Colchester Songs of Praise

This is a town that embraces the very ancient and the very modern.

These Roman town walls are the oldest in Britain,

built nearly 50 years before Hadrian's Wall,

and they enclosed the oldest recorded town in the country.

And yet 2,000 years on, this is still a city of firsts,

so, welcome to Camulodunum, better known to us as Colchester.

I'll be taking a tour of unusual places of worship,

and I'll be finding out about Colchester's high-tech ambitions

to become the country's first high-speed internet town.

We sing hymns, old and new,

and opera star Noah Stewart performs for us.

Everywhere you walk in Colchester,

you get the feeling that beneath your feet

there is layer upon layer of history.

Take this castle, for instance,

built around 1076 by William the Conqueror,

but it stands on top of the remains of the Roman temple of Claudius.

They say that if you spread your hands on the stonework

of the temple, you are touching the foundations of the Roman Empire.

Many of the bricks from Roman buildings were later reused

to build other important places like this one, St Botolph's,

which dates back to the 11th century

when it was one of the earliest Augustinian priories in England.

So, recycling is hundreds of years old here in Colchester.

And just at the back there, where the monastery kitchens used to be,

stands the present St Botolph's,

and it's there that congregations from all over the town

have gathered to sing their hymns, ancient and modern.

There's a long history of Christianity in Colchester,

and evidence of belief dating back to Roman times.

I've met up with local historian Andrew Phillips,

who's promised to show me

some of the town's most intriguing religious sites.

And this is probably the oldest Christian church

visible in Britain today.

What? Right next door to the police station?

On a busy roundabout? What did they actually discover here?

We have to thank our archaeologists, really,

because we are sitting here

at the very beginning of Christianity in Britain.

Because this is a Roman Church.

How do you know that it was Christian?

Well, all the way round here was a cemetery,

and we know this is a Christian church

because all the early burials are buried north-south,

and then suddenly they start burying them east-west.

And that is a sure sign that they are Christian.

They are buried in wooden coffins lying facing east

so that they are there for the Day of Resurrection.

And they arise.

And the key thing is this - inside the coffins there are no grave goods.

Because a Christian doesn't need to take anything with them.

Well, look, will you take me with you and show me

some other old churches around Colchester?

I tell you what, you've heard of a pub crawl,

-we're going on a church crawl.

-Sounds good to me.

-This looks really impressive.

-Well, yes, indeed.

This is only the gatehouse of the great St John's Abbey,

which lay behind us in mediaeval times.

One of the last abbeys to be seized by Henry VIII

when he took over the monasteries.

So what would it have looked like in its heyday?

Well, in its heyday it was a vast community.

It was a power standing on this hill, facing Colchester,

on the hill over there.

It was a hostelry for travelling VIPs, it was a hospital,

it was a vast institution in its day.

And of course the loss of it to Colchester was very severe.

So what happened to it?

Well, in the end, it was seized by Henry VIII,

when he seized the monasteries. One of the last he got his hands on,

because the Abbot refused to hand it over.

You're not going to tell me that this is a church?

Well, it is, actually, yes.

It's the garrison church that was,

because Colchester is Britain's oldest garrison town.

So how old is this?

Well, this was put up in the time of the Crimean War, and it was actually

made by the same company which made Florence Nightingale's hospitals.

It's a prefabricated building.

I can't believe it's so enormous, and it's made of wood.

Indeed it is, and it's probably the biggest wooden church

in the whole of England.

But that's not all. The biggest surprise is inside.

Wow!

Yes, it's a Russian Orthodox Church today.

Beautifully laid out, as you see, and happily, three years ago,

the Russian Orthodox community moved in here,

so we have a living Christian community

making use of this church once again.

Well, when it comes to unusual churches,

Colchester takes the biscuit.

We haven't quite done yet. Come with me.

You don't expect to see a church

-right in the middle of a shopping centre, do you?

-Well, no.

But it's not a church. It's actually only a spire.

So where's the church, then?

Well, the church went when we built the shopping precinct,

because when the shopping precinct was built, we put the new church in,

and there it is up above, and down below there are shops.

-Worship above, and retail therapy below.

-I'm glad they kept that spire.

Indeed.

And it stands as a memorial, really,

to 2,000 years of Christian worship in this town.

Colchester boasts many historical firsts.

It was here, back in the 16th century,

that Queen Elizabeth's physician, William Gilbert,

first coined the word electricity.

Since then, technology has come a long way,

and Colchester remains at the cutting edge.

It's hoping to become Britain's first high-speed

wireless broadband town.

Michael Snaith has been involved in the scheme

aimed at making it happen.

I would have thought that towns as big as Colchester

would have high-speed broadband already -

is that not so here?

There are areas of Colchester where super-fast broadband already exists,

but people forget that in Colchester,

two-thirds of the borough of Colchester is rural.

And so, it's very much a case of actually

enabling the rural parts of the borough of Colchester

to be included in this new digital age.

How could you get that service to those outlying areas?

Well, if we're looking at actually using wireless

to link up with villages in rural areas,

what we do need in those communities is high points.

-And the highest building in most villages is...

-BOTH: The church.

Coggeshall Church on the outskirts of Colchester

is piloting the project.

The vicar here is keen to enable the rural community

to get hooked up to the World Wide Web,

and it's certainly a talking point.

One question that's going to come up is, "What's it going to look like?"

We've got these fantastic historic buildings.

Is it going to fit in? Is it going to spoil the look of the building?

This is the design that we've actually put on the church itself.

It's designed to be sympathetic with the building.

If you'd like to have a look.

I think the key aspect is, actually the pilot started three months ago.

And how many comments have you had about it?

Nobody seems to have noticed the aerials are even there,

so that really sells a story of its own.

There will be people who think that the church should get on with

its age-old "proper job" of spreading the gospel,

and leave these newfangled projects to other people.

Well, I think the church and Christians down the generations,

since the invention of the printing press and before,

have used the latest technology for the spread of the gospel.

But, actually, this isn't so much about that,

this is the life that the church has in its abundance,

sharing something for the local community that it serves.

The church doesn't exist for itself. Never has.

And the church is there to serve the local community,

and I believe that's something very much part of the gospel for us

to contribute to, today.

So, what are the benefits?

The benefits for the wider community are huge,

because, of course, those rural communities beyond Coggeshall

who have very low broadband speeds really can't access so many things,

from simple things like paying their bills online,

doing internet banking,

to more serious things like getting their prescriptions downloaded

from the doctor, those kinds of things.

The church also gains from having super-fast internet access.

Enid Bardrick is the baptism administrator,

and her job means she's on the computer every day.

We have about 40 baptisms a year.

So it's pretty busy, isn't it?

And very difficult to do without the internet.

Well, for me, it would be impossible,

because I have decreasing mobility.

I can't do many of the functions that I used to do.

I can now really only do things from home, or from a sedentary position.

Do you use the internet a lot at home, then?

I do indeed, because I do all my shopping, all my food shopping.

I'd starve without the internet.

I do all my clothes shopping,

I get my repeat prescriptions by logging on to the special website,

and I also keep in contact with people,

because I've lived abroad a lot,

and I keep in contact with friends I've made worldwide,

through the internet.

What would you say to people who feel they are too long in the tooth

to learn new skills like computers?

Well, you've just got to try and do it,

if you want to really be progressive,

and I think they mustn't be overawed by all the people who,

the nerds, the people who use all these complicated whiz words.

I do get very frustrated with it, from time to time,

but you get there in the end.

Colchester's newest building is where 21st-century architecture

meets fourth-century archaeology.

First Site is a contemporary art centre which has been

built on top of an ancient Roman site.

It floats on a concrete plate to preserve the history beneath it.

First Site directly refers to Colchester's status

as Britain's first Roman city,

but it also reminds us that we are here

to give first site to new ideas, and new art from all over the world.

The centrepiece of this new building is a mosaic

unearthed in the 1920s.

It was the dining-room floor of a Roman townhouse.

Well, today we have a snapshot of what we do,

so we've got drop-in activities for families for all ages,

where they can come and enjoy the mosaic,

but also make some art of their own.

And we've got an older group of people

working with one of our associate artists, Jevan Watkins Jones,

who are making art with him together in the learning space.

What I'm hoping is that within the activities

you find something you like.

There might be one that you really get into, and identify with,

and, hopefully,

you'll leave with something that feels a little bit new.

So, we'll be doing things like breathing on glass,

and experiencing our own breath,

and the visual effect of our own breath on the mirror, in actual fact.

I love the way it sort of shrinks back, the way it evaporates,

disintegrates, it's beautiful.

I feel my faith comes into it when I get excited about what I'm doing,

and when I feel there is a genuine connection

happening with those that I'm working with.

Just as your own handwriting is intrinsically unique,

so is your mark, when you're drawing, intrinsically unique.

There's a lot of good work being done here.

The joy of the Lord is my strength,

and I just have to tell myself that every day,

I think it's all about pursuing that joy,

and obviously, creativity is where I access that, and tap into that.

I'm a very young Christian and therefore it's a new walk for me

in terms of reconciling my ways of making art with what that output is.

So the images that I create...

I make work which is very representational, very figurative,

which tends to be drawing in the landscape, with people in it,

but I also work quite abstractly with objects,

and things which have a symbolic value.

So now for me, in reading the Word a lot more,

I'm finding ways of bringing my living faith into those images.

I draw inspiration fundamentally from the natural world,

you know, which He has created.

And that's what I desire to tap into,

that sort of natural order, that life force, which comes from God.

# I'll walk with God

# From this day on

# His helping hand I'll lean upon

# This is my prayer

# My humble plea

# May the Lord be ever with me

# There is no death

# Though eyes grow dim

# There is no fear

# When I'm near to Him

# I'll lean on Him forever

# And He'll forsake me never

# He will not fail me

# As long as my faith is strong

# Whatever road I may walk along

# I'll walk with God

# I'll take His hand

# I'll talk with God

# He'll understand

# I'll pray to Him

# Each day to Him

# And He'll hear the words

# That I say

# His hand will guide

# My throne and rod

# And I'll never walk alone

# While I walk with God. #

The Romans said the only good thing to come out of Britain

were Colchester oysters.

The town has been famous for them ever since,

and celebrates with an Oyster Feast which dates back to 1318.

The oysters are grown just south of Colchester on the Essex coast.

For centuries, the Hawards

have been harvesting them here on Mersea Island.

My family's been

growing oysters here since the mid 18th century.

And, we've got evidence that my however many times grandfather, it was, in 1792,

actually sailed to Billingsgate Market to deliver oysters.

And every generation since then has been involved in it.

The boats were sailing boats, and everything was done by manual labour,

hand-hauling the dredgers, and that.

Nowadays it is made easier by modern aids

such as diesel engines and hydraulic winches and that,

but the method is still the same.

Every day, you're dealing with the natural world,

which is ever-changing, and has changed over time.

You've got to have a belief that this comes from somewhere,

and where else can it have come from but God, a supreme being?

Richard supplies oysters all over the country,

but some are served up by his wife Heather

at the family's quayside cafe, known as The Shed.

Originally The Shed was a purification plant for the oysters.

Richard bought The Shed several years ago

and had this bright idea that I would like to run it,

and sell fish and stuff.

There was one window that opened onto the road, and I just had this...

You know, we'd sell stuff out the window,

shrimps and cockles and stuff like that.

People started coming then, word-of-mouth,

then it got a bit bigger, and it's busy practically all the time now.

It's rough and ready, and I think a lot of people like that. They don't like to

come in and you're fussing round them, putting napkins on their lap.

And plus, I've always allowed people to bring their own bread,

and their own wine, which they have done, for years.

For Heather, The Shed is a way of putting her faith into practice.

Because we get so full up,

I'll just put total strangers on the same table.

And being a bit British they are like, I could see, "Ooh"

but within five or ten minutes,

you have two couples sitting at the table sharing their bread,

sharing their drink, and they're all making friends.

I always think they are sort of my fellowship, in a way.

In this church is a very nice stained-glass window.

Somebody had this idea of doing a stained-glass window

more or less dedicated to the fish and the oysters.

Two or three people came up with designs, and they chose this one.

They started a fund, raising money and that.

And I said, "Well, for every oyster I sell, I'll put a penny in a pot."

So, I did things like that.

In the end Richard said, "I'll tell you how many oysters you've had

"rather than you keep putting a penny in."

And a lot of different people give donations.

Every time I look at it I think it's so good. Just such a...

You know, and when the sun is behind it, it's brilliant.

And the church, and the oysters, and the fishing

are all long-term parts of the community here.

'Heavenly Father, ever constant,

'as each generation is blessed by your love and compassion...'

'Help us to make the most of the present, and appreciate

'the beauty of the world around us, and the fruits of your creation.'

'May we today plant seeds of hope and harmony,

'which will bring fulfilment and peace to those who follow us.'

'Loving God, as we go our separate ways,'

help us to see the world through your eyes,

to share and celebrate our gifts,

to work together for change and to care for our communities.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son,

and the Holy Spirit, be with you this day and for ever more.

ALL: Amen.

# Risen Lord, Risen Lord

# Give us a heart for simple things

# Love, laughter Bread, wine, and dreams

# Fill us with green growing hope

# Risen Lord, Risen Lord

# Make us a people whose song is Alleluia

# Whose sign is peace and whose name is love

# Risen Lord, Risen Lord

# Give us a heart for simple things

# And to sing Alleluia...

# And to sing Alleluia

-# Risen Lord, Risen Lord

-Aaaah-ah-ah-ah

-# Give us a heart for simple things

-Ah-ah

-# Love, laughter Bread, wine, and dreams

-Aaah-ah-ah

-# Fill us with green growing hope

-Ah-ah-ah

-# Risen Lord, Risen Lord

-Ah-ah

# Make us a people whose song is Alleluia

-# Whose sign is peace

-Ah-ah-ah

-# And whose name is love

-Ah-ah-ah-ah

-# Risen Lord, Risen Lord

-Ah-ah-aaaah ah-ah

-# Give us a heart for simple things

-Ah-ah-ah

# And to sing Alleluia

# And to sing Alleluia. #

Well, as we sing praise here this evening,

it is reassuring to think that there has been Christian worship

in this town since Roman times, 2,000 years ago.

Which means that our last hymn this evening is a relative youngster -

only 250 years old.

But it does come from the pen of Charles Wesley,

so from all of us here in Colchester tonight,

it's goodbye with Ye Servants Of God.

Next week, Aled meets some of today's gifted hymn writers.

They reveal what inspires them to compose the wonderful hymns

that are already becoming classics for congregations around the world.

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