Cathedral awarded Marque of Excellence for visitor welcome

Cathedral awarded Marque of Excellence for visitor welcome


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30 June 2009

Manchester Cathedral has been awarded a Marque of Excellence in Welcome from the North West Multi-Faith Tourism Association.

At a reception, to be held on July 1st at the Cathedral, Steven Broomhead, Chief Executive of the North West Development Agency, will present the award. During the event, the Hindu dancer Monica Ballani, will perform a Diva Dance of Welcome, in token of the ‘multi-faith’ nature of the Marque of Excellence scheme.
Joanna Booth, from the North West Multi-Faith Tourism Association, said, "The aim of the Association is to make a significant contribution to faith tourism through the creation of a network of Sacred Sites across the entire North West region, and the main vehicle for this is the Marque of Excellence which is awarded to those sacred worship spaces that are not only open but surpass a standard of excellence in welcoming visitors. These sacred sites work hard to share their religious and cultural heritage and collections with community members and visitors alike and are not only sacred to those who worship in them but are also buildings which hold a variety of stories about their communities."

The Dean of the Cathedral, The Very Revd Rogers Govender, said; “With the redevelopment of our neighbourhood over recent years, we have seen a steadily increasing number of visitors coming to Manchester Cathedral. We have produced new guidebooks, new Welcome leaflets, new leaflets in numerous languages, and we have installed new boards in our Welcome Area. We have started to provide new prayer material for visitors. Also, as reported last month: new ‘family trails’ for younger visitors. Our Welcomers and Guides do sterling work; as do our Honorary Chaplains, another innovation in the past couple of years. We have greatly improved the signage outside the Cathedral and as a result are attracting more visitors every year.”


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