BBC TV “Westminster Abbey” 3: Westminster Abbey 2012 (James O’Donnell)

[Music] Westminster Abbey is a flagship institution is right there at the center of national life in this country Westminster Abbey is the coronation Church the Abbey has been the place where people commemorate the great men and women of our history here was the origins of Parliament I think of the Abbey as being a big place the most unusual phone call is from Michelle Obama's Secret Service on a standard day we would probably process a thousand people per hour even though we are a massive tourist attraction we still are very much a living Church Westminster Abbey represents faith of the heart of the nation to think that there have been people with their eyes turned in the same direction towards much with God in this place for over a thousand years there's a feeling of a really Rolls Royce musical setup you know being the Queen's choristers we really can't afford to let her down quite a lot I see people crying when you sing it brings tears of joy and sadness if we wake up every day and think this is a fantastic place to be this is real even after 17 years and you've leave you've got back to the gaff time there's a tremendous sense of being part of something that goes back all those hundreds of years there's a magnificent building or feel like I'm part fish we've just being here [Music] [Music] autumn at Westminster Abbey marks the start of a period known in the Christian calendar as Michaelmas the minimus term is rather curious because it's like the beginning of the year in so many different ways after people summer holidays schools resume people think of it almost as the beginning of a new year and yet it simply continues that eternal year towards the culmination of the desert eagle year and then beginning again on Advent Sunday for a new start four weeks before Christmas getting us towards great Christmas festival that is something magical about hearing boy seen there the carols I mean that once in royal David City once they start that it is just wonderful Christmas el Abbey is a fabulous feast just full of light and voila the music is heavenly really does remind us of Christ's coming among us the Abbey Choir School is preparing to welcome a fresh intake of boys I've been doing this now for more years than I care to remember but it is always exciting because the schools always completely new each Nicholas and there's a sense of starting the school afresh should the boys tease me here because I say once the new boys come back right now we're complete now we can begin 8 year old George is getting ready for his first day at his new school it's kind of alerting feelings like I've got something that I haven't yet gotten I can get if I really want to and if I train hard and all that stuff I can I can get it I can grab it no snap shots go off or so I'm a bit scared the thing that I will miss the most is my family over intimately for over a century the small boarding school within the abbey grounds has trained boys between the ages of 8 and 13 for the world-famous choir for the new boys it's the start of five years during which they will eventually sing at daily services and at some of the nation's most important occasions when they arrive there's always that little bit of apprehension how they're going to settle whether they're going to be alright because it's a really big thing to be away from home and that's a small school we've got 35 boys this year but to them and they see all these bigger boys were wandering around who know exactly what they're doing and they seem very big to them and I think it just hit some oh I'm away from home like 6 o'clock this morning it was running around the house I'm going to school today if you want a beautiful really I have to be taught to take off get it so coffee I try to encourage independence in the boys I don't want us to be doing everything for them so I like them to be able to dress themselves for example stupid simple little things like you know if you're buying a new shirt wash it a few times because the buttonholes can be really tough for small there will be moments when perhaps they feel a little bit wobbly but they'll soon be there there'll be something for them to do and they'll get on with it but actually it's poor mum at home who goes past the empty bedroom or is speaking the Lawson I think it can be very difficult for parents it's gonna be really weird for her because I'm always singing in the house so and my brother will be at nursery and my sister one beer was in reception so the house really clients all summer and since Luka got em we we felt fine and confident and everything and then today it was like this is really happening and he's gonna come here and he's gonna sleep somewhere else so it's felt really odd today a little bit like it waiting for an exam to start we're going to suggest that the you say our farewells so suggest fairly quickly and then the boys are going to be whisked away by Miss Murray and they'll make a start but a hugely warm welcome for us all just said of a little ranked anxious moment right off now before we left off that yeah I didn't want to say goodbye really just no wandered off I didn't even get a kiss you shook my hand the boy is adjoining an institution with a history stretching back over a thousand years since its transformation from a Benedictine monastery into the great Church that stands today Westminster Abbey has been at the center of our national life bound by its location next to the Palace of Westminster it was here at the Abbey in its 13th century chapter house that the origins of Parliament began when the king and his council met cannon Andrew Tremlett is responsible for overseeing the Abbey's enduring relationship with the state here we are in the the most busy of the squares in London traffic all around us and on one side we got Parliament the legislature which we think of as the houses over there started its life in a great way within the abbey itself the other side over there we've got the Supreme Court highest court in the land down on the north side we've got the Treasury HMRC Whitehall Downing Street and on the south side we've got the Abbey and some Margaret's so in fact this is a fantastic place just to illustrate what I think is one of the big questions in in British life which is about where's the place of religion and well I think it's part of our national character we've grown and developed as a nation and part of that I think is about the monastery that church being part of our national texture and tapestry ensuring the Abbi remains at the heart of national life is the responsibility of the dean assisted by a senior lay executive and full senior clergy called canons the Dean's personal assistant is dr. nan Vaughn o'hagan every season within the RB has got its own flavor but I think if there's one particular season or term that's distinct it's got to be the McComas because it's a very strong sense of it being the beginning of an academic year but at the same time you've got these great moments leading up to Christmas the dates we mark off have a significance and a resonance which is open above just this building just this community they're nationally important not simply for this church but for everybody our community seems to be a little pebble and the ripples move out to communities beyond and people beyond us the busy Michaelmas term begins with a ceremony linked to britain's recent past one that highlights the abbeys ongoing role as a keeper of the nation's history the relationship between the Abbey and our national life has a great many different strands to it but clearly one of the important strands is in terms of relation with the Armed Services and that's particularly obvious because of the grave of the Unknown Warrior being here and there's another element of that which is that the Queen is the head of the Armed Forces so it's a it's a natural relationship and the annual commemoration of the Battle of Britain is an important feature of our life as an abbey [Music] command of the air and loss 697 aircraft the British lost 153 the gratitude of every home in our island in our Empire and indeed throughout the world except in the abodes of the guilty goes out to the British Airmen who undaunted by odds and we read in their constant challenge and mortal danger are turning the tide of the world war by their promise and by the devotion never in the field of human conflict but so much old by so many consulted the Battle of Britain obviously is remembered by an enormous number of people as a key moment in the life of the nation during the twenties and testing time during the Second World War when the few stood it so it's it's almost theological you know the few standing for the many just as Lord you know stands for us as it were hangs for us on the cross so if these few these gallant few stood for us since 1944 the abbey has held their service of thanksgiving for those who sacrifice their lives during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 minor cannon of the Reverend Michael Macy is responsible for arranging the service good interior special services a jigsaw and sometimes all the pieces fall into place exactly retirement stages new turning a little bit Roger on my left here is our chief honoree Stewart here if he asks you to do something follow what he asks please ladies and gentlemen unless it's sank ridiculous and then don't Buffalo Britain because it's such a long standing service there's a relatively prescribed format anyway for the service obviously with the veterans not getting any younger there is an added complication but the Association the Veterans Association are fabulous they work very closely with us they tell us what their needs are and we try to accommodate them [Music] to see some of these old men walking up the aisle tremendously courageous still we have a coffee for them before the service and I said sometimes say you know would you like to sit down at this no I better standing up you know some of these they're all went into their 90's my father's generation and I'm just overwhelmed by really [Music] [Applause] once again we come together on battle of Britain's Sunday to give thanks for the dedication and heroism of members of the Royal Air Force and the Allied air forces their courage marked a turning points in the war for without their bravery it's hard to see how the Second World War could have been won immeasurable pride to be wish mr. rabbit and there we are one day in the air the center of everybody's eyes it's just very very reassuring how warming in you you want to do your best for everybody and it's getting harder harder to keep a straight line what it really means I think we're remembering old friends salmon's won a few of his men I think the couch last night with 57 survivors I'm not normally emotional chat but lump comes into my throat because with me and somewhere else our old friends and I feel very much aware of all those wonderful chaps in my squadron that I first service as a 19 year old schoolboy [Music] next year is the sixtieth anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth the second at Westminster Abbey the 39th monarch to be crowned here monix through history have contributed hugely to the life of Westminster Abbey it's important to get the coronation clear in our minds it's a profoundly important religious service which the monarch is not simply crowned but anointed so inevitably the Abbey is important to the monarch the chair on which queen elizabeth ii was crowned was commissioned by King Edward the first in 1300 and has played a central part at coronations ever since to mark the anniversary surveyor of the fabric Ptolemy Dean has been designing a new setting to house the chair if you think about what the chair is the nation has seen it as the embodiment and the symbolic representation of the monarchy itself think the heart of the state and there's something so wonderfully British about the fact that the chair should be preserved in its sort of semi dilapidated condition it is an incredibly important fragment while the plan for the chair said it's going to be read displayed in the séjour just shuffle actually the thought is to enclose it in a small canopy and the canopy purrs like a four-poster bed it creates a such a sense of it it's something precious that goes on with it how you have tall you make it how wide you make it has an effect on how big or small the chair looks and of all the things that you could be asked to sort of tackle and display and and think about it is one of the most important objects everybody will be there looking at is in 2013 when we have the 60th anniversary of the coronation and it needs to be looking right a model of Ptolemy's Dean's design is going to be built and tried out in Sint George's Chapel before a new permanent display is created it's part of a bigger plan to transform the abbey in the 21st century the man in charge of major projects is its lay head so Stephen Lamport the receiver general it's a very old role in the history of the abbey I mean it goes back to the medieval period when it was a job that was probably done by a monk or possibly by a by a lay brother and in those days it was actually a job designed to take in these at the rents and the tithes of the abbey and his estates from across the country chapter and then with the Reformation and with the closing down of the monastery this job became a job it was given into a lay person I think I'm gonna said you first since the 1530s I'm rather like the chief executive of the abbey I'm responsible for all the non material aspects of what the Abbey years and how it functions so I'm responsible for the finances for the people for the fabric for the fundraising and we've all in our different ways been given a very small slice of the Abbey's history to be custodians for it's never stopped still if you look at the history of the abbey it was the last thousand years it has constantly been refreshed and renewed and we see the change that we have done and I want you to do is being just very much part of that process a recent major change has been the conversion of the old monastic food store called the solarium into a cafe and restaurant the first in the abbeys history in October it was officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh of even greater significance are the current plans to convert the vast unused space high above the Abbey floor called the triforium the triforium is an extraordinary place that Henry the 3rd probably designed to be chapels replicating the space below and they've never really been used we're surrounded here just at the moment by a number of things that have been collected over the years but has only been used for storage and it's so fast and extraordinary place that goes all the way around the inside of the abbey we're planning to make it accessible to people so that we can create a display space up here and see some of the wonderful treasures that we're not able to show at the moment the proposals for the development of the triforium would create the most radical alteration to the exterior of this world heritage site since architect Nicholas Hawksmoor added his famous West towers in the 18th century the most controversial part of this proposal is the access into this space because there are two current narrow spiral staircases which are hopeless and so we have got to make a new spiral staircase and a lift that's suitable for disabled people this is where we gonna hope to put the doorway and for the new lift and stair and this monument will go up so you're coming through here and it's the only piece of wall that there is which hasn't have a window in it so this is a rather tentative study that we produced about how one might make a staircase and a lift access to up here and it's a new tower structure that would be partly concealed by the buttress of the chapter house which is out immediately outside here and in this crunch of Gothic mullions and tracery and pinnacles and here's Henry the seven-four Chapel and you're effectively all got your back to Parliament looking that way so it's thought of as far into a corner as you can get into a corner here but making changes to a building of such historic importance is highly sensitive the Abbey has to undertake thorough structural and archaeological investigations before any planning permission can be sought for their ambitious new plans Westminster Abbey has adapted to reflect an ever-changing world but some traditions haven't changed since the Middle Ages when Edward the Confessor built his church here you enjoyed this one very colorful to the other judges here all their robes on brings the abbey alive all that there the processions and all the outfits on October the 1st over 600 judges take part in a religious service that heralds the start of the legal year since the medieval period the Middle Ages judges have come from temple where the courts are processed along through Westminster and come to the Abbey for a service before the Reformation there was always a communion service so they had to fast beforehand I figure may reveal that I haven't been on a fast for some time but it's a it's certainly a time to think about the fact that you have something responsible to do it's a significant reminder of how serious the things we do really are I hover between being in or of the continuity and the ceremony and thinking it's all a bit surreal frankly ever since Edward the Confessor built his palace there's been a very obvious geographical link between the institutions of government and governance legal institutions and the church and there is something phenomenally moving about seeing the judiciary at prayer in the 12th century henry ii established the high court in the palace of westminster ever since the abbey has been a place of reflection for the judiciary wonderful seeing so many women actually robing i gather that in the past when they had this ceremony they were sort of half a dozen women and we had a room full of people getting dressed to see the interweaving of constitutional and governmental with the religious in such an obvious way and there are parts of the ceremony which show that so visually in terms of the wigs and the robes that are worn by the legal officers in the same way that that's evidenced by the vestments worn by clergy but it's not just about the individual it's actually about the role and in the judges service there's a sense that we are going not just speak of a half our own generation but we re committing to a series of legal principles - to an idea of Christian Justice which is underpin these islands for centuries at the beginning of the legal year we gather in the presence of Almighty God who is the judge of all and who knows the secrets of our hearts to renew our commitment to the service of the crown and of all the people in the cause of justice historically as head of the judiciary the Lord Chancellor allowed the judges to break their fast by offering them food after the service this ritual continues today with a breakfast held in the Great Hall of the Palace of Westminster must be very quiet in your house now that you're at you go up there as the legal year begins the first year boys are settling into their new school in addition to their usual school work for one hour every morning they have singing lessons as part of their training to become choristers thank you [Music] the leap that they make from their former life up until the age of eight to being a sort of full-blown member of the choir here is made it's not really a leap it's made gradually so in their first year they're doing very little singing in the Abbey we're just trying to sort of give them a grounding not just physically with their singing but also a theoretical grounding in music so they understand the notation that's in front of them favorite part I dunno about you and this line is mr. Cooney playing the piano it's really really professional and I probably only be able to play like that when I'm only about 20 years old I hope that they're having fun in my rehearsals they have to be very focused rehearsals though because that's one of the skills they need to be in the choir so without being kind of draconian or miserable about it they have to know that when they're given an instruction it's important that they listen to that and they're able to do it straightaway okay let's not go back to making a mistake once we've corrected it too [Music] we never know if we're all going to come in at the same time so like come on just make sure everybody comes in at the same time and then usually we do this week we've been practicing Magnificat and not' dimittis in that last week no that no we haven't really done anything you haven't really done any yeah well last week it was Magnificat in D sharp no D flat C flat yeah they're doing really well they're really lively bunch and very bright some very good musicians they're all very strong so they've been a handful but but in a good way I mean we want lively interesting people at the beginning of their second year boys have formally accepted into the choir well one of the great things about these choirs is that every year there is a slight change of personnel through the natural processes of people leaving and going on to somewhere else it enables a new generation to come into their own and giving the surplice which is the white and smoke-like robe that members of the party aware to the boys who have completed a full year of training and there's a sort of rite of passage is at Birth the white surplice was originally worn in winter months by clergy to conceal fur Kasich's but became established as a choristers gown by the 14th century the Dean presents him to the circus and they make promises to payroll in the choir and to try their best and it's a sort of symbolism that they've gone through their apprenticeship and they're now ready to take part in the in the services it is the duty of the choir to lead the people of God in worship by its conduct to set an example you could feel everybody's eyes watching you any any just thought this is well worth the start of thing actual becoming a chorister do you promise to be a faithful member of this choir do you promise to do your best at all times it's quite nerve-racking just waiting for it to remember and what to say when you actually get yourselves presented from the Dean I often think gosh in a few years time you'll be very different you'll have all sorts of experiences and you'll be moving on it's quite exciting to try and capture that moment for a moment may Almighty God accept the offering of your worship and lead you in the light and obedience of Christ when you wear that surplus you feel like you're setting example I have felt quite proud yeah I felt quite proud the wearing of special clothing for religious rituals dates back to the Old Testament which calls for sacred garments to be worn when ministering in a holy place let me have a look at that [Music] Maureen jerk runs a small group of volunteers responsible for maintaining the nearly 400 vestments that babby clergy and lay staff use throughout the year you do realize this material was given by Everett the seventh now retired she applied for a job as a virgin at the Abbey in 1978 my husband said that would be a good talk for you like history in church and I said they would never accept a woman well in those days they didn't and says well you never know until you try it was five interviews in three months you had to prove that you could actually do the work as they said of a man so my little test was before candle sticks around the unknown warriors grave I had to carry them from the Crypt up to the unknown warriors grave and that proves that I was strong enough and then they phone my husband and said would it be alright if they offered me the job and so that's how I became a virtual Christmas trapper 34 years ago as soon as I got to the area having a sort of woman's iron ore would you say I found that the vestments were really in a very poor state of repair so I had some friends to start and I say two of the ladies is still with me 30 years later you've got to go down the side seam don't forget don't take it out yeah they'll see along the top so you have chats coming in for their classics share buttons on and taken up on it so you know it is work all the time five o'clock even song will be sung in the choir which will visitors please make your way up the left-hand side of the nave and be seated by the Verge's the refreshment cars available for passengers they wish to take it did slightly that isn't it we're sitting now my favorite part of Westminster Abbey we're in the heart of the building we're in a part that the public aren't allowed normally to reach and it's the shrine of Edward the Confessor founder of the Abbey the original builder of the building before the Norman Conquest and this fantastic space was created for him by King Henry the third as a wonderful celebration of his predecessor and if this doesn't convert you to Christianity I don't know what would you are above everything else around you entombed and encapsulated in this heavenly stainle paradise Ponce absolutely back in the 13th and 14th centuries sitting here noted for his piety Edward the Confessor was made a saint in 1161 and his burial place has been a site of pilgrimage ever since today is st. Edward's day and pilgrims all over the country are embarking on a spiritual and physical journey to the abbey we've set off just after 6:00 and got to be there for just after 11:00 for the Eucharist it's 5 hours and it's 15 miles so that's three miles an hour which actually doesn't sound that fast but it is that is fast walking place so we're gonna be pushing you to get there but we'll do our best father Martin Powell is leading a group of 15 pilgrims from sind Edwards Church in new Addington on the outskirts of South London to pray at the shrine of Saint Edward the cannon in charge of welcoming the pilgrims at the Abbey is Jane hedges well advertised the the the time all around sent Edwards day so it's actually sent head was day-to-day 13th October and that's the day that his body was translated from its original resting place in front of the high altar into the wonderful shrine that we now have and it's been there ever since and all of that happened back in the 13th century this year's been a real tough year for us five friends but that died this year my brother-in-law my sister-in-law and a friend I'm 70 I on September 3rd I was well I hope deployed and let's try it to London and the Lord's with me I like it it's quite spiritual day for me really because I started chemotherapy three weeks ago and I just wanted to connect with God on the walk and just really to prove something to myself as well that I'm not defined by my illness really in a way we've recovered pilgrimage too soon ever the Confessor in recent years it seemed to me and to contain hedges my colleagues that this is a great place but at the heart of it is our st. a very rare survival from the Middle Ages and if we're to encourage holiness in people and in our nation in our end day then one way of doing it is to encourage pilgrimage since the earliest days of Christianity pilgrimage has been a way for Christians to reaffirm their faith traditionally many of these journeys were undertaken barefoot so beware okay yeah you see bother have folks all we are if you hadn't been for my friends hope he may output an amazing you know brilliant experience it's great come on next year blisters but yeah flap that we're almost here now [Music] if you walk all the way we did and then I'll gather you out barefoot we did wonderful well I hope it's been a good journey it's been fantastic I know that he's gonna be with me at least and has seen me through the journey which he did but saw fate but other than that I'm quite sir quite all right coming into the chapel let me go to sew their butts to him you know the whole thing will be finished [Music] the heart of Christianity isn't an institution it's a movement inspired by experiences of God beliefs about God it's not rites and ceremonies it's a whole way of life the Reverend Vernon white is the canon theologian responsible for religious study and teaching a current theologians role above all is bringing people into conversation about some of the mysteries of the whole of life not just what goes on in church and to try and bring together for example the history which is embedded in the abbey quite literally in in the monuments and the building and to ask the question in a lecture a seminar in a private conversation what are God's purposes through that history two years ago the abbey received a request from the Army Training Center at purbright in Surrey asking if they could visit with their new recruits the unsold has come quite near the beginning of their training - a day devoted what is called the realities of war and part of that visit includes standing round that grave of the Unknown Warrior I'm just gonna say a little bit about where we are although you may well know about the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior here put here in 1920 at the suggestion of a British Army chaplain David Railton wrote to the Dean of Westminster at the time who discussed it with the Prime Minister Lloyd George and they agreed that it would be a good idea for an unknown warrior to be buried here poor bodies of unknown soldiers were isn't heard from various military cemeteries around where the fighting had taken place in the First World War a brigadier was blindfolded the Brigadier just put his hand on one of the four and that was the one that was chosen so nobody knows at all who it is who was here feel it's quite important for us to come and visit and pay respects the Juliano warrior seeing something like this bring home realities of war when you watch in films and things you can't really relate to it wears when you're here it really does hit hard and that one day we could be in your no Morea shoes for me personally as well this reverence is really special to me because one of my friends I lost one of our really good friends not too long about a week a week ago she got buried and she was the third female as well to pass away so coming in there today is a special occasion for me personally in 1928 ten years after the first world war ended people began to lay crosses on the green between st. Margaret's church and the Abbey in memory of those who had died every November the field of remembrance stands as a symbol of the nation's respect for those who have given their lives serving their country at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 the First World War ended that date that time have become a symbolic moment on which to pause in silent remembrance and gratitude I see the spiritual future and mission of the Abbey always to engage with a wider world to look outwards and the Abbey has increasingly found itself in a role where it can offer hospitality at a safe place for real conversation and meeting between people who come from different faiths from no faith and also from different churches of course not just the Anglican Church today we're having a group of Muslims to have Muslim Christian dialogue about interfaith marriage and obviously during the course of the day the Muslims within the group would like to pray and we've decided that this is probably the best space to allow them to do so but I understand that it is important for any space in which Muslim prayers take place not to have any images of other animals or humans in them so things like this which have sort of animal depictions of them and removing from the room in order to make it a space that's comfortable for them because after all of we don't welcome people properly they won't be here formally so that's what I'm doing obviously they are praying towards Mecca but precisely in which direction that is in relation to this room I'm not entirely clear but I can only assume that they would know precisely in which direction they need to to use the room but it's roughly in that direction in Jerusalem chamber through the arts on the left-hand-side Canon andrew Tremlett is hosting this event for the Christian Muslim forum my role as cannon director includes relationships with Parliament Whitehall other faith communities so this is a great place to launch these interfaith ethical marriage guidelines for Muslims and Christians the idea is that these will now be published for all churches all mosques across the country as guidance it's not that this becomes your law set in stone that they have to use but it's being offered as pastoral best practice and the proof will be in the pudding that growing an increasing number of the interfaith March at least a couple a week we are getting together so the need is increasingly there I've been aware of interfaith marriages happening in this country for 30 years or so but it's the first time I've seen religious leaders especially for the Muslim and Christian traditions coming together and openly discussing some of the difficult issues so I think what Spencer Abbey has really set an example here by helping to launch a very high-profile event like this which makes it easier for mosques and synagogues other churches temples to also hold similar discussions in their premises it's a national issue and this is kind of a national place a place of national importance where events that matter in the life of the country get marked so it's a great honor to be here to to think about this big religious and social issue if people are in any way worried that's the Christian Church is straying onto territory which should not be its own then I think I will want to say look all political life all social life has some sort of moral dimension I believe it has some sort of spiritual dimension too and so in fact life is seamless you can't separate out one bit from another [Music] on that verse time to soon listen are as well as singing at daily worship and special services the choir produces one or two commercial recordings a year you can never really recreate an actual building itself with the best gadgets in the world so what you really want to do is capture the real McCoy as it were rather than trying to fake it with electronics got to get the page over soon all right we did quite a lot of rehearsal Tamizh hymns and perfect been banged on the head about words getting the words exactly all right because that's that's quite crucial especially with hymns the word remember we pitched the are there boys processor Brisby a kind of eavesdropping exercise really I don't want them to do anything that they wouldn't normally do maybe I might ask them for a little bit more text than they might normally do this is a disc of hymns I can't ask them perhaps to put a little bit more they won't say his sincerity into the delivery of the texture than they might do in the environment of the service at very optimistic because it's such a well-oiled ship that this will go fabulously well James I think we've got talkback going now hurrah yes good okay in that case I suggest that we start with praise my soul the king of heavy good plan you have me to go [Music] when you're singing even a song you're only singing to the amount of people that are in the Abbey but when there's a recording many more people will hear you and you and you sort of feel pleased that you're letting more people hear you nobody gets rich recording hymns or sacred choral music and then it's not about earning money the underlying rationale for recording is not actually commercial it's far more interesting than that and if there really is an ambassadorial role I mean the thing is to have the work of the choir out there because the choir is part of the DNA of the Abbey [Music] autumn turns to winter in the basement of the Abbey the works department is focused on the heating keeping happy warm is quiet Charlie we've got three big boilers here which of more than capable of doing it but the cook we have the board's opening of a there's so many jobs coming through with public or in an hour it's very difficult sometimes to keep the heat retained in Epping that some issues possibly Thursday's where the power failure myself and weighing the electrical over here to 1:30 in the morning as I live in Chelmsford Essex it was easier for me just to find sleep in our works painting things we think you have the honestly 2013 marks a major event for the Abbey the 60th anniversary of the Queen's coronation now after five months of planning Ptolemy Dean is trying out a model of the plinth he is designed to present the ancient coronation chair it's been conserved and structurally stable eyes so it's it's in very good condition better condition that has been for a very long time because we've never done a four-man lift on it before we usually use planks or things like that so to be actually touching it just makes me a little bit anxious but they're very good we were worried that if you left it in the center of a vast expanse it would look miniscule but actually it looks rather you know then it's got the red drape it to look quite nice and I think we need to get in place the metal railing that we're going to propose to put here so that we can then gauge where the right line is to stop people from coming too close you know one wants it to look timeless effectively and hopefully to last until the next coronation or the coronation after that the design now has to be approved by the Abbey and Buckingham Palace before the permanent plinth can be built out of oak in time for next year's celebration early December is the end of the liturgical year preparations begin for the great festival of Christmas Christmas is obviously a beautiful and wonderful season and for us the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is wonderful and we have to prepare for it so we prepare for Christmas through Advent so Advent the four weeks before Christmas are supposed to be a solemn and penitential time when we remember death judgment heaven and hell that has to be living alongside the fact that probably for two months or even three the shops are full of Santa and decorations and Christmas songs and people are doing their shopping and thinking about how they can afford Christmas and all the rest of it Christmas in the shop is a very busy time for us we usually start our Christmas here in October and have a sort of 3-month build-up to the Big D we get all our advent calendars and Christmas cards out and then nearer to Christmas we have all our decorations ioot and Jace our windows there is an expectation from the customer that shops will be dressed and made for Christmas earlier and earlier every year we try to stick to a toolbar just because we're not high street shop and we have to remember that we're at the Abbey [Music] faux Christmas and we get some money from the headmaster comes in and buy some if Sally would like we've been given 26 pounds to spend to all our presents that's quite a lot thousand thing is how to spend it the headmaster keeps him in his office when they arrive but [Music] Christmas at the Abbey is a wonderful time I mean most of the people that come to the Abbey of visitors and so your children joining him with their fun and sense of celebration of being on holiday for a lot of people they'll be coming out of the Abbey and saying this was the best bit of Christmas for me it's Monday morning today and we're overseeing a play on North Quay the worst department they involved in all the types of activities and jobs that go on one minute we're all going we're doing the knife drop like this there's people that's what makes it such a wonderful place to work the choir is preparing for the annual Christmas carol concert which will be attended by over a thousand people I very much enjoy it because it's the only non liturgical occasion now there was not a service that people can sing with the abbey choir and also I get to conduct them I'll turn around and I could have encouraged them cajole them into it a bit the choir enjoys it because normally we sing we sing day after day all through the year and never get a round of applause so it's quite nice when you're in a concert situation to be able to look the audience in the eye and know that if they like it afterwards they're going to show their appreciation [Music] What's Wrong David says she is you know one of them quite a fact quite famous Carol and and the very the beginning has one of the most wanted surface it's quite traditional for each year and one boy will do that so it's really wanted because its first of all it's quite exposed and everyone can hear ye and that's quite a nice feeling it's just a great piece and a great Carol to sing and that that's quite near the beginning the concert is quite special he put a lot of effort into it and a lot of time into a hosting those pieces and we still haven't and absolutely sort of well we don't actually know he's doing solos yet no ladies and gentlemen it's a very great pleasure to welcome you all here after evensong to this brief moment where we're going to light the Christmas tree [Applause] [Music] I'm really looking forward to Christmas I'm looking at my advent calendar and I like half but they're all cherry and it means Christmas in soon for the first and second year boys term ends in the middle of December but the older choristers are on duty until the afternoon of Christmas Day itself people say when do you break up for Christmas on Christmas Day Lynette go that's not very good but actually we do so much in Christmas period you had to send a while go to the theater then we've got all the big services and you know that they're always exciting in Christmas Eve we can pick a movie to watch because we have midnight mass which is really fun I know it's midnight which is tiring but it's already fun and then on Christmas Day get down to library and you get stocking it's really good and then you go down to the music room and get your presents and you play it's it's really fun that's good yeah it's really fun Christmas yeah and somehow there is a tiger's nest about this place there's a child all over again sends a shiver up and down the spine the cambria tear to the eye sometimes it's always spine tingling hearing the once in oil because I sang once your I've got a few times in my dad's parish so I get a sense of what they're going through some wise my stomach's in a knot I'm pulling from the organ off so I'll be quite high above the congregation I feel quite now that's very very exposed and there's no organ part playing with me and there's no other cool part seen with me baby titty speaking very personally I find much of the life of the abbey intensely moving and I find it almost impossible personally to sing all the Christmas hymns because I find myself breaking down at some point I just can't can't compete the verse walking around the Abbey when it's completely empty that's the time when this building really does I mean wrap itself around you in this most beautiful and and hauntingly wondrous way and I constantly sort of have to pinch myself sometimes that that what I'm part of what I'm hoping to look after is something else such extraordinary beauty and such extraordinary importance that to me is pretty a belonging at times [Music] it is a very special place to work and live a meaningful and Christmas makes it doubly so I think whatever kind of destabilizes our world in other ways in the secular world and whatever we go through I think that in places like the Abbey I would like to think that the music and the liturgical worship of the Abbey will continue and will flourish the abbey will continue to represent faith of the heart of the nation and I'm absolutely confident that faith will not fly from the heart of our nation [Music] you

Channel: Archive of Recorded Church Music

Views: 48,049

Keywords: Recorded Music Archive, Cathedral Choir, Church Choir, Sacred Music, Choral Music

Id: czx6EJuycjM

Length: 59min 8sec (3548 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 05 2019