Choir sing from the rooftop for Ascension Day

Choral music echoed from the tower of St John’s College Chapel today, continuing a tradition that goes back over a hundred years.

Crowds of people gathered in the College’s First Court to hear the choir sing the Ascension Day carol from the Chapel roof.

Each year on Ascension Day, which celebrates the Christian belief in the Ascension of Jesus into heaven 40 days after his Resurrection at Easter, members of St John’s College Choir ascend the spiral staircase up the 163ft high Chapel tower, the tallest historic building in Cambridge.

This year, the choir were joined by Dan Rootham, grandson of Cyril Rootham, who started the tradition in 1902 when he was Director of Music at St John’s. It was the first time in 67 years that Dan has been up the tower to see his grandfather’s tradition continue.

The Ascension Day service from the roof of the Chapel tower emerged from a conversation in 1902 between Cyril Rootham and a Fellow at the College, Sir Joseph Larmor.

Sir Joseph was insistent that a choir singing from the top of the tower would not be heard by those standing on the ground below. Cyril was keen to prove him wrong and thought that the feast of the Ascension was a fitting time to do so. Without telling anyone, the choir climbed to the rooftop of the tower and as the clock struck noon, sang an Ascension Day motet. To Cyril’s great delight, Sir Joseph opened his window in the courtyard below to see where the music was coming from.

The event proved extremely popular and has been repeated every year since, for over a century.

Dan said: “It was moving – very moving. It was not quite as I was expecting, but beautifully done, and because I sing in my local church choir it spoke to me quite a lot. I think my grandfather would be astonished. Traditions easily disappear and it could easily be regarded as irrelevant, but I’m absolutely delighted that it still exists.”

Dan was an undergraduate at St John’s College, graduating with a BA in modern languages in 1968. As a student, he was a keen sportsman and a member of the Lady Margaret Boat Club. He is one of several generations of his family to come to St John's. His great-great-grandfather and great-grandfather both sang in the choir, and his grandfather and father also studied at the College.