There was a huge sigh of relief from all the Cathedral Staff as the last items of lighting and scaffolding used by the BBC were removed from the Cathedral on Wednesday afternoon. Quite how we all managed to cope with the impact of all the demands of the televised set up and celebrate Holy Week and Easter as normal was not far short of a miracle. The televised Easter Mass and ‘Songs of Praise’ recordings seemed to go well and although I still haven’t seen the Easter Mass right through I am sure that the inconvenience was all worthwhile. Many thanks to all who were involved in the Mass and who gave up a great deal of their time for rehearsals particularly on Holy Saturday. Quite how the Archbishop found the energy to celebrate the Easter Vigil with such joyful concentration after having rehearsals all that day was quite remarkable.
The ‘Songs of Praise’ recordings were a slight disappointment for those who came on the Bank Holiday Monday. At first the BBC were using their own sound set up and for the first part it was difficult to hear the Musical Director. It was only when they changed back to the Cathedral system that all could hear. The other disappointment for some was that they didn’t really get to see or hear the celebrities who would be taking part – only Aled Jones was present and he was only in the background for the public occasion. Most of the solo items had been pre-recorded. The two programmes will be broadcast on May 4th and 14 September and the singing sounded great.
This week and next week are relatively quiet in the Cathedral with few events in the diary. It will be a good time to have a more prayerful and reflective atmosphere within the Cathedral.
Don’t forget that the clocks go forward this weekend- we had enough difficulty with people turning up for 11.00am Solemn Mass last week I wouldn’t want there to be people making the same mistake again this week and turn up an hour late.
On Tuesday afternoon the Historic Churches Committee will be visiting the Cathedral to look at the proposals for the re-ordering of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. I am hoping that our application will not be criticised too heavily. It is important that we are able to resolve this within the current works programme while we have stone masons on site.
I will make sure that a copy of the Architects drawings will be on display in a location near to the Chapel for all to see. There have been so many views expressed regarding this that it will be impossible to please everyone. At the recent visit of the Cathedral Architects Association one eminent architect was of the opinion that we should rip everything out and start all over again – “be as radical as Gibberd would be if he was redesigning this space”. We have neither the money nor do I have broad enough shoulders for such an approach!
There was a huge sigh of relief from all the Cathedral Staff as the last items of lighting and scaffolding used by the BBC were removed from the Cathedral on Wednesday afternoon. Quite how we all managed to cope with the impact of all the demands of the televised set up and celebrate Holy Week and Easter as normal was not far short of a miracle. The televised Easter Mass and ‘Songs of Praise’ recordings seemed to go well and although I still haven’t seen the Easter Mass right through I am sure that the inconvenience was all worthwhile. Many thanks to all who were involved in the Mass and who gave up a great deal of their time for rehearsals particularly on Holy Saturday. Quite how the Archbishop found the energy to celebrate the Easter Vigil with such joyful concentration after having rehearsals all that day was quite remarkable.
The ‘Songs of Praise’ recordings were a slight disappointment for those who came on the Bank Holiday Monday. At first the BBC were using their own sound set up and for the first part it was difficult to hear the Musical Director. It was only when they changed back to the Cathedral system that all could hear. The other disappointment for some was that they didn’t really get to see or hear the celebrities who would be taking part – only Aled Jones was present and he was only in the background for the public occasion. Most of the solo items had been pre-recorded. The two programmes will be broadcast on May 4th and 14 September and the singing sounded great.
Don’t forget that the clocks go forward this weekend- we had enough difficulty with people turning up for 11.00am Solemn Mass last week I wouldn’t want there to be people making the same mistake again this week and turn up an hour late.