Bad faith: A third English cathedral loses its music director

The sorry story so far:

Sheffield Cathedral abolishes its choir.

The Director of Music quits at Ripon Cathedral.

Now we understand that the Director of Music, Tom Moore, has resigned at Wakefield Cathedral, in Yorkshire, after 18 years in the post. No reason given, no regrets expressed. The website has been updated with an ‘acting director of music.’

The angels weep.

UPDATE: We have the resignation letter. It sounds like they made his life hell:

Dear Colleagues

After 18 years serving the cathedral and community of Wakefield, I have decided to resign from my role as Director of Music at the cathedral. This has been a very difficult decision to take, and I am very sad to leave my post. The reasons for my leaving are personal. 

I would have to say that my time at Wakefield has been extremely rewarding, particularly since becoming Director of Music in 2010. It has been a joy to see so many former choristers, choral scholars, organ scholars and my former assistant organists go on to achieve great things, and to know that I have played a part in their formative years or early years of their careers. I have also enjoyed the daily challenge of providing high quality music with very limited resources, and would forewarn any new appointment that they will need a steely resolve in order to succeed in Wakefield!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank colleagues for their support through the COA, and to particularly single out Christopher Gower and Jonathan Bielby for thanks. These two esteemed colleagues guided me during my years as an assistant organist, at Peterborough and at Wakefield Cathedrals, and I owe them both a debt of gratitude. 

I hope to keep in touch with many of you in the future, and wish you all the very best.

Tom Moore