Search for young singers

Organisers are looking for five young choristers

Durham Cathedral says it is getting harder to find young boys who want to sing in the cathedral choir.

The cathedral is holding trials on Saturday to find five young potential choristers aged between seven and nine to join the choir.

There have been choristers since the 14th Century at Durham, but organisers say they may not find enough youngsters to fill all five places that are available.

Those selected are awarded scholarships to the Durham Choristers School.

The choristers are expected to rehearse every morning, and sing Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and three times on a Sunday.

'Big commitment'

James Lancelot, master of the choristers and organist at Durham Cathedral said: "We find we're not getting quite so many boys coming forward.

"It's a big commitment to buy into. It's just a question of winkling them out and getting them to come forward, and persuading their parents this is really worth doing."

But he denied that the tradition of boy sopranos was on the wane.

"I have to say I think it's partly the difficulty of persuading children to come forward, and I think it would be the same whether you had boys or girls."

There are 16 boys in the choir, with four reserves. The youngsters sing until they leave the Durham Choristers School at the age of 13.