Winchester inches to safety
NewsA seriously destabilised Winchester Cathedral, undergoing a thorough bishop’s investigation over bullying allegations, has extended its interim director of music by one year. It says this will ‘allow the Cathedral time to develop its aspirations’.
It says: ‘Winchester Cathedral Chapter has announced that Andrew Lucas has accepted its invitation to extend his tenure as interim director of music by 12 months to July 2026’
The previous director of music, Andrew Lumsden was prematurely retired, a peremptory act that led to the present embarrassing investigation.
It was understood that Lucas would do a year to cover a replacement. Extending this would indicate the Cathedral management wish to play for extra time and hope that those interested in church music will forget their unacceptable senior clergy behaviour that has led to this mess in the first place.
This of course won’t be forgotten as much as the Cathedral management hope and extending Lucas’s contract is only delaying the inevitable outcry when someone does take up this poisoned chalice.
Bring on the Bishop’s Investigation and stop playing for time Winchester. We’re all watching and waiting for the facts to be in the public domain!
Andrew is doing a good job though with what must be a seriously demoralised (and depleted) boys and back row. The atmosphere must be awful.