Songs of Praise at Wakefield Cathedral

 

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Hymn booklet

The Songs Of Praise experience

I'm home, safe, sound and all sung out! I spent the morning at Wakefield Cathedral with some lovely colleagues from Created In Yorkshire, Lynne, Dela and Sandy, and my friend Gemma.

I loved the Songs Of Praise experience today. I mean, I really loved it! 

Today was my first visit to Wakefield Cathedral, which means I can't compare the newly refurbished interior with how it was before, but I can tell you it's a truly magnificent building. Inside, it's as beautiful as you might expect, but it doesn't feel at all imposing our daunting. The main body of the  cathedral was packed to capacity, and I'd guess there were around 500 people, many of whom had chosen to wear red and white in keeping with the St. George's Day theme of the episode of Songs Of Praise, which will air on Sunday 28th April. A number of choirs from around the Wakefield area formed the largest part of the congregation, and bizarrely our allocated seats were among the bassists!

Me and Lynne Thompson of Created In Yorkshire

The warm-up hymn was 'Jerusalem' and true to form, my eyes leaked at the end of the first run through. I've always been the same; anything that saturates all my senses has me in tears! I cry at the theatre, watching fireworks, at the school Nativity, pretty much at any kind of show or performance!

Cathedral Interior

We sang, sang and sang some more, sometimes the same hymn seven or eight times on the trot. The title of the episode is 'Enterprising Wakefield' and among the song list for the day was a new hymn called 'In Our City', which talks of what it feels like to be part of a community that's on an active road to regeneration. It's also the point that you'll get to see a little close-up of Lynne and me!

I can't begin to tell you how amazing the cathedral sounded. I had no idea that three hours of hymn practice would leave me feeling so uplifted. The surroundings were so beautiful, the Musical Director was so very enthusiastic and the choirs were nothing short of brilliant. The last point is very important - our voices were thankfully carried along by our entourage of big bass men!

I won't talk any more about this now; I'll let you fill in any missing pieces when the show airs in two weeks! BUT, I have one very important piece of advice for those of you who fancy taking to the action side of the camera: if you're trying to keep your 'focused' face on, don't remind yourself about the emergency Creme Egg in your handbag! ;-)

Catherine x

Wakefield Cathedral