Published on: 18/08/2026
Powerful testimonies of the impact of music and faith have been shared with members of the Rotherham Minster community, as a new appointment brings in optimism for the future.
Grace Atkinson, who was appointed as Choral Director earlier this year, brings with her a wealth of musical experience, including time spent as Assistant Organist at St Paul’s Masbrough from 2017-2021, and musical work at various churches. Her role involves working with children and young people, helping to develop singing skills and musical knowledge, and enabling the team to form relationships with schools that wouldn’t necessarily have had a link before. Grace’s work also involves building on the existing music curriculum at different schools.
Grace’s role will also help children to feel comfortable going into a place of worship, as Rotherham Minster isn’t presently linked to a Church of England school. Two concerts have been held at Rotherham Minster since the appointment, bringing in children and families to the services.
Grace said:
‘It’s special to be able to feed into the community aspect of my role, with music helping to facilitate worship. One of the special things about getting the school concerts together is that the schoolchildren have the opportunity to sing with choristers and children from other schools, which they probably wouldn’t be able to do otherwise.
Director of Music Ian Wilcock said:
‘At Rotherham Minster there’s a connection with the building in the town centre, which is really important. We don’t just work with children who are Christians. We work with children who are of other faiths or no faith or who’ve had very little contact with the church.
‘You don’t have to be a Christian to join our choir. As a church, we are welcoming to the whole community. We also try and build up confidence in people; one chorister a while ago didn’t want to leave her mother during the rehearsals but now reads confidently and joins in the sessions. It’s great to see that interest in faith flourish. The music isn’t an end in itself – the music is a means of praising God and the means of drawing people into the church community who want to explore more.’
Grace runs a half hour faith group after rehearsals, and choristers get involved in bible readings and intercessions. The choristers sing twice a month, including singing Choral Evensong with the adult choir at 4:30pm on the first Sunday of the month.
Grace adds:
‘It’s really valuable when you see the children making the links between what they’re learning in faith groups and also with the liturgy, and they understand it. When it comes to the next service, they’ll have learned about the reading that they’re doing.
‘The children help each other and come from a very diverse group in ages, abilities, everything. It’s a really special thing to see, in chorister rehearsals and also in the faith group.’
Plans are being developed for a Choral Outreach Hub with Rotherham Minster, Sheffield Cathedral and Doncaster Minster, bringing together the different music programmes. It’s hoped this can help to reach out to different parts of the Diocese using the power of choral singing to grow the church and draw people more into the worship communities.
Ian adds:
‘People like the phrase, “becoming a real part of the community and not just something that’s for Sundays.”’