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23
Sept
Ripon Cathedral reveals 'much to celebrate' in annual report
Ripon Cathedral has had a good year, according to its annual report unveiled at the weekend.
Expenditure was kept steady, income increased slightly, and numbers of worshippers at the cathedral continue to grow.
In his introduction to the 13-page report, Dean John Dobson writes:
There is much to celebrate, including: growing congregations and faith; glorious choral singing; more than 113,000 visitors; a major rural housing conference; environmental progress; concerts attended by over 10,000 people; a strengthened safeguarding team, including our own cathedral safeguarding officer; and generous financial support.
John Dobson, the Dean of Ripon.
Income and expenditure
In 2025, the cathedral's total income rose by 4.9% to £2.1 million – or £2.6 million when the appreciation of its investments is taken into account – and its total costs were held at £2.2 million, which it attributed to "careful stewardship".
For comparison, over the previous year, 2024-25, income was £2.5 million and expenditure was £2.2 million.
The largest source of income in 2025-26, accounting for 24% of the whole, was from investments, and the second-largest source was grants (19%). Donations, trading and fundraising, and the Ripon Cathedral Development Campaign each contributed 9% of the total.
Nearly a third of all expenditure (32%) went on music, and just over a fifth (21%) was accounted for by the shop, communications, marketing and fundraising. Ministry cost 17% of total expenditure, and the repair and maintenance of the cathedral and its precincts – in other words, the Grade I listed cathedral and its exceptional glass, carvings, monuments and collections, as well as an estate of important historic buildings – cost 16%.
A concert at Ripon Cathedral.
Expenditure also included some one-off projects, including work on the Chapel of the Resurrection to create an area for the interment of ashes, and progressing the detailed design for solar panels, which received planning consent in 2025.
The report stated:
As last year, the balance sheet remains strong, providing good levels of solvency and liquidity and we were pleased to report another clean audit (a credit to the cathedral’s finance team and the scrutiny and guidance provided by the finance committee, audit & risk committee and the canon treasurer throughout the year).
Attendances are up
One development that will cheer cathedral authorities was the upturn in numbers of people visiting the cathedral for its primary purpose: worship. Midweek attendance at cathedral services was 16% higher in 2025 than the previous year, and Sunday attendance in 2025 was 6% higher than in 2024.
The cathedral was packed for the Easter service, which was televised. Photo: BBC
There was even an increase in virtual attendees. There were 5,500 views on YouTube of the Christmas Eve service of Nine Lessons and Carols, nearly 2,000 views of the Easter Day choral evensong, and an established average online-worshipping congregation for Sunday services of 623.
This increase in "custom" will account to some degree for the upturn in collection-plate taking. They rose slightly by just over 1% over the year, while visitor donations grew by 3.6% and income from events and the shop continued to pass previous years’ totals.
Nevertheless, the report gives no impression of complacency. It states:
Despite the good year, Chapter remains aware that significantly more needs to be invested to ensure long-term conservation of the building and estate, to provide much-needed modern facilities, and to enable the cathedral to thrive.
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