Hereford Cathedral Coronavirus Statement

Tuesday 17 March 2020, 3.30 pm

• All non-worship events cancelled from Tuesday 17 March
• All tours and educational visits cancelled as of Wednesday 18 March
• Cathedral Café, Shop and Mappa Mundi & Chained Library Exhibition are closed from Wednesday 18 March
• Reading Room closed to public from Wednesday 18 March
• Further update this evening on public worship

This morning, in consultation with our staff, we made the decision to cancel all non-worship events taking place within the cathedral for at least the next four weeks. This is not a decision we have taken lightly but with decreased staff and volunteer numbers throughout the organisation, we need to be even more mindful of their well being and decreasing the risk to members of our community. We are also cancelling all tours and educational visits for the next four weeks in line with this decision.

Further to this the Cathedral Café, Shop and Mappa Mundi & Chained Library Exhibition will be closed to the public as of Wednesday 18 March. We are working individually with our staff members to support them if they need to work from home and will have reduced numbers of administration staff in the cathedral offices. We are also standing down our volunteers as of this afternoon to help protect them from non-essential interactions. The Reading Room will also be closed to the public from Wednesday 18 March.

You will also have seen this afternoon that the Church of England have announced that all public worship is to be suspended across the country to decrease the spread of the virus. From today our choir has been stood down and there will be no Evensong this evening. We are currently working closely with our colleagues in the Diocese to ensure that we have as much information as possible prepared for you and hope to issue another update this evening further explaining how worship at Hereford Cathedral will look in the coming weeks.

Our staff are working hard with the information given to ensure that communication is being provided as quickly and effectively as possible and we will do all that we can to keep our community informed over the coming weeks.