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Boys and men choir tour to Holland, 2004

In 2004, Sheffield Cathedral has made two international tours - the Boys and Men visited Holland in April, and the Girls and Men visited Germany in July.

Wednesday

The boys and men set of for Haarlem, Holland on Wednesday April 25, 2004. Despite one or two last minute hitches (such as taxis not arriving, and one of the senior choristers breaking his wrist the day before we left!), the long coach journey was relatively smooth and peaceful - that is, as much as a couch journey involving choristers can be peaceful! Unlike the choir's previous tour to Haarlem, in 1999, we arrived in good time and were met by our (very welcoming) hosts in the early evening.

Thursday

The following day, armed with packed lunches from our host families, we visited Utrecht. In the morning we rehearsed and gave an informal concert at the choir school (see photo below), and were also treated to a rendition from the Utrecht children, with whom we had lunch afterwards. A visit to Utrecht's impressive Cathedral followed in the afternoon, and the boys climbed the 465-step, 112 metre Dom tower to get an impressive view of the local surroundings, while (most of) the adults enjoyed the sunshine in the square below with a drink or two!

We then returned to Haarlem, where we sang Choral Evensong at St Bavo's Cathedral, before going home to our host families.

Friday

On Friday, we spent most of the day visiting Amsterdam. In the morning the boys visited NEMO - a futuristic science centre - while the men went off to enjoy some of the other attractions of the city. It was a beautiful day, and everyone enjoyed the glorious architecture and canals under the sun.

In the evening, we had a rehearsal for the weekend's concert and service, after which the boys went home with their hosts, but the adults were joined by the St Bavo's choir men in their crypt, which miraculously converted to a fine bar! We were entertained riotously all evening (indeed, well into the small hours of Saturday)... many thanks indeed to the choir of St Bavo's for this (but personally I'm not in a hurry to drink any more Dutch gin!!).

Saturday

During the day on Saturday, we all spent time with host families, doing a variety of things... but the main activity of the day was the concert we gave at St Bavo's in the evening. We very much enjoyed singing in what was a very generous acoustic. Following this we were again entertained in the crypt, but this time at a reception for the whole choir and host families, which was again enjoyed by all, and was (slightly!) more sober than the previous night.

Sunday

Sunday saw out final singing of the tour - singing for the main Mass at St Bavo's in Haarlem. Again, it was a lovely acoustic to sing in, and we gave probably our best performance of the tour. It was also interesting to sing parts of the service in Dutch!

After the service, we bade farewell to our hosts, and set off on our long journey home after a highly successful tour. We would sincerely like to thank all our hosts for making us so welcome, especially Carel Weijers for all his organising. We would also like to thank our chaperoning choir parents - Margaret Burgin, Richard Bevan and Sue Payne - for helping to ensure the tour was so smooth.