A CATHEDRAL choir is preparing for its busiest time of year, including a traditional working Christmas.

Thirteen boys, aged nine to 13, all members of the Durham Cathedral Choir, hope to hit the high notes, during coming days, at the peak of carol service season.

It means the boys, boarders at the nearby Chorister School, will wake on Christmas Day in their dormitories, instead of at home, prior to a hectic day of singing.

By tradition, they are each allowed to open just one present, before robing up for performances in the cathedral, backing the 12 senior members of the choir.

Their working Christmas Day begins with matins, at 10am, followed by Eucharist at 11.15am, before they have their turkey lunch.

It is then back into the cathedral choir stalls for their final performance of the year, the 3.30pm evensong.

Four of the 13 choirboys are poised for their first working Christmas, including new member, nine-year-old Hugh Topping, while head chorister, Henry Taylor, is an old hand. The 13-year-old, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, is about to spend his sixth successive Christmas away from home.

l Visitors to the two main pre-Christmas services, the Festival of the Nine Lessons and Carols, on Friday, at 7pm, which is repeated on Christmas Eve, at 3pm, are asked to arrive early at the cathedral.