Ripon Cathedral Choir is to be joined by Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band for a special Songs of Praise celebration in the stunning setting of the nave.

The band, from South Elmsall, in West Yorkshire, is one of the world’s top 10 brass bands. Its musicians will perform alongside the girl choristers, choral scholars and lay clerks of the cathedral choir, conducted by the cathedral’s Director of Music, Dr Ronny Krippner and featuring the premiere of a new piece of music by the acclaimed composer Philip Wilby entitled And yet, the Rocks remain.

The uplifting service, on Sunday October 19 at 3.30pm, takes its theme from the constancy of God, reflected in the ancient rock formations at the National Trust’s Brimham Rocks and features Simon Armitage’s evocative poem Balancing Act.

Philip Wilby explained: “This short piece for brass band receives its first performance in this service. It has been written in response to Simon Armitage’s tribute poem to Brimham Rocks. The poem is inscribed on two stone monoliths, placed on the edge of the moorland, and my music mirrors this structure, placing the rocks centrally, but then continuing into the open moor with unbroken sky beyond. The work ends with a halo of birdsong, recorded at Brimham in the spring of this year. “

All are welcome to come and share in an evening of faith, poetry, and music.