CHORISTERS singing at one of the region’s great cathedrals have been given a new, uniform look.

The previous robes at Ripon Cathedral, some of which were more than 50 years old, had two styles – one for the girls and one for the boys.

But the new set are unisex so on the frequent occasions at which all the choristers now sing together, the choir will have a unified look.

The robes are made from specially-woven material as the colour, Ripon Red, is unique to the cathedral and they were worn for the first time at evensong last Sunday.

The project to create the new robes was led by chorister parent Anne Simpson who said: “Originally, the girls did not sing as many services as the boys, so the fact that their robes were white was not an issue.

“However, now that the girls sing as many services as the boys, and especially as they are very often singing at bigger services together, the white robes were getting dirty very quickly.

“With the boys’ robes also becoming rather worn and their surplices being about 50 years old in any case, the Dean and Chapter agreed it was time to refresh things for the entire choir by creating a new set of robes.”

Director of music Andrew Bryden added: “Now that the robes are the same for all choristers, it will of course be easier to find robes to fit new - and growing - choristers as we’ll have a single, large set of robes to draw upon.

“It also means that the boys and girls are very visibly a single choir.”