Winchester Cathedral

[AndrewG]

On 18/06/2024 at 22:09, DHM said:

And they are now advertising for a Sub-Organist.

Is the closing date today and the interview tomorrow? 

😆

[S_L]

4 hours ago, AndrewG said:

Is the closing date today and the interview tomorrow? 

😆

Why? Are you thinking of applying?

You have plenty of time. The closing date is the 28th of June with interviews in July. "Please note due to the nature of this role, the interview process is likely to place over two days."

[sbarber49]

 

2 hours ago, S_L said:

Why? Are you thinking of applying?

You have plenty of time. The closing date is the 28th of June with interviews in July. "Please note due to the nature of this role, the interview process is likely to place over two days."

Because, of course, they wouldn't dream of having interviews the day after the closing date, would they?

I see that one of the essential attributes for candidates is:

"– Empathy for the Cathedral’s mission and values of Openness, Excellence and Kindness"

 

[S_L]

There is clearly more to the situation at Winchester than first meets the eye and that is being made public. And, I think, there has been a lot of unfortunate speculation and gossip that, in truth, hasn't helped the situation.

Clearly Andrew Lucas, who was retiring from his post at St. Alban's in the summer, had the time, and inclination, to put forward an application for the post of interim Director of Music. I suspect that the Cathedral organist's network is pretty small and I would be very surprised if he hadn't made a, quiet, phone call to Andrew Lumsden before submitting an application.. 

[sbarber49]

Personally I am very glad that this situation has been brought into the public domain and if that has had to be through speculation then so be it. Bearing in mind that NDAs have allegedly been imposed we would otherwise have got only one side of the story and the clergy involved wouldn't have been challenged.

I'm pleased that the Bishop is now stepping in (see the Church Times) after the resignation of the senior non-executive member of Winchester Cathedral Chapter, Mark Byford, a former head of the BBC World Service and its former deputy director-general.

Would this have happened if those interested in church and cathedral music had not had their say?

It's good that Andrew Lucas was prepared to step in: there will still be choirs there if the situation can be resolved successfully.

There's more about the story in Private Eye (21st June) - a publication which is subject to the laws of libel. (And also Aberdeen cathedral, but I don't dare bring that up!)

[sbarber49]

https://www.thetimes.com/article/11d8a1e1-ae76-4150-8412-5ce2f369f9ad?shareToken=8c8d028f75a282512ef498e46b7ee598

[pwhodges]

I note that a spokesperson said "We confirm that the cathedral has never used non-disclosure agreements with its staff", in direct contravention to what we have previously been led to understand in this instance.

Paul

[DHM]

More news from Winchester....
https://slippedisc.com/2024/06/exclusive-winchester-cathedral-loses-its-heads/

[sjf1967]

The headline is a very typical SD one. Read on and you'll see that in the light of the cathedral's latest statement, NL has rowed back from the major implication of his original headline (which remains unaltered, although some important aspects of the story have changed). The site offers a lot of entertaining material, but sometimes it needs taking with a pinch of salt....