Ambitious plans to diversify the services, events and activities offered by St Asaph Cathedral have been announced.

Among the new offerings from the UK’s smallest ancient Cathedral is a silent 90s disco, an Abba Tribute evening, a service for bikers followed by a ride-out and a Freedom of the City March.

It follows a successful candlelight concert in March, in which more than 600 people packed into two sittings to hear the London Symphony Orchestra perform music from well-known films, such as Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, ET and much more.

Alongside this programme, the Cathedral will continue with its regular daily worship and Sunday services and is a popular place of pilgrimage for hundreds of visitors each year.

The Dean of St Asaph Cathedral, the Very Reverend Nigel Williams said: “We’re looking forward to hosting a series of new events which we hope will appeal to a broad range of people. Like many organisations our costs have increased over the last year, and we need to find new ways to generate income.  St Asaph is known as a city of music and the cathedral is home to an expanding choir and the annual North Wales International Music Festival. We want to build on our musical heritage and offer a more diverse range of performances and events.”

The next in the series of new events is the Biker Service on Saturday 20 May at 11am. Bikers can arrive at 9.30am for a Breakfast Bap in the Translators’ Tearoom before joining the ride-out across the north Wales countryside after the service.

On Friday 23 June, local events company, Black Box Events is running SOS: A Tribute to Abba at St Asaph Cathedral. Doors open at 6.30pm and the music is provided by a live band. Tickets are available at S.O.S – A Tribute to Abba at St Asaph Cathedral Tickets, Fri 23 Jun 2023 at 19:00 | Eventbrite

On Saturday 8 July, the Royal Welsh and St Asaph City Council are hosting a Freedom of the City March which will including military bands and information stands at the Cathedral.

On Saturday 12 August, a silent 90s disco will take place inside the ancient walls. There are two sessions and people can choose from several different playlists to accompany their dance moves. You can find out more on Facebook or to book tickets visit this Eventbrite site.

Dean Nigel added: “As well as the day-to-day running costs for the Cathedral, we also have two urgent building projects totaling £500,000. Our large stained-glass east window needs repairs and the wall around the iconic west door entrance requires urgent re-pointing work. Half of the money has been pledged by the Church in Wales centrally, but we need to fundraise to find the rest of the money. Our move to broaden the range of events on offer is an attempt to help towards the funding of these projects.”

In 2018, St Asaph Cathedral was awarded £255,800 of Heritage Lottery Funding to create new interpretation displays about the history and story of the Cathedral. The money also enabled a series of family craft events to be held regularly during school holidays and helped set up the volunteer-led heritage gardening project.

St Asaph Cathedral tells the stories of St Asaph and St Kentigern and was instrumental in the preservation of the Welsh language.  It displays an original copy of the William Morgan Bible which dates from 1588, along with the first translation of the New Testament into Welsh dating from 1567, made by the Denbighshire scholar William Salesbury; the revision of the William Morgan Bible from 1620 made by Bishop Richard Parry – also Bishop of St Asaph, and a Book of Common Prayer from 1621 containing The Edmund Prys Psalter which allowed Psalms to be sung in Welsh in church for the first time.

The Cathedral is one of the main heritage attractions along the A55 corridor and now features on the brown tourism signage from that route.

St Asaph Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of St Asaph, one of the six Bishops of the Church in Wales, an autonomous Province of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

You can find out more information about the services and events at St Asaph Cathedral at https://stasaphcathedral.wales/en