After Easter, a group of choristers and lay clerks travelled to Estonia and Latvia.

Our first stop was Tallinn, where we quickly got some idea of the rich history of the old city. The venue for our first concert was the Kaarli church, built in 1862 as a sign of growing national identity.

Next we travelled to Tartu, the main university town of Estonia, to sing in St John's Church, a medieval Gothic structure, with an atmosphere that seemed ideal for the Byrd Mass for Five Voices.

On our way to Latvia, we travelled through vast undeveloped expanses of land, punctuated by pine forests and isolated towns.

Arriving in Riga was like moving from the 1960s to the present day. Our hotel was amazing with wonderful panoramic views back toward the Old Town from its windows on 27 floors.

For many of the choir, the concert in Riga Cathedral was the highlight of the tour.

The character of the building, the warmth of the welcome, and the thrill of ending the concert with Parry's I was glad, accompanied by the mighty organ, all combined to make this an experience to remember.

On our final day we visited Rundale Palace and then travelled to Jurmala, the coastal region near Riga, where the sun shone and the beach was the perfect setting for a game of football - some of us even went swimming in the Baltic.

The singing at the concert that evening was every bit as fine as it had been throughout the tour.

All the tour members were fine ambassadors for Salisbury Cathedral, and they have returned home with a real sense of a region where people have had to fight for freedoms which we so often take for granted.