Colchester to feature in BBC Songs of Praise tomorrow

Tomorrow, Sunday, August 13, the long-running BBC show will be heading to the city.

Songs of Praise was first broadcast in 1961, and presents Christian hymns sung in churches of varying denominations from around the UK.

The description of the episode, titled Colchester's Christian Heritage, reads: "Claire McCollum visits the historical and religious sites of Colchester, Britain’s oldest recorded town since its foundation during the Roman occupation over 2,000 years ago."

The hit BBC show was filmed in Colchester back in June and is now finally set to hit the screens. 

Whilst the show is normally broadcast from churches, chapels, and cathedrals, Colchester bucked this trend, with the Castle Park Bandstand instead acting as host for the national television cameras.

On screen – there were about nine cameras filming different angles of the crowd at the Castle Park bandstand (Image: Newsquest)

Colchester Mayor John Jowers, alongside Mayoress Susan, sat in the front row, with many other residents enjoying the day's events.

The hymns – some old, some new – were performed in many cases several times to allow the cameras as many angles as possible for the eventual broadcast later this year.

Colchester had previously hosted the BBC for the programme in October 2011, when St Botolph’s acted as the venue – indeed, the church was pencilled in as a reserve location in case the weather turned for the worse.

As part of the episode the Reverend Amy Walters CF, of 13 Air Assault Support Regiment Royal Logistic Corps, will be speaking about her role. 

Leader - Reverend Amy Walters in her army uniform (Image: British Army)

The Rev Walters will show viewers what both a physical training session at Merville Barracks and a service in the camp’s Gurkha Temple looks like as an army chaplain.

As the unit’s chaplain, the Rev Walters is responsible for the pastoral care of soldiers of “all faiths, and no faith at all”.

She said: “As a chaplain, my role is to care for the Army’s people, I provide support to service personnel, civilians who work with the military and their families regardless of their beliefs.

“This can be pastoral support, moral guidance or spiritual support, whether that’s talking about Christianity or helping others to be able to practice their faith.”

The programme, which also contains music from British Army Band Colchester, is scheduled to air at 1.15pm on BBC1 tomorrow, Sunday, August 13.