Coventry Cathedral Consecration, 1962

Look what I got in the post today - love it

Good for you Philip, hope you have a great day. By the way my son-in-law is called Phillip Williams.

Should be a great occasion - hope you thoroughly enjoy it, Philip

Thank you all, I am sure we will - sorry but we cannot take any photos on the day - well sad

Has anyone still got one of these Consecration and service programme supplements from the Birmingham Post dated Friday May 18th 1962, I found it in my loft and think it belonged to my gran.

Hi, I have just been reading about Coventry Cathedral (when it was built) and it is absolutely fascinating especially as I have been planning a trip to the city in July. However after speaking to my Dad, David Walker who used to play for Burnley Football Club at that time and who said that along with some other players they were present at the opening ceremony, I was wondering if anybody can remember this ceremony? My Dad thought that a plaque was placed at the cathedral? Anybody remember this in the 1960's?

Hello and welcome I'm not sure that the Burnley players would have attended the actual Consecration of the Cathedral (although I stand to be corrected) but I am sure that they will have visited the building around the time, as Coventry City manager Jimmy Hill arranged a friendly between the two clubs to celebrate the opening of the cathedral (CCFC were a 3rd Division team at the time and Burnley had just finished runners-up in Division One)

Hi and thank you for the welcome. Sounds interesting and that could be the answer. I think I will speak to my Dad again to try and jog his memory. Do you know anything about the plaque at the cathedral? As I said I plan to visit Coventry for a holiday break (as I live in the south) as there seems to be so much history that Coventry has to see. Thanks again.

Hey guys, really interesting info - I liked the consecration programme, lovely artistic detail on the front page. The pics of the new cathedral in progress, great, I liked the pic showing the difference between the old and the new and the sculpture of St Michael. Many thanks to all that have responded to my enquiry. Have a good weekend up north - it's blowing a gale down here! So much for the sunnier climes of the south! Vivien

I remember going to a service, for schoolchildren, just after it opened. I remember we were shown around afterwards. What stuck in my mind were the coins in the floor which were shiny and new at the time. I also remember us taking a threepenny bit each to school as the green glass in one of the windows was paid for by Coventry schoolchildren.

Seeing the recent thread "72 years Ago Tonight ..." with the ruins of the Old Cathedral, reminded me of a video clip I found a while back about the Cathedral Consecration in 1962. It's a Pathe News item lasting about 3 minutes which you may find interesting. It's a real period piece - the background music and the commentary are from a different era! - link. Whether you were religious or not, it was a great day in the history of Coventry. I seem to remember the station was rebuilt around the same time giving it four through platforms instead of two as part of the London-Birmingham electrification. It was ready for the Queen arriving on 25th May 1962. I think it's one of the more attractive station redevelopments of the time. Better than New Street for sure!

Hello! Does anyone know where I might be able to get a copy (video or preferably DVD) of the TV broadcast of the Consecration of Coventry Cathedral please?? My partner is Canon Joseph Poole's son, who designed the opening service as new Precentor of the cathedral, and the Poole family will be very interested to see this historic archive for a possible Christmas gift in this special anniversary year. Fingers crossed someone can point me in the right direction! Many thanks! Ian Mcmillan

That's very interesting. As you may have seen from a thread I started a few days ago about the Consecration, another forum member "heritage" is also looking for a recording. I thought something might be available from the Cathedral as part of the Golden Jubilee, but I didn't see anything. You'd think that the BBC would at least have an audio recording of the event, and Pathe obviously had film cameras there. I'm sure there would be quite a few people, including myself, who would be interested, along with the Poole family. I remember Canon Poole very well and he did devise some very memorable services for the Cathedral in the 1960s, including the Consecration which was a feast of organ and choral music. I was there, or rather a spectator being 14 at the time. They erected a temporary stand along the south side of the Old Cathedral (you can see it on the Pathe film clip) where we had seats for the event. I still have the order of service booklet designed by Canon Poole, and given to us on the day, which has the various consecration events over the weekend. The music was sung by choirs from Birmingham, Leicester, Lichfield, Oxford, Peterborough and Worcester, and there are many famous pieces of music incorporated into the service on 25th May. It would certainly be good to hear it again. Thinking back to those early days in the New Cathedral, I remember Damien Poole, one of the Canon's sons. We had a common interest in electronics and the Cathedral's sound system and would often chat.

Hello mcmillan If you Google 'Coventry Cathedral Consecration' the eighth item on the list is your blog from this site and two below it is 'Consecration Coventry Cathedral 1962'. There is 6 minutes of footage from Pathe News (copyrighted), the first half of which shows the actual ceremony and the rest a film of the iconic features of the building. If you scroll down to the bottom, there is a click bar labelled 'Coventry Cathedral Consecration footage'. Click on that and you get a selection of moving or still footage, some of which you can purchase. Happy viewing!

In addition to the Consecration itself there was also an Arts Festival across the City. I was in my penultimate year at KHVIII and about 30 of us got recruited as 'extras' for Royal Festival Ballet at the Coventry Theatre [Hippodrome] and we were members of the Russian Guard who walked solemnly on to the stage at the end of The Firebird by Stravinsky. Nadia Narina was The Firebird. I recall that we had one rehearsal on the day before and three performances for which we received a grand total of £1 15s 0d ~ a princely sum which would probably have bought about 14/15 pints.