THE Countess of Wessex helped make several special occasions even more special when she visited Salisbury on Thursday.

The royal visitor went to Salisbury Cathedral, where she celebrated 20 years of girls choristers before going on to officially open the city’s new hostel for the homeless and then dropped in to the St John Ambulance headquarters.

At a reception hosted by Salisbury Cathedral School the Countess met the girl choristers, along with some of the former choristers and by others who have supported the choir through its first two decades.

Director of music David Halls said: “The undoubted success of the new girl chorister tradition, which is now firmly established in cathedrals throughout the country, has added to the glorious heritage of boy choristers and we are very proud of having led the way in 1991.

“We were honoured that the Countess of Wessex took such an obvious interest in the girls and clearly the girls themselves were enchanted by their royal guest.”

The girls performed three pieces for Her Royal Highness, ‘How beautiful are the feet’ from Handel’s Messiah, Dulcis Christe by Grancini, and ‘Lift thine eyes’ from Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah.

ST John Ambulance has recently taken delivery of a new £44,000 Land Rover Discovery Ambulance and the Countess was shown this as well as taking time to talk to volunteers about their work with the charity.

The Countess, who is Grand President of St John Ambulance, was introduced to students taking part in an Emergency First Aid at Work course and watched them demonstrate their newly acquired skills A £4.5million hostel for the homeless was officially opened in Barnard Street.

During her visit to the Alabaré Place, the Countess unveiled a plaque, listened to a musical performance by residents and cut a birthday cake to mark the 21st anniversary of the charity.

Chief executive Andrew Lord said: “This is a very exciting occasion for us and we are delighted that the Countess of Wessex was able to be with us for our opening ceremony.

“This is our 21st anniversary year so we are thrilled that the opening coincides with our birthday so we can celebrate two great occasions.”

The hostel has been home to 33 residents since October and is a result of a partnership between Alabaré and housing group GreenSquare.

Resident Nico Terblanche said: “Since moving here two weeks ago my life has changed dramatically.

“My self-esteem has lifted and that’s due to not having to worry about the night anymore.”

* The celebratory lemon-drizzle cake was made by Linda Fripp from Coombe Bissett, who was appointed the official Royal Wedding Cake Maker in 1999 when her chocolate cake was chosen to be part of the wedding breakfast dessert for the Earl and Countess of Wessex.