organ, op 67, performed by organ scholars William Wallace and Makoto James. The choir performed J. S. Bach’s St John Passion as part of the Holy Week devotions. Along with the seasonal services of worship over Eastertide, the interactive family service Journey to the Cross also proved popular with all ages. Throughout February, March and April, The Journey exhibition was on display in Christ Church Cathedral. It showcased the talent of multimedia artist Jacqui Parkinson, and led the visitor through the final stages of Jesuss’ life in a sequence of ideas, presented step by step in similar fashion to the Stations of the Cross. The Journey was presented as a personal journey which is beautiful, intriguing and very moving. Page 3 of 18 Music Music is a vital part of the worship at Christ Church. The world-famous Cathedral Choir sings the regular services during term time as well as having a busy schedule of concerts and events all year round. Concerts this year have included: • In October 2016 at Badminton House a charity concert in aid of Plum Unlimited, a pancreatic cancer charity • In December 2016 three concerts in the Cathedral for Music at Oxford, plus the annual Christmas concert in the St John's Smith Square Christmas Festival • In May 2017 a concert in Bristol Cathedral: the Old Hispanic Office project composition competition Recent choir recordings include: • The Sun Most Radiant - Music from the Eton Choirbook, Vol. 4 (Avie AV2359) (September 2016) • Francesco Durante's Requiem (Coro Cor16147) (November 2017). Both recordings were featured on BBC Radio 3's Record Review and gained outstanding reviews in the national press. The choir recorded sessions for the fifth volume of the Eton Choirbook series, The Gate of Glory, in July and this is due for release at the end of November 2017. Our voluntary choir, Cathedral Singers of Christ Church performed at over one hundred services during the year. They sang at a weekend residence in Coventry Cathedral and engaged in a mini- tour to Southwark Cathedral. During the year they revived the music of Henry Aldrich (a seventeenth century Dean of Christ Church) whose work had not been performed here in over 300 years. The Cathedral continued its collaboration with the Frideswide Voices, the first choir in Oxford for girls of chorister age. They were based in the Cathedral in Michaelmas term 2016 before moving to New College and then Magdalen College for the balance of the academic year. Education The Education team now has over 20 volunteers, all of whom are vital to ensuring the quality of our school visits. The school year 2016-2017 saw another rise in the number of pupils who engaged with the Cathedral’s Education programme. Over the course of the year we welcomed over 2500 pupils, aged from four to 18, and from seven counties. There are now extra sets of costumes (monks, Tudors and Victorians) which help to make our tours more interactive. Additional resources, such as binoculars and brasses, have enhanced the children’s experience. Pupil and teacher feedback is always very positive, with schools regularly giving the trip’s value for money rating a full 10/10. We held two successful Adult Education days. The first was an Icons day and the second a Professional Development day for teachers on Developing Children’s Spirituality. Another exciting initiative was a schools art project which was recorded for local TV. Page 4 of 18 Ministry to Visitors The Cathedral is a popular destination for pilgrims and tourists alike. Around 420,000 people visited Christ Church this year and in the main they come to see the Cathedral and the College Great Hall. During three weeks of July 2017, Christ Church Cathedral played host to a group of young European students who provided tours in their own languages to our many visitors from overseas. This is the 12th year that we have participated in this scheme, run by ARC, which stands for Accueil (Welcome), Rencontre (Encounter) and Communauté (Community). ARC is an ecumenical organisation which provides free guided tours to visitors in major churches and cathedrals across Europe. Participants are volunteers aged between 18 and 30, and in return for giving up a few weeks of their summer, they learn to live and work as part of a community and appreciate other cultures. The Dean and Chapter warmly welcome parishes in the Diocese of Oxford to visit the Cathedral and share in its worship and discover the history. Free entry passes are available from the Cathedral Office and organised group visits can be booked through the Cathedral. Diocese The Cathedral hosts a number of diocesan services throughout the year. Regulars included the three Petertide services of Ordination of men and women to the Diaconate on 1 July, the Headteachers’ Eucharist, the Year 6 Leavers’ Service, the Licensed Lay Ministers’ Service and services of Visitation for churches in the Oxford and Cowley deaneries.