Friends

Established in 1931, the Friends of Winchester Cathedral is an independent charity set up specifically to:

Assist Chapter maintain the Cathedral
Help stimulate interest in the Cathedral
Preserve and beautify the Cathedral, its music and history
Set up by Dean Selwyn, our first grant of £100 paid for new kneelers and cushions for the choir stalls. Since then we have given over £10 million to the Cathedral in present day terms.

Over 90 years, we have provided substantial support in a number of ways including:

Repairs to stonework, stained glass windows, the organ and the roof
Providing a cherry picker, an altar frontal, vestments, kneelers and a piano
Funding the magnificent Fleury building extension through a grant for £819,000

Membership starts at £25 for a single membership or £45 for a joint membership.

Annual Grants
We provide in the region of £70,000 each year in regular grants to the Cathedral. This year we have provided grants for:

• The Girls’ Choir. We pay the expenses of the Girls’ Choir each year, plus the costs for each of the girls to learn a musical instrument.
• Two scholarships for boy choristers
• The maintenance of the trees in the Close
• Cathedral Flowers. We pay for the flowers in the Cathedral throughout the year.
• The Cathedral Christmas tree. The Friends provide the funding for the large Christmas tree at the West End of the Cathedral each year.
• Broderers. The Friends fund the work of the Broderers

You can either join online here

Or download an membership form and return it to the Friends’ Office by post. The Friends’ office is at 2 The Close, Winchester SO23 9LS

The Friends of Winchester Cathedral Extended Privacy Statement

The Friends of Winchester Cathedral Complaints Policy

The Friends of Winchester Cathedral Safeguarding Policy

ROSEY SMITH, CATHEDRAL GUIDE

“WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL: LITERARY LINKS”

Thursday 20 January, 7pm on Zoom

This talk reflects on some of the writers with links to the Cathedral. Izaac Walton of Compleat Angler fame and Jane Austen are both buried there as are Elizabeth Montagu, the ‘blue stocking’, and Joseph Warton, the critic and poet. Charlotte Yonge and Francis Francis have memorials in the Cathedral and the building itself inspired Thomas Hardy, Wilfred Owen and many others including, most recently, Tracy Chevalier.

ANGUS SOMERVILLE

“Monitoring Winchester Prison: an outsider’s view of ‘inside’ ”

Wednesday 2 February, 7pm on Zoom

As a change from historical talks, we move to a current affairs topic. Cathedral guide, Angus Somerville, a member – and latterly chairman – of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Winchester will share his insights about the prison, the role of the IMB, and what it’s like to have the privilege and challenge of being the public’s eyes and ears on the ‘inside’.

Andy Trenier, Canon Precentor

“A Precentor’s Tale (or ‘How I came to Winchester via 27 cousins, 26 countries, 25 houses, 6 jobs, 3 children, and 1 patient wife’)”

Tuesday 1 March, 2.30pm, Paul Woodhouse Suite & Zoom

Canon Andy will share something of his journey into ministry.  He will explore his unusual upbringing in a small Irish village and the many cul-de-sacs and misadventures that brought him here to wonderful Winchester.

DEREK BECK, CATHEDRAL GUIDE “CATHEDRAL MUSIC IN THREE MOVEMENTS”

Thursday 17 March 2.30pm, Paul Woodhouse Suite & Zoom

In this talk, Derek will talk about and illustrate what might have been heard in the Cathedral during the 11th, 15th and 19th centuries and how the musical sounds reflected the character of each of those periods.

Julie adams, CATHEDRAL GUIDE “charles eamer kempe, victorian master of glass”

Thursday 7 April, 7pm, Paul Woodhouse Suite & Zoom

A former pupil of Twyford School, Charles Eamer Kempe was responsible for more of the Victorian windows in our cathedral than any other glass maker.  His style is easily recognisable and, when his firm was engaged to create the Lady Chapel windows, it was, at the time, his largest single commission.

CAPTAIN MARTIN PHIPPS MBE, TRINITY HOUSE

Tuesday 17 May, 7pm, Paul Woodhouse Suite & Zoom

Have you ever wondered who looks after the major lighthouses around England, Wales and the Channel Islands? How did they come to be there in the first place? Incorporated by Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1514, Trinity House is today a vital part of Britain’s maritime community.

GIRLS’ CHOIR SUMMER CONCERT

On Wednesday 8 June, the Girls’ Choir will perform a summer concert for the Friends in the Cathedral. Please book tickets to come along and hear wonderful music from the choir which the Friends have supported since its inception over 20 years ago.

Please email the office (lucy.hutchin@winchester-cathedral.org.uk) to sign up for this talk.

The programme of talks for the first half of 2022 will be published in the January newsletter and will be on the website in January.

The Friends’ coffee mornings will be held on 21 January, 18 February, 18 March, 29 April, 20 May and 17 June in the Undercroft from 10.30am.  Do come along and meet Friends, new and old.

Please book our talks by contacting the office on 01962 857244/5 or by emailing friends@winchester-cathedral.org.uk

If you would like to view talks from earlier in 2021, you can view them on You Tube or Zoom:

• Johanna Strong, PhD student, University of Winchester – “Mary I of England – how ‘Bloody’ was she?”
• Jane Hands, Lay Canon, and Dr Tim Hands, Headmaster of Winchester College – “Cathedral and College: breaching the wall – from Wykeham to Wesley and beyond“
• David Farthing, Cathedral Guide – “The Winchester Diver: Behind The Scenes”
• Tom Watson, Friends’ Trustee – “Edward the Martyr: the murder mystery king”
• Chris Dobbs, Head of Interpretation at the Mary Rose, Bruce Parker and Margaret and Nick Braddock – “The raising of the Mary Rose by individuals who were involved in the story”
• Jeannie Berridge, Cathedral Guide – “The Great Screen – Magnificence, Mayhem and Mystery”
• Tom Burden: former Headmaster, The Pilgrims’ school – if you would like to view the recording of this talk, please contact the office.
• Tom Watson, Friends’ trustee – “The history of the formation of the Friends”
• Friends’ AGM – 10th July 2021
• Friends 90th Anniversary Evensong – 10th July 2021
• Tracy Chevalier “History through the eye of a needle” – if you would like to view the recording of this talk, please contact the office.
• Cindy Wood, Friends’ trustee – “The Chantry Chapels at St George’s Chapel, Windsor”

If you enjoyed any of these talks, maybe you would like to make a donation the Friends are welcome via this link.

Bishop Godfrey De Lucy, Agatha and their three sons: clerical relationships in the thirteenth century

Cathedral guide Anna Withers tells the little-known story of Agatha, the “wife” of Bishop Godfrey de Lucy (1189 -1204), and their three sons. Their time together was in the aftermath of the Gregorian Reforms which enforced chastity in the Church.

Captain Henry Pearson, RN and the Great Samoan Hurricane

Ian Glenday, also a Cathedral Guide, and Tom Watson investigate the North Transept plaque commemorating Captain Henry Pearson, RN and find a late Victorian naval hero who came to Winchester in retirement.