Sunday Half Hour

...and it still continues to give much pleasure to many of us

Anniversary edition for Half Hour

by Bill Bowder

IT WAS first heard in the months before the Blitz, and will be recorded again in St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London, this Sunday. BBC Radio 2’s popular hymn programme, Sunday Half Hour, will be broadcast in a special anni versary edition at 8.30 p.m. on 17 July, 70 years after it was first broad cast from St Mary Red cliffe, Bristol, on 14 July 1940. Sunday Half Hour was then described as a programme of commun ity hymn-singing, intended to boost the morale of troops serving abroad during the Second World War, the BBC said this week. The series, formerly hosted by Canon Roger Royle, is now presented by the Irish Passionist priest Fr Brian D’Arcy, who interweaves announce ments of listeners’ anni versaries and family events with well-known hymns, a reading, and a prayer. The director of music at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Andrew Earis, who conducts the 70th- anniversary event, said on Monday that the choir for the day would be composed of members from several choirs who had previously been on the pro gramme. “St Martin-in-the-Fields was where the first ever religious broad cast was made, back in the 1920s, and Sunday Half Hour is one of the longest-running programmes on the BBC; so this is a very appropriate venue. . . It will be a celebration, and it’s going to be great fun. The church will be packed, with 800 people. The choir will rehearse all afternoon, and then the congregation will be ad­mitted at 6.15 p.m., and we will run as live at 7 p.m., though it won’t be broadcast then. The Vicar, the Revd Nicholas Holtam will give the bless ing at the end.” The Choir of St Martin-in-the Fields will be joined by singers from St Andrew’s, West Tarring; Portsmouth High School; the Holy Redeemer, Billericay; St Martin’s, Dorking; and Bracknell Choral Society, Reading Phoenix Choir, and Thames Phil harmonic Choir. They will sing “Great is thy faithfulness”, “Love Divine”, “How great thou art” and “Dear Lord and Father of mankind”. Martin Ford will be the organist, and the show will be produced by Janet McLarty.

The Passion

During Holy Week 2008 BBC1 will broadcast The Passion, a dramatic re-telling of the last days of Jesus. The series will be shown in peak time and will be seen by many millions of people.

Episode 1
Palm Sunday 16th March, BBC ONE, 8pm (One hour)
It's Passover in Jerusalem, and the city is bursting with pilgrims. It's a tense time for those charged with keeping order - like Pilate the Roman Prefect and Caiaphas the High Priest. The arrival of a preacher from Galilee called Jesus causes great excitement when he enters through the East Gate on a donkey's colt, fulfilling prophecies of the coming of the Messiah. For Jesus's band of disciples, hardened by several years on the road, this is the moment they've been waiting for, but none of them suspects how momentous this week will be.

Episode 2
Monday 17th March, BBC ONE, 8.30pm (30 minutes)
Caiaphas is growing increasingly anxious that Jesus's preaching will provoke unrest and bring in the Romans, and when Jesus appears to threaten the Temple it's the final straw. As Jesus tries to explain his destiny to the disciples, Caiaphas calls a council and presents it with a stark choice. With Passover approaching, a fateful decision is taken, and Judas finds himself placed in an impossible position.

Episode 3
Good Friday 21st March, BBC ONE, 9pm (One hour)
Jesus shares his Last Supper with the disciples, and teaches them their last and most important lesson. Whilst Judas slips away to fetch the Temple guards, Jesus leads the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane and tries to prepare himself for what is to come. The next few hours will bring him face to face with Caiaphas, with Pilate and with his own destiny.

Episode 4
Easter Sunday 23rd March, BBC ONE, Time TBC (30 minutes)
As Jesus is taken from the cross and buried, his disciples cower in hiding. Caiaphas, fearful that the body will be stolen, orders the tomb to be guarded. But when Mary Magdalene discovers it empty, a chain of events is about to begin that will transform the lives of the disciples and reverberate throughout the world for the next two thousand years.

Guidance from the Churches' Media Council

These notes have been prepared by a group representing many of the major Christian denominations, brought together by the Churches' Media Council. They are intended to help churches and others to prepare for the series.

These are the principles we would like to commend to the Christian community in approaching the series.

We welcome this production
There's no need to debate whether or not the Christian community should welcome this production or not. We celebrate the fact that the story of Jesus is being retold for an audience of millions. We should resist the temptation to focus on details. Instead we welcome this production.

This is a BBC series
We don't wish to “claim“ The Passion in any way as ”our“ series. We have not had any editorial input into the series, nor would we wish to. The story of Jesus is central to the Christian community – but it belongs to the world.

This is a work of drama
That may seem obvious – but it's important. This series wasn't conceived as an exercise in evangelism. It wasn't intended as a dramatisation of the gospel text. It springs from the story of the gospels, and the producers have used the gospels as their source. But this is a work of drama. So we need to judge it as a work of drama and not as a piece of theology.

Let's talk about Jesus
This is the story of the last few days of the life of Jesus. It will prompt believers and unbelievers alike to think about Jesus. This is probably not the moment to discuss the state of the church or the finer points of theology. Instead we should aim to keep the focus of our discussions on the person of Jesus.

BBC Daily Service

History of the Daily Service

In 1926, Miss Kathleen Cordeux began her campaign for a short religious service on BBC radio by writing to Lord Reith with the words "How many are there who 'listen-in' who long to hear something daily of God and His love?". She continued her frequent correspondence with Lord Reith until...

The first broadcast
The first service was broadcast on Monday 2nd January 1928 from a BBC studio in Savoy Hill. This, the first of an experimental series of "short religious services", was to last for 15 minutes a day, transmitted daily throughout January 1928 at 10:15 on Daventry 5XX only.
Those who appreciated the service were invited to write in so that the response could be gauged. Within a couple of weeks, 7,000 letters had been received and so the Short Religious Service - or Daily Service as it soon became - gained a regular slot with a format which is very little changed.

Early years
By December 1929 the service was being broadcast on all transmitters, presented anonymously - from a studio with a roaring log fire! - by The Revd H.L. Johnston. In 1932 the Daily Service moved with the BBC to the new Broadcasting House and to its own studio - 3E - which was specially consecrated.

A small group of BBC Singers sang for the service each morning and it was not long before the first service book - This Day - was produced to accompany the worship. The well known version with the title New Every Morning first appeared in 1936. A year later, the 100,000th copy was presented to Miss Cordeux, personally inscribed by Lord Reith. 15 years later The BBC Hymn Book appeared in print.

Post-war to present day
Having been moved from London during the war, first to Bristol and then to Bedford, the Daily Service returned to London in 1945 and to a studio in Broadcasting House (though not to studio 3E which had been badly damaged during the Blitz). However, the experience of broadcasting from a church during the war had persuaded the production team to continue this tradition in London.

By the mid 1950s the service was regularly coming from All Souls, Langham Place - despite some concerns from listeners about the traffic noise - a tradition which remained until the BBC Religion department moved to Manchester in 1993 and the Daily Service took up residence at Emmanuel Church, Didsbury.

Since then, the service has continued to be broadcast each morning from 9:45 till 10:00 on Radio 4 Long Wave and digital radio from either Didsbury or, every few weeks, from a church in Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland.

It is led by one of the team of about 25 presenters drawn from the many Christian denominations in this country. In recent years, the ability to listen online has given the listening 'congregation' the added flexibility to hear the service in whichever country they happen to be and at whatever time.

After 80 years of continuous broadcasting, the Daily Service is the longest-running programme of its kind anywhere in the world.

Celebrating the Daily Service
To mark the Daily Service's 80th anniversary, a special week of programmes will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Long Wave and digital radio from Monday 31 December through to Friday 4 January 2008.

Guest presenters include the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Most Revd Dr Rowan Williams, and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster.

Monday 31 December"The Church of the Air" - The history of the Daily Service Canon David Winter (former Head of BBC Religious Broadcasting)

Tuesday 1 January"Cherishing Traditions" - The breadth of the Daily Service Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (Archbishop of Westminster)

Wednesday 2 January"New Every Morning" - The Daily Service expressing the faith of the living Church The Revd Joel Edwards (General Director, Evangelical Alliance)

Thursday 3 January"God's People" - The Daily Service congregation Christine Morgan (Executive Producer, Daily Service)

Friday 4 January"All for Jesus!" - The Daily Service providing ecumenical fellowship The Most Revd Dr Rowan Williams (Archbishop of Canterbury)

BBC World Service

75TH ANNIVERSARY TODAY -
'NATION SHALL SPEAK PEACE UNTO NATION'

The BBC World Service is one of the most widely recognised international broadcasters, transmitting in 33 languages to many parts of the world through multiple technologies. The English language service broadcasts 24 hours a day. In May 2007 the BBC reported that the World Service's average weekly audience had reached 183 million people, beating the previous record of 163 million listeners set the previous year. The World Service is funded by grant-in-aid through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by the British Government — unlike the BBC's domestic radio and television services, which are primarily funded by a compulsory licence fee levied on every household in the United Kingdom using a television.

BBC Promenade Concerts

What is a Prom?

A Prom means a Promenade Concert, or a concert where part of the audience stands in a "promenade" area of the hall.

The BBC Proms is an annual music festival running from mid-July to mid-September and comprising over seventy Prom concerts.

What is Promming?

Part of the Proms audience has always stood in the Arena, directly in front of the orchestra, and many consider this the best position in the hall. However, you can also stand high up in the Gallery and just let the sound drift up to you.

Today there are still over 1,000 standing places available at each Prom. The traditionally low prices allow you to enjoy world-class concerts for just £5!

Day promming tickets cannot be booked in advance, so even if all seats have been sold, you always have a good chance of getting in. Early queuing is advisable for the more popular concerts, however.

Where and when does the BBC Proms take place?

The BBC Proms takes place at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The 2007 season will run from 13 July until 8 September inclusive.

During the season, there is a least one Prom concert every evening, some of which are preceded by a related pre-Prom talk.

My Music

I am not a musician but I do value music for many reasons. A feast of opportunities to listen and learn that the Proms provide through radio and TV. I will return when some part of the programme gets to me.