About the Choral Foundation
In Autumn 2021, we launched the St. Peter’s Choral Foundation as Bournemouth’s ‘cathedral choir’.
The choir is made up of 16 choristers (boys and girls), capable soprano, alto, tenor and bass adult singers, and from May 2025, eight professional lay clerks. Together they will be known as the St. Peter’s Choral Foundation.
The Choral Foundation builds on 150 years of musical excellence at St. Peter’s to create choirs capable of singing for concerts, recordings, tours, and in cathedrals, in addition to the weekly round of choral services in Bournemouth.
Choristers receive musical training worth more than £500 a year. Just as importantly, they make new friends and quickly develop their confidence, teamwork, leadership, and resilience while having a lot of fun.
There is NO CHARGE for choir membership. Choristerships are open to boys and girls aged seven to sixteen. Choral scholarships are open to boys and girls with some musical experience from voice change (from Year 12 for sopranos). We also welcome enquiries from prospective adult singers of all voice parts.
The Choral Foundation is a CIO (charitable incorporated organisation).
The CIO was registered in June 2021 to raise and provide funding for the Choral Foundation’s activities.
There are eight trustees: five ex-officio trustees from St. Peter’s, and three independent trustees.
St. Peter’s is the civic and town-centre parish church for Bournemouth.
It has stood on its present site in the heart of the busy town centre since 1845. The present building was completed in 1879 to a design by George Edmund Street. It is a Grade I listed building which includes a richly-decorated Gothic Revival interior and a 202-foot high tower and spire.
The choir was founded before 1879. At that time, some of the choristers came from London and boarded in the Choir Home, while others were drawn from the growing town. All were educated in the choir school. In the 1920s, the town had grown large enough that all of the choristers lived locally and attended a wide range of local schools.