About The Concert
The concert is organised by a committed group of volunteers who meet throughout the year. Our Patron is The Duchess of Devonshire, a past committee member. We are also supported by several local businesses and organisations who help the concert through advertising and sponsorship. All proceeds raised by our concerts go directly to Macmillan Cancer Support and are used to help fund projects in the area.
Started in 1997, the concert was the brainchild of Lady Zetland, a previous President of Macmillan, who wanted to replicate the well-known Macmillan Guards Chapel Carol Concert in London at a suitable Northern venue. Initially the concert was held at St Mary’s, Thirsk but its success soon required a move to a bigger venue. Over 20 years later the Ripon Carol Concert is now a much talked about annual event and for many marks the start of their Christmas festivities.
Over the years we have been very lucky to have numerous celebrity visitors, readers and speakers including HRH King Charles III, Bear Grylls, and Ed Chamberlin to name a few, professional musicians and the support of the Aysgarth School Choirs and Queen Mary’s musicians providing a varied programme of music and readings. Liqueurs and mince pies served in the Cathedral crossing round off the evening.
We are proud to announce we have raised £513,246 for Macmillan Cancer Support in North Yorkshire over the last 25 years.
Funding Yorkshire Projects
Our funds assist cancer sufferers across Yorkshire to diagnose symptoms early. Macmillan with Sir Robert Ogden jointly fund care in Northallerton and Harrogate at two incredible care centres.
The Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre in Northallerton is a purpose-built £10million centre opened in December 2018 and now provides more than 4,500 chemotherapy treatments a year and more than 200 outpatient appointments a week.
Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre – South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
About Macmillan
Macmillan is the UK’s leading cancer supporter charity giving personal, one to one care and support to thousands of people every day. Cancer can affect anyone. Receiving a cancer diagnosis can turn life upside down in a single moment. But from the moment people hear the news they have cancer, Macmillan is there.
We are the only charity supporting anyone, no matter what their age, where they live or their cancer diagnosis. We are here to help everyone with cancer live life as fully as they can, providing physical, financial and emotional support. So whatever cancer throws your way, we’re right there with you.
Our services are almost entirely funded by donations, so without the continued support of everyone who organises and attends the Macmillan Ripon Carol Concert, many of the crucial cancer support services available to patients in Yorkshire simply would not exist.
From funding professional posts like the Macmillan Children’s Cancer Nurse at St James’s University Hospital in Leeds, funding our Macmillan Support Line in Shipley, to helping build our new state-of-the-art Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Cancer in Northallerton, the Committee and their supporters have changed the face of Macmillan in their community and made a huge difference to the lives of local people affected by cancer.
For support, information or just to chat, you can call us free on 0808 808 00 00, visit macmillan.org.uk or drop into our local information and support centres across the UK.