Westminster choir school to close

A meeting of the Westminster Archdiocesan council of administration under Cardinal Heenan last week decided to close the Cathedral choir school next year because £300,000 would be needed to retain it.
The closure of the choir school in July 1976 comes after the Cathedral's adult male voice choir was also nearly disbanded for economic reasons, sufficient finance being found at the .last moment. An appeal for £250,000 for Westminster Cathedral ended in 1973 when only around £25,000 had been raised.
The parents of the 39 boys at the choir school, under Fr Vincent Commerford, the headmaster, pay £450 a year each, the Diocese of Westminster meeting the rest of the costs. The boys, aged from eight to 13, receive an education preparing them for public school entrance exams as well as spending time singing in choir practice.
The choir school is the only Catholic one in Britain, though there are two other schools in London, at Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral.
Some parents, upset at the choir school's closure, are meeting the Diocesan authorities on Sunday to see if anything can be done to save it.