The Bishop of St Asaph is encouraging businesses and individuals to support a fundraising campaign to help young choristers from St Asaph Cathedral to undertake a concert tour in Finland next year.

The Rt Revd Gregory Cameron has described the Cathedral Choir as deserving to be heard “across the world” and hopes to ensure that £20,000 can be raised to enable all 27 young singers to visit the Diocese of Helsinki, which is formally linked with the Diocese of St Asaph.

He said: “We have a wonderful choir who deserve to be heard not just in the Cathedral but across our diocese and indeed across the world. The idea that we will have a warm welcome from our link diocese in Helsinki for them to hear the glories of Welsh church music, is an invitation on which we cannot pass.”

The tour and cultural exchange is scheduled to take place in May 2025 and will include the opportunity to perform at the iconic Helsinki Cathedral, a prestigious venue that will provide the choristers with an invaluable experience, enhancing their musical education and cultural understanding.

The Director of Music at St Asaph Cathedral, Paul Booth, said: “For many of these children, this will be their first time traveling abroad, offering them the chance to immerse themselves in a new culture, share their musical talents on an international stage, and forge lifelong memories. Our choir is composed of 27 talented young singers, some of whom come from areas of deprivation where financial constraints make it difficult to afford such a trip. For families with more than one child in the choir, the financial burden is even more significant, making it nearly impossible to fund multiple participants. We’re reaching out to businesses and individuals to consider sponsoring a chorister to make this dream a reality for these young people. By sponsoring our choir, you will not only be supporting the cultural development of our young people, but you will also contribute to a positive, lifelong memory that will inspire them for years to come.”

There has been a Cathedral Choir in St Asaph for almost 800 years. It is one of Wales’s oldest and recruits young people from schools across north Wales.

Earlier this year, a delegation of more than 20 representatives from the Diocese of Helsinki visited St Asaph Cathedral and churches in Wrexham as part of the link between The Church in Wales and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. The churches are linked by the Porvoo Common Statement which establishes full communion between the British Anglican Churches and the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of northern Europe.

The Diocese of St Asaph is one of six dioceses in the Church in Wales, an independent Province of the Anglican Communion.

To find out more about the sponsorship opportunities, please contact Jackie Feak, Administration and Business Officer for St Asaph Cathedral: jackiefeak@cinw.org.uk / 01745 532597. Donations can also be made online at https://gofund.me/560aa0db