Methodist Central Hall Westminster Songs of Praise


Methodist Central Hall Westminster

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Hello. This week, I'm in London at a very important church.

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No, not Westminster Abbey.

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I'm over the road at the impressive Methodist Central Hall, Westminster.

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It has a fascinating history and is a well-known venue

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for big events, but at its heart is a flourishing Methodist church.

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Welcome to Songs Of Praise.

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On today's programme, I learn about the history

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and importance of this incredible building, including the fact

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it played host to the first-ever meeting of the United Nations.

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Julian Lloyd Webber shares memories of his father, who was the

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music director here and responsible for playing the wonderful organ.

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Connie Fisher finds out how, 400 years on,

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the Patron Saint of Charity's vision to serve the poor

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here in one of London's richest boroughs is still going strong.

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I live my faith by helping other people to recognise what

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they can do, to give them love and never, ever to judge them

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or dismiss anybody.

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And we join the Christian performers from the West End who sing together

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to keep their faith strong.

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Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, was opened in 1912

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and this staircase was modelled on the Paris Opera House.

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It's often used as a film set, but primarily it's

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the biggest Methodist Church building in the country,

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where Christians from many nations gather to sing their praise.

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Perhaps one of the most prolific hymn writers of all time

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was Charles Wesley, one of the founders of Methodism.

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He wrote over 6,000 hymns and we start with one of his greats -

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Ye Servants Of God.

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Methodism began in the 18th century

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when the brothers John and Charles Wesley formed the Holy Club,

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which gained the nickname the "Methodists" because of their

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methodical approach to both devotion and living disciplined lives.

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Well, the movement spread and now has 80 million members worldwide.

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Tony Miles is one of the ministers here.

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-Tony, good to meet you.

-Welcome, Sean.

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It feels like we're being watched here. Who's this?

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This is John Wesley carrying his Bible.

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He travelled a quarter of a million miles around the country

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-preaching 40,000 sermons.

-Wow!

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He's got a massive reputation, but he's a little man, isn't he?

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He is very short.

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In fact, when the Queen came to unveil this statue,

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she unveiled it and she said,

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"It's nice to see someone who's shorter than me."

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He's actually two inches shorter.

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VOICEOVER: But his diminutive stature didn't stand in the way

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of this whole building being built as a memorial to him.

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-Wow! Tony, what a magnificent place!

-Impressive, isn't it?

-It's vast.

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Our little chapel here at the heart of Westminster.

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I can't imagine what your last chapel was like. This is huge!

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Yes, it was one of 40 Methodist Central Halls that were built

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at the end of the 19th century,

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and it was the Wesleyan Methodists' attempt to reconnect

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with urban areas and particularly our mission alongside the poor,

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to provide a "pew on the pavement", as they called it,

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where people could pop in and feel comfortable in a space

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like this that has very little religious symbolism.

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You can see a cross, but that's about all.

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The Reverend Martyn Atkins is head of the church here.

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-Martyn.

-Sean.

-Good to meet you.

-Good to meet you.

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-Welcome, welcome.

-Well, it's an amazing place.

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-You've hosted some amazing events, haven't you?

-We have.

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Come and look at this.

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This is the journal of

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the very first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

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So, the UN met here?

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The end of the Second World War, January/February 1946 -

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51 nations came to this building

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and the first thing they did was paint it all beige.

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-Beige, so they're not siding with any nation.

-Absolutely.

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It's not on any flag, it's neutral and so they come here

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and they were here for weeks.

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-It's also had some pretty special speakers, hasn't it?

-Loads of them.

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The Dalai Lama has been here,

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Martin Luther King Jr,

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Mahatma Gandhi stood exactly where you are now

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and loads of politicians - Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher.

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Looking at that list of speakers, it does show that this place is

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-a church at the heart, but it's also a secular space, as well.

-It is.

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The Methodist Church wanted to make this a space of invitation.

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How does that fit with the Methodist credentials?

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Well, God loves everyone and God wants the improvement

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of human beings, their life, body, mind and spirit

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and if it contributes to that, here's your space.

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-Now, I've got one more place that I want to show you.

-I'm excited.

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-Are you ready for this?

-I'm a bit worried now!

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-See you, Martyn.

-Take care.

-God bless.

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We've climbed up to a balcony you'd never know was here.

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Tony, that is a tremendous view.

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Well, I have to say, I'm totally biased,

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but this has got to be one of the best views over Westminster.

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This is high enough for me, but it goes up even more, doesn't it?

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It does. Up on the top there is a golden depiction of the world

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with the Holy Spirit falling upon it and when I'm here,

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I also think of the Holy Spirit falling on the Disciples,

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I think of the Wesley brothers, and it reminds me

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of our next hymn that we're going to sing,

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O Thou Who Camest From Above, for whenever I sing that hymn,

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I pray that we may be changed by the Holy Spirit,

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by the power of the Spirit so that we can love and serve together.

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Methodist Central Hall, Westminster may sit next door

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to the Houses of Parliament and have, within its shadow,

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some of the most expensive property in the world,

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but there's also poverty here.

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In the basement of the church is a Catholic charity called

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the St Vincent's Family Project

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that reaches out to parents with young children.

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Connie Fisher has been finding out about the work they do.

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Everyone here has a different story to tell.

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They come from a huge variety of countries and cultures,

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but whatever their background, when they walk in here,

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they're guaranteed a very warm welcome.

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-ALL:

-# Hello, Connie

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# Hello, Connie... #

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-VOICEOVER:

-As well as being a playgroup, the charity offers

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help and support to parents

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and Seka leads the team of helpers and volunteers here.

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I remember, when I got children,

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you can just panic, be anxious and really lose sleep

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and lose your health over it. So when you have a place like this,

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you say, "OK, I'll just pop to St Vincent's."

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And when you open the door of a place and everybody knows your name

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and everybody welcomes you, you say, "OK, I belong in there."

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Other playgroups that we normally go to, you go there,

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you play and then you go, you leave and that's it.

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But here, we can build up a relationship with them.

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They're like a friend to us, like family, basically.

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We can see that poverty is rising.

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You have pockets of deprivation on three big estates in here.

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Actually, one of the estates that is just down the road in Pimlico,

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Churchill Gardens Estate,

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is one of the most deprived estates in the country, in the UK.

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The charity may be dealing with 21st-century problems,

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but its origins lie 400 years ago with St Vincent.

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Well, St Vincent was a 17th century priest

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who was responding to the needs within his area.

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He basically was an organiser.

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He's actually the Patron Saint of Charity

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and so St Vincent is now the inspiration for our work

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of charity and responding to people's needs.

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As well as the family drop-in, they run several classes,

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including the popular parenting advice sessions.

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And for praise to work, it needs to be short, descriptive.

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So, she tidied all the toys up. How are you going to praise her?

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Thank you very much for tidying the toy and putting in the box.

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Well done, keep it up.

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Well done, that's a really good example.

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This is a Christian charity.

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We don't hide the fact that we're a Christian charity

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and it isn't up to us to decide what someone's faith journey is.

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We leave that up to God, really, in the end.

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And if some way, at the end of this road,

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that people think that they have seen the Lord work in here,

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well, then we'll leave that up to them.

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I live my faith by helping other people, to see good in them,

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to recognise what they can do,

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to give them love and to give them acceptance and never, ever

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to judge them or dismiss anybody.

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I'm a single mum.

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I've got three children, born in Sierra Leone.

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Back home in my country, there used to be a war there,

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they have a war.

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So, God saved me.

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I didn't die through the war

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and I find myself here so God did a lot for me.

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It was just very nice, you know, to come

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and meet other mums, share things, ideas.

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-VOICEOVER:

-We're a Catholic charity,

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but we're also housed within a Methodist church

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and, actually, the Methodist minister said to me

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that God is already here, God is already working

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and we just have to show up so we're just waiting

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for the people to show up and then we serve.

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The centrepiece here at Methodist Central Hall

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is the glorious organ with 4,000 pipes.

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This piece is by the composer Dr William Lloyd Webber.

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He was the music director here for 24 years

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and is the late father of famous sons Andrew and Julian Lloyd Webber.

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Well, listening to that, Julian,

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must bring back memories of your childhood.

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It really does because I was about nine when my father got the job here

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as the music director and also the organist

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so every Sunday morning, I used to come with my mother

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and we used to go to the services,

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occasionally evening services, too, and they were extraordinary times.

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What do you remember as a child about the sermons here, then?

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They were actually not too long.

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I remember that, they were very sort of audience-friendly

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and I learned a lot from them, even at that age.

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Now, your father wrote lots of music, but he didn't really

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get the recognition he deserved till after his death. Why was that?

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It was his own fault, basically, because he hid all his music away.

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His music is very, very romantic, but he basically hid it away

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because he thought it was too romantic to get any

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kind of approval from the critics at the time. I mean, he was right.

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It was music that was completely out of step with the time

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it was written and it was only after he died

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that I was able to find out just how much he'd written.

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So, he did that to avoid the critics.

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He didn't want people to criticise him.

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I think he went on writing a lot of church music

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because he had to write music. He was a very instinctive musician

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and church music didn't get reviewed.

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He obviously had a big influence on you and your brother Andrew

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cos you both went into music

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and you've had both really successful careers.

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Yes, he was a slightly remote figure, though, in a way.

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He went on and he did all the things he did.

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He was director of the London College of Music,

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taught at the Royal College, was director here.

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We knew he was a really brilliant musician,

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but he didn't push or interfere.

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We could choose whatever we liked

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and there was all kinds of music that we heard all the time -

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musicals, rock and roll, Beethoven, Prokofiev, the lot -

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and I think that's probably why Andrew and me

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went in different ways.

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We weren't particularly pressurised to go in any way or do music at all.

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Now, our next hymn is Love Divine

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-and that's a hymn your dad really liked.

-Yes, he really did.

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I remember hearing it here.

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He even did a version himself,

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but this is the Blaenwern tune that we hear today.

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A variety of music has always been heard here at Methodist Central Hall

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and, today, the service includes Jazz Vespers,

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a group run by saxophonist Dan Forshaw.

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Within walking distance of Methodist Central Hall

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lies London's famous West End,

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where Connie Fisher has been meeting

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some Christian musical theatre stars.

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Ah, this takes me back!

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I remember my Maria days in The Sound Of Music

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here at the London Palladium, but behind the glitz and glamour,

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the world of show business can be very insecure

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with emotional highs and lows,

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and holding on to your faith can be really tough.

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Anna McGarahan is currently in Les Miserables.

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She's one of the many actors on the West End stage who,

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night after night, deliver great performances.

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I grew up in a Christian household.

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My dad's a vicar, but it was when I moved to London

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when I was about 15 and got into a church

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where there was lots of young people,

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that's when my faith kind of flourished, I guess.

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Anna's friend Hannah is in Phantom Of The Opera.

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They're both Christians, but may never have met

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if it hadn't been for a group called West End Has Faith.

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And what's the purpose of the group? Why do you get together?

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In a sense, it feels quite lonely when you're a Christian

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in this business and, for me, especially, I thought

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I was the only one for quite a while

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and the purpose of this is to bring us together

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so that we can support, that we can build up,

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that we can learn together, we can pray together

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or if something is happening at work,

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you can actually understand where you're coming from

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from your Christian perspectives, as well.

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Yeah, because I think lots of us have Christian friends,

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but they don't necessarily know the rollercoaster of emotions

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that you go on as an actress or any kind of creative

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because like you said, it's that uncertainty

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and if you've gone for six or seven auditions

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and you're in the final round

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and then it's a no, it's how to deal with that rejection and...

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After a month of trying!

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Yeah, yeah!

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Or you go from being a lead in one show and then you finish

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and you have three months out of work

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and you can't even get an audition.

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# Holy Word... #

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Today, the group are rehearsing for a charity concert they're holding.

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# ..Mighty Jesus... #

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OK, guys, keep singing, keep singing!

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I'm going to join in.

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# ..Lord of everything... #

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How ruthless is this business?

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Some people think it's glitz and glamour,

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but you've needed your faith at times, right?

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You can't take it personally.

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There have been times where I haven't got jobs

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because my eyebrows aren't right or my eyebrows are too dark

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or I'm too fat, too thin, too tall, too short.

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Like I can't be in 42nd Street because my legs aren't long enough.

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-Really?

-So, I'm always too short!

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# ..Here I stand... #

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It says somewhere in the Psalms that we're God's masterpiece

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and I think that's really important to know that,

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regardless of all this rejection, ultimately,

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we are loved and cherished and we can't take that rejection personally

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and I think faith is really important in that

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because if you are grounded in who God says you are,

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not about what other people think of you,

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it makes the rejection easier to deal with.

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# ..To glorify your name! #

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It's great to see how faith can pull actors together

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and some of the members of the group are also part

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of the West End Gospel Choir and here they are to perform for us now.

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# Wait a minute

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# Bring it back

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# Wait a minute

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# When Jesus say yes

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# Nobody can say no

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# When Jesus say yes

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# Nobody can say no

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# I'm not worried about a thing

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# Cos I know you are guiding me

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# Where you lead me

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# Lord, I will go

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# I have no fear

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# Cos I know who's in control

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# There's no limit to what you can do

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# Cos it all belongs to you

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# Yes, it all belongs to you

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# You're almighty and all powerful

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# And it all belongs to you

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# Yes, it all belongs to you

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# When Jesus say yes

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# Nobody can say no

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# When Jesus say yes

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# Nobody can say no

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# When Jesus say yes

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# Nobody can say no

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# When Jesus say yes

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# Nobody can say no

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# When Jesus say yes

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# Nobody can say no

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# When Jesus say yes

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# Nobody can say no

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# When Jesus say yes

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# Can't say no

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# When Jesus say yes

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# Nobody can say no

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# I'm not worried about a thing

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# Cos I know you are guiding me

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# Where you lead me

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# Lord, I will go

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# I have no fear

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# Cos I know who's in control

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# There's no limit to what you can do

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# Cos it all belongs to you

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# Yes, it all belongs to you

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# You're almighty and all powerful

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# And it all belongs to you

0:29:480:29:51

-# Yes, it all belongs to you

-Sing it again

0:29:510:29:54

# There's no limit to what you can do

0:29:540:29:57

# Cos it all belongs to you

0:29:570:29:59

# Yes, it all belongs to you

0:29:590:30:01

# You're almighty and all powerful

0:30:010:30:05

# And it all belongs to you

0:30:050:30:07

# Yes, it all belongs to you

0:30:070:30:09

# Wait a minute

0:30:100:30:12

# Bring it back

0:30:120:30:13

# Wait a minute

0:30:150:30:16

# Bring it back

0:30:160:30:18

# Wait a minute

0:30:190:30:20

# Bring it back

0:30:200:30:22

# Whoo

0:30:220:30:23

# Wait a minute

0:30:230:30:24

# When Jesus say yes

0:30:240:30:27

# Nobody can say no

0:30:270:30:29

# When Jesus say yes

0:30:290:30:30

# Nobody can say no

0:30:300:30:32

# When Jesus say yes

0:30:320:30:34

# Nobody can say no

0:30:340:30:37

# When Jesus say yes

0:30:370:30:38

# Nobody can say no. #

0:30:380:30:40

Well, that's just about it from Methodist Central Hall, Westminster.

0:30:440:30:47

Next week, we have a very special programme for you.

0:30:470:30:50

It's Homeless Sunday and I join volunteers from my church

0:30:510:30:55

on their regular early morning tea run in Central London

0:30:550:30:58

and the Reverend Kate Bottley meets a remarkable teenager

0:30:580:31:01

offering a little bag of hope to the homeless in Preston.

0:31:010:31:06

From the early days of the Methodist movement,

0:31:060:31:08

John and Charles Wesley knew the importance of singing

0:31:080:31:11

as a means of learning, celebrating and sharing faith

0:31:110:31:15

and our final hymn does all of that.

0:31:150:31:18

It's a favourite of the congregation here - Father Of Everlasting Grace.

0:31:180:31:22

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