"Songs of Praise" Easter Day 1967 (BBC TV) - Guildford Cathedral Choir (Barry Rose)

[@dagwould]

Lovely find. I love the older SoP: less social work, more the traditions of the faith. Always encouraging to be reminded of the saints who went before us and of those in other places.

[@helenquist3728]

I know that my Redeemer lives is my favourite Easter hymn and this lovely tune. A great find!

[@artfuldodger4850]

These were the days of wonderful Songs of Praise programmes, Cathedral choirs featured great hymns. Sorry but 50 years on it is no wonder churches struggle with the nondescript programmes we are served up each week. Even this years Advent services failed to feature Cathedral and church choirs.

[@jacklumbar7061]

And not a guitar, drum kit or trendy Vicar in sight. Glory glory Halleluja!

[@loisflude4070]

This is wonderful. I remember the practice, and then the filming, as a 14yr old schoolgirl in George Abbot Girls' choir. I always told my children that "Mum was on the tv once" and have finally been able to show them! Thank you so much.

[@ArchivesofSound]

Excellent! And did you actually see yourself?

[@loisflude4070]

Yes, two seconds close up in the final hymn!

[@johnking5174]

Until 1972, religious programming was exempt from the broadcasting hours restrictions imposed by the government in the UK. The broadcasting hours of normal programming in 1967 was limited to 7 hours a day Mondays to Fridays, 7.5 hours on a Saturday and Sunday, with a closed period 6.15pm-7.25pm on Sundays which could only be religious programming. Along with religious programming, schools, adult education, state occasions, Welsh language, presentation and sport were exempt too.

[@simoncarpenter2415]

Amazing find! This was pretty much the choir as I joined it as a full chorister a few months later. At this point I was still restricted to rehearsing with Gavin Williams at Lanesborough!

[@ArchivesofSound]

You must therefore be *the* Simon Carpenter, author of "The Beat is Irrelevant" (now sadly out of print). Welcome!

[@carlooro7406]

Every time I listen to these videos I do notice how incredibly amazing (almost perfect) is the audio in these so old recordings. Thankyou very much for these precious documents. I'm "falling in love" with Guildford Cathedral Choir

[@ald2345]

An unbelievable find as I was a 14 year old boy singing in this programme. I remember we rehearsed for several hours before recording the actual content.

[@HhappyBirthday]

ald2345 Where are you in the video, ald. ?

[@HannahWaeni]

What I love about these choirs is the discipline, order and tradition is carried throughout the years... I especially enjoyed "this joyful eastertide" unaccompanied. Poignant!

[@ArchivesofSound]

Very glad you enjoyed the upload so much.

[@HannahWaeni]

ArchivesofSound Thanks for sharing.

[@johnholmes912]

very crisp performance of "this joyful eastertide first class

[@jenniepaterson2679]

I am so delighted to have found this. I revisited Guildford Cathedral very recently and it brought back memories of the rehearsal and watching it on Easter Sunday. I was 14 and from George Abbot School - my name then was Jennifer Wilson

[@davidwolstenholme4676]

i was 23 in that year jennie ,time flys

[@davidcrook4166]

Thanks so much for this what a treasure! Loved the solo by John Barrow! Christ is risen indeed and Happy Easter again!

[@ArchivesofSound]

Thank you!

[@OldPost661]

Holy cow, 'This Joyful Eastertide' in B flat! [20:45] And done well, of course. It's almost always sung a minor third lower today.

[@IlanBoy2]

So gorgeous I can't remember the key we sang this at SMC Tenbury but it was always a stretch for me especially the last line. I love the window back into my childhood - thank you for this wonderful collection.

[@Goodchappy]

It sounds odd with just one chord to start the hymns. I forget how slow hymns used to be sung.

[@HhappyBirthday]

goodchappy Yes, goodchappy, you are quite right; for that, I blame Donna Summer, the late, great, undisputed queen of disco.

[@garryhumphreys3054]

Thanks for this, not least the great John Barrow singing 'That God is great' (10'35"). A wonderful singer and an inspiration to many (including me)! Should have been much better known than he was. (Also very tall!) I remember a BBC Radio broadcast of Stanford's Songs of the Fleet in the 1970s with him as soloist - very special.

[@ArchivesofSound]

Glad you enjoyed it. Among his many other achievements, the late John Barrow was the first official lay-clerk to be appointed at Guildford Cathedral (then newly consecrated).

[@mattbod]

Oh that lovely received pronunciation of the Bishop. You only hear the Queen and Jacob Rees Mogg use it now! In all seriousness though this is a lovely and rare bit of film. Thanks for bringing it to us!

[@HhappyBirthday]

10:40 John Barrow, Baritone, sang also, on the First Night of the Proms 1968.

[@simoncarpenter2415]

What happened to the BBC film we (Guildford Cathedral Choir) made in 1973 (I'm pretty sure it was). That was a Sunday morning service I think.

[@ArchivesofSound]

Any knowledge of the 1973 film seems to have been lost in the mists of time (possibly along with the film itself). The BBC tended to "wipe" a lot of its recorded material after transmission and this may have been a live broadcast, anyway...

[@JamesEncliffe]

I thought I knew every tune in the Methodist Hymnbook, but 'Torquay' at 7:15 was new to me. A lovely tune. I just played it on the organ. Thank you for this.

[@cymbaliv5586]

Joyous!

[@ArchivesofSound]

Glad you thought so.

[@gkissel1]

Glorious!

[@rayherbst6655]

All praise to the same King of Kings as HRH Lord High Admiral, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark) GCVO so worshipped.

[@davidwolstenholme4676]

i was 23 in that year 😄

[@OldPost661]

The arrangement of 'Praise my soul' with brass and organ is, I'm sure very well known and commonly performed. It was also on the 1977 Queen's Silver Jubilee album from St. Paul's, with a little more acoustic . . .

[@ArchivesofSound]

A little more acoustic, indeed.

[@michaelhaywood8262]

Watching on Feb 17 2023, almost 56 years after it was made. I was only 8 at the time and did not watch SofP then. It is good to see/hear it now. I expect some of your younger choristers would also have been about that age making them mid-60s this year, and many of them could be grandfathers by now. I wonder if any of them have found this recording and have shown it to their grandchildren. In another way it is also very sad, I was so young then and so old now. My life had barely started then, now it is almost over.

[@lydiajunko]

Can the spectacled boy from 6:35, 18:40 and 29:05 be Kazuo Ishiguro!? He lived in Guildford when he was a boy. And I suppose Asians were rarely seen there in those days.

[@ArchivesofSound]

It's entirely possible - and a great "spot"! There is certainly a physical similarity (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuo_Ishiguro) and an Asian face would have been a rare sight in Guildford at that time. Various local schools sent representative delegations to the recording, and Kazuo is known to have attended Stoughton Primary School (as it was in those days), which is quite close to the cathedral. If this indeed him, he would have been 12 in February 1967, when the recording was made.

[@lydiajunko]

@@ArchivesofSound I am more convinced that it is him. Thank you for uploading this rescued copy of the film. It is very precious especially to me, a great fan of Kazuo!

[@ArchivesofSound]

Someone ought to get in touch with him and ask him to confirm.

[@lydiajunko]

@@ArchivesofSound Yes, it is what I am thinking about. But how? Anyway, I will let you know if it is confirmed.

[@ArchivesofSound]

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