Remembering the angelic voices of the Cartmel Priory choir in 1988

Twenty four boys under the baton of their conductor Georg Stangelberger offered a beautiful selection of songs, some accompanied by piano and organ.

SMILES: Some of the canine ‘congregation’ with their owner at the service of thanksgiving at Cartmel Racecourse in 1989, which included animals being blessed

The programme included duets and a solo, ‘Kyrie Gloria’, which was a treat. The final item, ‘Auld Lang Syne’ brought prolonged applause.

Ian Hare, the priory organist, played a Back solo and Crown Imperial March during the interval.

The souvenir programme featured a frontispiece painting of the priory by Tom Deardon, who was especially commissioned to do the work having exhibited in the royal Academy in 1979.

The choir was thanked by the vicar. Proceeds from the event would be shared between the Priory Heritage and the Great Ormond Street Hospital Appeal.

In 1989 a special service of thanksgiving was held at Cartmel Racecourse.

Local children brought along their pets - dogs, cats, a chicken and a Jersey cow - to be blessed by the vicar of Cartmel, the Rev Christopher Atkinson.

BLESS: The blessing service for animals conducted by the Rev Christopher Atkinson on Cartmel Racecourse in 1989

The service, which marked the end of a calendar of events for the Priory’s 800th birthday, also coincided with the festival of St Francis of Assisi - the patron saint of animals.

The children had requested the blessing of their pests and some arrived dressed as animals - an elephant, a bear, an octopus, a fish, a monkey, a sheep and a wolf.

Some took part in a drama about St Francis.

About 150 people attended. Phillip Wilson, of Cartmel Young Farmers, brought trusses of hay into the paddock to provide seating.

CHURCH: Cartmel Priory in 1995

Mr Atkinson blessed each animal as it was led past him and hymns including 'All Things Bright And Beautiful', 'Think Of The World Without Flowers' and 'Who Put Colour in The Rainbow' were sung.