Press Release

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 24 November 1999

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh will join worshippers at Southwark Cathedral on Millennium Eve, before continuing to the midnight celebrations at the Dome, further east along the riverside. Her Majesty and His Royal Highness will be joining members of the resident community and regular congregation at 9.00 pm for the opening part of a vigil of prayers and music. The Queen will light a Millennium Candle in the Cathedral.

The Provost, the Very Rev Colin Slee, comments, "We are delighted that Her Majesty The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh have chosen Southwark Cathedral as the church to which they will come to join in prayers on the Millennium eve. It is also a parish church, with a thousand year history, deeply rooted in the London community. This makes it an especially appropriate choice. Southwark has always been a place for merrymaking and entertainment and the Cathedral has been in the middle as a reminder that our greatest celebrations have their source in God's goodness to us all."

During the service the Cathedral Choir will sing a specially commissioned anthem by Piers Maxim. The text is that used by King George VI in his wartime Christmas Broadcast to the Nation, December 1939: "I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year ..." by M Louise Haskins. The vigil will last the entire evening and conclude with a Eucharist, which will finish in time for everyone to join in the firework display at the riverside.

Admission to the Cathedral for the first part of the evening will be by ticket only, available first to congregation and Friends. After 30 November the allocation will be opened to wider applications if there are any places left.

Ends

For further information contact: 

Rose Harding (Cathedral)
Tel: 020-7367 6722

Diocesan Communications Officer
Tel: 020-7939 9400
Mobile: 07831-694021
Fax: 020-7939 9468