Speaker The Very Reverend Andy Bowerman, Dean at Bradford Cathedral

Speaker finder Robert introduced Andy by saying that he had recently been on television twice – once on Songs of Praise from Bradford Cathedral and then the Christmas service was also from the Cathedral. Andy followed this up by saying that he had also been on BBC sports personality of the year with the Bantam of the Opera Choir.

This recent spell of work in Bradford was Andy’s second as he had been here from 2001 to 2009. He then went down to Dorset, London and Dubai before returning almost 4 years ago.
Robert had asked Andy to speak about cohesion of the different cultures in Bradford. He said we might be better getting his youngest son to talk about that as he was just starting a doctorate in the philosophy of integrated cohesion.

Instead, Andy said he was going to speak about the Bantam of the Opera Choir (BOTOC) which he thought had turned out very good for cohesion. To get into the choir you had to apply giving your background and he was lucky to be chosen as one of the fifty members. He felt he was lucky because as an 8-year-old he had tried out as a chorister and was told that he wasn’t any good after singing just the first line.

He said the first step toward being cohesive is to want to be in something that was all encompassing in terms of culture as he did when he applied to join BOTOC. The members of the choir were from ages ranging from 18 to 91 and were from all aspects of Bradford society. The conductor broke the ice by getting them to sing as their first song the Beatles track “All You Need is Love”. He had them all singing for 45 minutes after which they had a 15-minute break for tea and biscuits. During this break people started talking to one another and this was the start of progress of joining together.

He said that the message from this should be “How do we celebrate the standout parts of Bradford?”. During the training of the choir about half of the 50 members tried out for solo parts and all were encouraged and celebrated even if they weren't the best singer. He said that in Bradford we are not good at celebrating our achievements but rather concentrate on highlighting the worst. As an example, he said that he is a supporter of Bradford City AFC and at a recent match City went 2 up and a supporter near to him said "Oh we're in trouble now”.

During unrest around country last year (termed the migrant riots) Bradford was quiet unlike elsewhere and we should celebrate this fact. We need to concentrate on how we build links to other generations and other cultures. The city stayed quiet partly because there is a group made up of key institutions such as faith groups, the police, health services, the Council etc. This group meets twice a year unless there is something happening which might need calming down when it meets very frequently.

50 people originally joined BOTOC and during the year of culture only 4 dropped out. One because they felt that they should have been chosen as a soloist. One was pregnant, another moved elsewhere and the last one came back. The choir generated a life of itself with people becoming friends.

Andy was asked who started the choir, He said that the initial idea came from Russ at BBC Leeds, it was then picked up by the marketing department. Them somebody else contacted Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber for permission to use the name and various others came together with the suggestions that created the final concept. It was only supposed to do one performance on May 11, but it grew and was eventually involved in eleven major performances as well as several workshops for primary school pupils.

Andy said that he feels this is a sad week as he is leaving Bradford to go to Melbourne to work with 4 schools helping them think about how they can be cohesive and integrated. Melbourne is the youngest city in Australia with over 100 languages spoken in the city. When asked how long he was going for he said that he had got a 4-year visa and a 5-year contract which is typical of the time he spends in any one location.