William – Bishop for a Day!

A former Hereford Cathedral chorister was enthroned as Boy Bishop on Sunday 4 December during a historic ceremony dating back many centuries. William Caldwell Martin joined the cathedral choir at the age of eight in 2010 and subsequently sang over a thousand services with the choir.

As a chorister, he also took part in several radio broadcasts, two CD recordings, and toured the USA and South Africa with the choir. He has also sung at several Three Choirs Festivals, when Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester cathedrals unite for a veritable feast of music each summer. William left the choir earlier this year but is still a pupil at Hereford Cathedral School.

The ceremony was banned by royal proclamation in 1541 but Hereford Cathedral was the first to revive the tradition and it has been held annually since 1982. Read more about the Boy Bishop Tradition.

William decided to talk about ‘time’ in his sermon, starting with “I’ve been alive for roughly 462,585,600 seconds….. I spent 199,728,000 of those seconds in the Cathedral Choir.” You can read more in his Boy Bishop Sermon.