Hereford site just outside the city and has already proved so successful that trading and business is up on the previous site's record. The annual Three Choirs Festival, originating in the 18th century and one of the oldest music festivals in the British Isles, is held in Hereford every third year, the other venues being Gloucester and Worcester. Composer Sir Edward Elgar lived at Plas Gwyn, Eign Hill, in Hereford between 1904 and 1911, writing some of his most famous works during that time. He is commemorated with a statue on the Cathedral Close. One of his Enigma Variations was inspired
Herbert Sumsion organist at Gloucester vacant only a few months before the cathedral was to host the Three Choirs Festival. Brewer had expressed a desire that Sumsion succeed him, so although Sumsion had just accepted the position of organist at Coventry cathedral, the Dean and Chapter at Gloucester negotiated his release from this commitment. Sumsion and his wife left America for England in June 1928. Despite his relatively late arrival on the scene, Sumsion's leadership of the 1928 Three Choirs Festival at Gloucester impressed both music colleagues and the press. In those days the resident organist bore the burden of conducting, and