A City Within a City Songs of Praise

Nestled on the banks of the River Taff in a leafy

suburb of Wales's capital city Cardiff lies a small but

significant place in the cultural and historical landscape of Wales.

Llandaff feels like a village, but it is in fact a city,

with its cathedral, its shops, its restaurants and beautiful

architecture, just a stone's throw away from the Welsh capital.

Today we'll be exploring a city within a city.

Llandaff, with its majestic cathedral and close-knit community.

For many thousands of Welsh people around the world, this is

an important week as we all prepare to celebrate St David's Day.

Welcome to Songs of Praise.

Today we see how music is unexpectedly transforming

people's lives. We'll hear a Lion roar. We'll meet a singing gardener.

And get to hear the Rolls-Royce of church organs.

We have hymns from Llandaff Cathedral,

music from the cathedral choir, and Welsh brothers Richard and Adam.

-What is this place? Where am I?

-Leadworth.

-Where's the rest of it?

If you're a Doctor Who fan, you may recognise this

as the village green of Leadworth, the home of Amy Pond.

This is in fact the cathedral green, right in the heart of Llandaff,

a place steeped in history and religious significance.

It's the home of the largest cathedral in Wales.

It had its share of famous residents,

and its high street is the location of Mrs Pratchett's sweet shop

in one of Roald Dahl's best-known works.

But before we meet some of the real residents,

let's celebrate the spirit of St David,

the patron saint of Wales, with a hymn tune that's become

a powerful expression of Welsh culture, Blaenwern.

Kate Woolveridge is one of Wales's most popular mezzo-sopranos.

She's performed over the years in some of the world's biggest

concert venues, including the Kennedy Centre in Washington

and the Royal Festival Hall in London.

But recently, Kate has gained recognition for another achievement,

which led to the award of Inspirational Woman of the Year,

using her gift for music to transform people's lives.

So, will you offer this room your peace, and ask God for peace.

Here we go. Twice through.

Three, four.

# Da Pacem, Domine... #

The Forget-me-Not Chorus is a choir for people with dementia

and their carers.

And I've been involved in forming that choir,

setting up the charity, for the last two years. We have fun.

We cry a bit and we laugh a bit

and we sing all the time for two hours,

and we put on regular concerts and invite the general public to come

and share our joy in singing,

to understand that dementia is

not the end of the world, actually, for the person with dementia

and their carers.

# This little light of mine... #

Three of the choir's regular members are Jackie and George Askey

and daughter Lynne.

George was diagnosed with dementia six years ago.

When George had his last stroke,

we found it very difficult to do a lot of the things that we'd done

together because we both loved doing amateur dramatics,

and someone said, have you heard about the choir?

So we joined it, and wow!

It just... Suddenly there was a focus to the week.

There was a great feeling of warmth between us all.

And we were doing something we loved very, very much.

It is quite incredible to see how music can bring couples together,

and when you sing a love song with somebody who you've been

married to for 40 years, but you don't know them any more,

and then as you sing a song,

the person with dementia reaches out and holds his wife's hand.

Even though he doesn't know her name, and he doesn't actually know

that he's married to her, but he holds her hand.

And I've witnessed over the time, people who can't speak will

sing a verse of a song with me, and the minute the song finishes,

then that communication door, window disappears again.

# Someone's singing, Lord

# Kumbaya... #

Caring for those with dementia can often be challenging, but does

seeing a loved one suffering with the condition challenge one's faith?

I've always had a faith, but it's...

I wouldn't say with Dad's dementia I've been challenged.

If anything, it's probably deepened my faith.

You don't know what life is going to throw at you, it is

filled with ups and downs and many blessings as well.

And I think if Dad hadn't had his dementia,

I wouldn't have had the joy of being in the choir.

So life has got many blessings, really.

So I'm just grateful for those.

Working with the Forget-me-Not Chorus for the last two years has had

a profound effect on the way I view life, and I think that we always

strive, it's easy to strive for financial security and success,

and actually, the only thing that really matters is that the

people around you care for you, that you have love.

I see the most phenomenal love between the people in the choir,

and that's what matters, more than anything else,

and the way you deal with the rubbish that life can throw you.

# Ave Maria

# Vergin del ciel

# Sovrana di grazie e madre pia

# Accogli ognor la fervente preghiera

# Non negar

# A questo straziato mio cor

# Tregua nel suo dolor!

# Sperduta l'alma mia si prostra a te

# E pien di speme si prostra ai tuoi pie

# T'invoca e attende che tu dedia

# La pace

# Che solo tu puoi donar

# Ave Maria

# Gratia plena

# Maria

# Gratia plena

# Maria

# Gratia plena

# Ave

# Ave Dominus

# Dominus tecum

# Sperduta l'alma mia si prostra a te

# E pien di speme si prostra ai tuoi pie

# T'invoca e attende che tu dedia

# La pace

# Che solo tu puoi donar

# Ave Maria

# Gratia plena

# Ave Dominus

# Ave Maria. #

Now, celebrating St David's Day without music would be

unthinkable, and in Wales we have more

than our share of accomplished singers and choirs.

One of our most popular is Only Men Aloud.

They've built up a global reputation,

and they've performed with some of the biggest names.

THEY SING "O VERONA"

Steve Hamnett is one of the members of the choir.

He lives here in Llandaff

and his deep bass voice is to be heard

resounding in the city's gardens and churchyards.

# ..in darkness That war... #

'I've been living in Llandaff for about 28 years now.'

Most of my daily life in the growing season is, I'm a gardener.

I cut grass, I tend gardens.

But singing is a very large part of my life.

Singing in church, singing on stage.

A lot of my faith is expressed through music.

I first started gardening for my local church,

tending the grounds around the church.

And a few of the parishioners said, "Would you do my garden as well?"

And so I started to look after their garden

and the gardening business, as it were,

grew from those first few seeds.

I've got to say, I absolutely love it.

This time of year, especially when the...

the trees, the flowers,

they all seem dead, they're still slumbering in winter.

And then you start to see these

first few little shoots coming through.

And it's very appropriate, of course,

at Easter time that what seems to be dead actually comes to life again.

There's a great correlation between what I see in nature

and what our faith tells us from the Bible.

THEY SING "CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO"

I started with Only Men Aloud, oh, about 11 years ago.

I was at a particularly low point in my life and a friend of mine

who was singing with the choir at the time said, "Come along,

"it's a great bunch of guys, have a sing, have a laugh."

And I found that to be the case.

There's a wonderful comradeship in the choir.

We've sung in so many wonderful and varied and interesting places.

And great to feel that connection with the audience.

It's a wonderful thing.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

As a lot of people do, in my teens and my20s, I questioned my faith.

I wandered from my faith.

But I did find that I had that deep yearning within me,

and I came back to the church and I've remained there ever since.

And even though, in difficult times,

the last few years have been particularly difficult for us,

I found that my faith has upheld me.

In fact, last December, my father died

and on the day that he died, I went up to see him.

I felt there was nothing I could give him,

I wanted to give back to him

everything that he'd given to me over the years.

All I could do was mop his brow.

But then, I thought, I can give to him what God has given to me.

So I sang his favourite hymn to him, quietly.

Um...

A few verses of How Great Thou Art. And...

I left him in peace there, came back to Cardiff,

and he died a couple of hours later.

And I thought, what better way to end a life

but with your favourite hymn in your ears,

with your family having said their goodbyes, and...

He's up with the angels there somewhere now.

Parts of the original cathedral buildings here in Llandaff

date back to the 12th century.

It is one of the oldest Christian sites in the country

and it's dedicated to no fewer than five saints.

Peter, Paul, Dyfrig, Teilo and Euddogwy.

On the night of 2nd January 1941,

the Cathedral was severely damaged by a German bomb during the Blitz.

But the Cathedral has known more recent turmoil.

In 2007, it was struck by lightning

and the damage to the organ was substantial.

Since then, after an impressive fundraising effort,

a new organ has been installed.

It's one of the best in the world.

It's certainly one of the biggest organ installations in the UK

of the past half century.

And if I play my cards right, I might be allowed to try it out.

David, I know there will be organists looking in total envy

at what you have here.

Tell us about it.

Well, it really is a fantastic organ and it came about almost,

you could say, by act of God,

because in 2007 we had a terrific lightning strike which struck

the Cathedral directly and rendered the old organ totally unusable.

So we went about raising the money and, in fact, it cost £1.5 million

and we have a fabulous Nicholson Organ here in Llandaff Cathedral.

Raising money in today's financial climate is not an easy thing to do.

How did you go about convincing people this was a good investment?

That was a difficult task.

It's difficult to convince people in the pew, if you like, that we

need a new organ despite the fact that they could hear the old organ.

In fact, when this one was being built,

we had an electronic organ and they thought,

"That's a nice sounding instrument at a fraction of the cost."

But this is the legacy that we are passing on to future generations

and it will be here for a very long time indeed.

ORGAN PLAYS

Wow!

-That was quite something.

-It's a fantastic sound, isn't it?

Well, it's so powerful.

-It's a bit scary really.

-It is.

-Is this more scary than reading the news?

-Um, much more scary(!)

I respect what you do.

What is it like as an experience for you when you're at the helm of this?

I get a terrific buzz from playing this organ.

It really is a fantastic instrument.

You can go right down to a whisper

with pipes that are as small as a pencil,

or huge, enormous pipes that are 32-foot in length.

So let's get a sense of the sensitivity of it.

-So very quietly, what am I going to do?

-We can start with a whisper.

Keep the swell box shut.

Then if you wanted to add a bit of flute solo above that,

you can do that.

Then you carry on as you are and I'll...

PLAYS HIGH PITCH NOTES

So delicate. It's a lovely sound, isn't it?

David, thank you very much. I can't tell you what a thrill it's been.

-Well, would you like to stay all day?

-I'd like to stay all month.

# Make a joyful noise unto the Lord

# All ye lands

# Serve the Lord with gladness

# Serve the Lord with gladness

# Come before his presence to sing

# Know ye that the Lord, he is God

# Know ye that the Lord, he is God

# It is he that hath made us

# And not we ourselves

# It is he that hath made us

# And not we ourselves

# We are his people

# And the sheep of his pasture.

# Enter into his gates with thanksgiving

# And into his courts with praise

# Be thankful unto him

# And bless, bless his name

# For the Lord, the Lord, he is good

# His mercy is everlasting

# And his truth, his truth endureth

# Endureth to all generations

# Amen, Amen, Amen. #

Well, for many Welsh people, it has to be said, this is a cathedral.

A cathedral of rugby. It's the Millennium Stadium.

And one of its modern heroes is Toby Faletau,

one of the world's leading rugby forwards.

He plays for Wales and the British Lions and Toby's strength

on the field of play is matched by the strength of his Christian faith.

A fast, dynamic and skilful player, Toby's physical power

on the pitch is in sharp contrast to his quiet and humble character.

I guess I just enjoy playing

and for it to bring me to where I am now has just been a plus, I guess.

And where he is now is at the top of the international game.

He's cemented his place in the Welsh side

since his debut three years ago.

It was June 4th 2011 and it was against the Barbarians

and it was a great day, great occasion for me and my family.

The result wasn't great but it was a great occasion.

At the young age of 23, he's already reached the pinnacle of the game,

but the journey to the top began

a long way from the Millennium Stadium.

Toby was born on the small Pacific island of Tonga

before his father, Kuli, was invited to play for a rugby club

in the South Wales valleys.

We grew up in Ebbw Vale where my dad played.

So he came over in '97.

In '98, he came home and brought the rest of the family over.

I just remember going to school, the first couple of months,

couldn't speak English so we just had to go there

and just pick out what we could from the other kids.

As well as his two brothers and two sisters,

Toby grew up in the Welsh valleys alongside his cousins,

current England internationals Mako and Billy Vunipola,

and it was here that his love for rugby began to take hold.

We first started playing kind of competitive against each other

in Mako and Billy's parents' back garden in Pontypool.

We were there just going flat out at each other.

We've had a few fights there with Billy and Mako

but it's all for the good.

For Toby and his family,

the Christian faith has been a key part of their lives, and

throughout his career, his faith has had an impact on his rugby as well.

I say a little quiet prayer before I run out on the pitch

just to ask him for a bit of help out there.

After a game then, it'll be just thanking him for getting me

through the game, no major injuries, things like that.

I have a lot of faith in what he does

and I believe things happen for a reason.

And, with the Six Nations in full flow,

Wales face an eagerly-awaited clash away to England in two weeks' time.

And Toby may come face to face with his two cousins,

Mako and Billy Vunipola.

Not in the garden this time,

but in front of many thousands at Twickenham.

We've pretty much been in the UK for the same amount of time

and we've kind of done the same thing.

I've just been so close to somehow end up them playing for England

and me for Wales, and the possibility of playing against them will be

a great day for both families.

Lord, we thank you for the song that you put in our hearts.

Make us grateful for this land of song,

its people and its heritage.

And help us look to you as we face the challenges of life.

Well, our visit to Cardiff and the city of Llandaff is at an end

and what a fitting place to celebrate St David,

the Patron Saint of Wales, in this,

one of the oldest Christian sites in the United Kingdom.

And we end with the uplifting words of Daniel James

and the popular Welsh hymn, Calon Lan.

Only a pure heart can sing throughout the day

and throughout the night.

Next week, as Lent approaches, Pam is in Bradford to meet

people for whom the season has special significance.

She introduces hymns from choir and congregation at the city's cathedral

and the American star, Beth Nielsen Chapman.