MY WIFE and I have enjoyed some 25 years listening to the superb Chapter House Choir’s Carols by Candlelight each December in York Minster. How sad it was therefore to see such a change in the recent performance, when, compared with previous years, the choir was hardly involved.

There is an old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and yet here we had a brass quintet; Sir Andrew Motion giving four readings, none of which could be heard by a large number of people; a small offering of hand bells; no organ solos and only five choir pieces.

While the quintet was good I would suggest that this, along with the readings had no place in such a traditional carols evening which normally has ten to 12 carols by the choir, four hand bell pieces and four organ solos.

In short the evening was a massive disappointment and speaking to a number of people later I am not alone in my thoughts.

We need to return to tradition as the title is Carols by Candlelight not “A mixed musical evening”.

Finally, many tickets were priced at £30 and were not value for money, bearing in mind that in previous years we have had the carols evening plus three extra concerts for roughly the same price.

Malcolm Huntington, Heslington, York.