A look back at 2018

From new offices and brands to royal visits and new ‘throne’ rooms – 2018 has been an exciting year for Truro Cathedral. As we approach its end, we look back at some of the biggest moments… 

The Old Cathedral School

Following the completion of the renovation works in March, the Old Cathedral School re-opened its doors in May. Fully restored, the OCS is now not only home to the cathedral office team, the Phillpott library and a fantastic takeaway café, but the Assembly Room and three additional fully-equipped rentable learning spaces on the first floor are regularly being used by a cross section of community groups and local and national organisations.

 A vibrant new cathedral brand

First unveiled in March, the revamped logo, vivid colour palette and big bright imagery of the cathedral’s new brand have been integrated into the cathedral’s refreshed digital and physical communications (including this very brochure!) – helping us to communicate the cathedral’s vision to be both sacred space and common ground and making it easy for people to access the information they want and need. As part of this, a new website, complete with searchable events calendar, was developed and launched in February. The site is your ‘go to’ place for all the latest cathedral news, blogs and event information. www.trurocathedral.org.uk.

 Two royal visits

We were honoured to host not one, but two royal visits in the year. HRH The Princess Royal, in January, and HRH The Prince of Wales in March. It was a privilege to showcase the breadth of work that the cathedral achieves thanks to its fantastic staff and volunteer teams.

 Luxury loos

Thanks to the tireless fundraising efforts and generosity of The Friends of Truro Cathedral, our visitor conveniences underwent much-needed renovation and upgrade and are now fit for a queen, king… or a new bishop!

 Roof phase II complete

January saw the completion of Phase II of the physical roof works, with the re-slating of the south nave aisle, the baptistry, the western aisle of the south transept and the narthex. Fundraising continues, and we have now raised over £1.5m of the £3.2m needed to complete the project.

 Wonderful worship

Over the course of the year, the cathedral has welcomed an estimated 30,000 people to our 1,300 regular services. Additionally, we’re honoured to have hosted some incredibly moving special services, such as the recent Remembrance Day service featuring the drop of thousands of paper poppies made by individuals from all over our county.

 Truro Cathedral Choir

From performing the last of six pieces of music composed for the choir by renowned composer, Dobrinka Tabakova, with the BBC Concert Orchestra in May, to two live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 in July, making a CD recording, singing on the Isles of Scilly in March and at St Paul’s Cathedral in October and performing on the single ‘Grenfell – From Today’ released as a song of solidarity by Cornwall Hugs Grenfell, what a year it has been for the choir!

 We’re thrilled with all that has been achieved in 2018 and we’re looking forward to an exciting 2019. None of what we do would be possible without the help of our team of dedicated volunteers or our supporters – so from all of us… “Thank You!”