Upcoming: Friends Festival Day 2026

Join us for the Friends Festival Day as we celebrate all the things Friends of Durham Cathedral.

In the morning, members are invited to join us for our annual AGM in Chapter House. Festival Day events include Lunch, Organ Recital, Tours, Afternoon Refreshments and Festal Choral Evensong and Procession and concludes the service with the choir singing from the top of the tower!

Agenda:

10.15am       Festival Day Welcome:  Morning Tea / Coffee & Biscuit Selection in Chapter House

11.00am       AGM in Chapter House: Speech by The Very Reverend Dr Philip Plyming, Dean of Durham.

12.15pm       Light Lunch in Priors Hall

13.45pm       Organ Recital by Joseph Beech

14.30pm       Tours: Various: See below

15.30pm       Tea/coffee and mini cakes, served in the Cloisters

16.00pm       Special Evensong culminating with the choir singing from the top of the Tower

This year enjoy an “Afternoon Tea Style” luncheon in Priors Hall. Make new friends and catch up with familiar faces over a selection of sandwiches, savoury pastries, mini quiches and bite-size sausage rolls, cheese scones, crisps and salad. Enjoy some lovely mini cakes and scones with jam and cream, served with tea and coffee.

Joseph Beech, the Sub-Organist of Durham Cathedral, will be performing at our Festival Day. While members will sit in the quire, visitors to the cathedral are invited to stay and enjoy the organ recital if you are passing. Joseph is the principal accompanist to the Cathedral Choir, playing the organ for daily services in addition to the choir's schedule of broadcasts, concerts, recordings and tours. He also assists the Master of the Choristers in his work conducting the choir, and recruiting and training the choristers.

Members are invited to select from a variety of tours from staff and volunteers who join us on the day and have donated their time and skills to showcase projects and areas of Durham Cathedral that the Friends support.

1.     Durham Cathedral Tour - Maureen Potter

2.     Durham Cathedral Museum Tour - Jeanne Dean

3.     Upstairs & Downstairs In The Deanery - Philip Plyming, Dean of Durham

4.     Father Smith Organ Case – Marie Therese Mayne

5.     There And Back Again: Archaeology Tour - Norman Emery

6.     The Refectory Library: Rare Books, Music And Many More Subjects -  Shaun McAlister

7.     Heritage Skills of The Stonemasons - Grace Impesi

Evensong take place at 4pm and is open to all. Join us as we listen to the choir as they sing from the top of the tower (weather permitting).

The tradition dates back to when:

‘In 1346 during the Battle of Neville’s Cross, monks watched the battle from the top of the central tower. Legend says they started to sing when the Scots were defeated.

Durham monks would climb the central tower and sing three hymns, one to the north, one to the south, and one to the east. There was no singing to the west, where the battle was fought’. – Durham Cathedral Website

Also happening Sat 6^th June in Chapter House: Friends Fundraising Concert:

Northern Lights at Durham Cathedral:  DU A Cappella Concert:  7- 8pm.