WORCESTER’s historic cathedral welcomed nearly 50,000 visitors to its annual Christmas Tree Festival in the medieval cloister, new figures have revealed.
The landmark cathedral has this week revealed a record Christmas when, for the first time since 2019, the community came together to celebrate the festive season with no restrictions in place.
More than 13,000 people attended services in the week leading up to Christmas Day. A total of 44 choral carols were sung and 56 Christmas carols, with a staggering 235 verses echoed around the historic building.
This year saw more trees than ever, with 100 local schools, charities, businesses and organisations taking part.
As ever, all of the trees were innovatively and beautifully designed and decorated and glittered around the atmospheric cloister from early December until earlier this month.
The cathedral also hosted a packed programmes of services, with 2,743 people attending Christmas Eve services. This year’s crib services featured even more animals than usual, with a total of three donkeys and flocks of sheep to delight visitors and share the story of the nativity with all ages.
A Christmas appeal was also launched in November, aimed at helping to keep the Cathedral’s welcoming doors open throughout the winter period and provide a warm and safe place for the whole community.
It reached more than 7,000 people and has so far raised an incredible £24,751 and donations are open until the end of the month.
More than 600 people wrote a tag to hang on the community Christmas tree, donated by St Peter’s Garden Centre each year, or left a message on the virtual online tree, with messages including:
“Thank you for being a consistent place of calm support and safety,”
Vice-Dean of Worcester, Canon Stephen Edwards, said: “It was a pleasure to celebrate Christmas with no restrictions in place, for the first time since 2019.
“Over the years of the pandemic, we have adapted to the circumstances, taking services online, and introducing ticketing and social distancing, amongst other measures, to ensure the safety of our visitors and staff.
“It was an absolute joy this year to once again celebrate a more ‘normal’, in-person Christmas in this historic and sacred space.
“We were thrilled by the number of visitors to the incredible Christmas Tree Festival and estimate that we welcomed almost double the number of visitors compared with last year, when we had to restrict numbers inside the Cathedral.
“We can’t thank our supporters enough for donating to our Christmas appeal. We have raised a fantastic amount and really do appreciate every single donation; we really couldn’t do it without you.
“It just goes to show how much people value the cathedral being here for them in times of crisis, celebration or commemoration and we are overjoyed to have welcomed so many people through our doors to enjoy the festivities.”
Visit www.worcestercathedral.co.uk/christmas-2022 for more.
