Merseyside teen issued emergency passport to sing for Pope

LIverpool Cathedral Choir

A Merseyside teenager who faced heartbreak after a lost passport threatened to end a once-in-a-lifetime chance of singing in front of the Pope was able to set off to Rome after all. Chorister Bridget Boland, 14, feared she would not be able to join the rest of the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral choir who set off to the Vatican on Friday. The panic began when her mum, Jane, realised the passport she thought was her daughter’s was actually her own – and Bridget’s was nowhere to be found.

Mrs Boland was told the situation did not meet the criteria for the issuing of an emergency passport, but the Passport Office made a dramatic U-turn following intervention by the Liverpool ECHO newspaper. An appointment was fixed for Mrs Boland at the Liverpool Passport Office where she was issued with an emergency passport allowing Bridget to travel. Mrs Boland, from Crosby, said: “I didn’t believe it, I didn’t think we were going to get a happy ending with this one.

“This is a once-in- a-lifetime opportunity for her to represent her city by singing at the Vatican,” she said; “it would have been a huge disappointment if she hadn’t been able to go.”

The Cathedral choir accompanied the new Archbishop of Liverpool, the Most Rev Malcolm McMahon, to the Vatican to sing at the Mass as he is presented to Pope Francis. The invitation for the choir to sing at the Papal Mass on 29 June was approved by Pope Francis himself. Canon Anthony O’Brien, Dean of the Metropolitan Cathedral, said the accolade for the Cathedral choir was a tribute to the choristers’ “dedication and talent”.

The 45-member Cathedral Choir of boy and girl choristers is drawn from St Edward’s College, West Derby, plus 14 lay clerks. Over the past year, the choir has recorded three CDs, including featuring on Jack Topping’s debut, Wonderful World, which was No 1 in the classical music charts.

Read the full story in the Liverpool Echo here: www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/merseyside-teen-avoids-heartbreak-issued-7334377