The Royal School of Church Music's handbook for Readers provides an alternative example of the training offered. It provides detailed advice on a variety of subjects including the need for Readers to accept the incumbent's authority, and the need to demonstrate loyalty to him, by not making the slightest alteration to the manner in which services were conducted. There was also practical advice on how to use the voice when singing and chanting and how to walk upright in church without either swaying or cutting any corners. Advice on dress includes detailed instructions on how to sew a button onto the cassock in order to wear an academic hood in the correct manner. Whilst the book is a somewhat amusing account of Anglican life it also reflects a genuine desire to ensure that Readers ministered in an audible and respectful manner.

3.6 Laity.

The period between 1950 and 1970 appeared to be a period of inactivity in the development of Reader ministry because there were no significant amendments to the Canons between 1941 and 1968 and there were no important books on Reader ministry, which have found their way into the various bibliographies.