A bright morning on 16 May saw over 500 state-school children gather in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh to celebrate a new generation of young people who are encountering the Catholic tradition of choral singing.

The event marked the culmination of an eight-week pilot which involved twelve schools in the Archdiocese of Armagh and the Diocese of Dromore as part of the National Schools Singing Programme, which supports Catholic dioceses to create or enhance their own music programmes for school children. Singing benefits children from all walks of life, but the programmes supported by the NSSP are focused on communities which lie on the peripheries of the Church and society.

The people of the Archdiocese of Armagh extend their gratitude to the NSSP for enabling it to realise a long-held dream of seeing children singing in its schools.