0:00:05 > 0:00:07As spring gives way to summer,
0:00:07 > 0:00:09it's the perfect time to get out
0:00:09 > 0:00:13and enjoy some of the glories of the British countryside.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16And what better place to visit than this jewel in the county of Cumbria,
0:00:16 > 0:00:18the Lake District National Park.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22I'm here to explore how a tiny island
0:00:22 > 0:00:24inspired a Victorian clergyman
0:00:24 > 0:00:27to become one of the founders of the National Trust.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32And I'll be hearing about a poet who fused his faith
0:00:32 > 0:00:34with a love of his hometown.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37Wait. Wait. Come closer.
0:00:39 > 0:00:40I've something to tell.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42I like the language he used.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44Not for nothing he was admired by TS Eliot
0:00:44 > 0:00:47and some of the great poets, because he was good.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50And I'm celebrating with this amazing lady,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54who's been singing in her church choir for 70 years.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56Congratulations!
0:01:06 > 0:01:09As ever, we have wonderful hymns from around the country.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12But as I'm here in the Lake District,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14which has always been so popular with walkers,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17let's start with a hymn that asks that we should see
0:01:17 > 0:01:21where Christ is leading so that we can follow in his footsteps.
0:03:18 > 0:03:19The National Trust today
0:03:19 > 0:03:23is the largest voluntary conservation organisation in Europe,
0:03:23 > 0:03:26looking after about 800 miles of coastline,
0:03:26 > 0:03:31many historical buildings and huge swathes of the countryside.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37And its story may never have begun if it weren't for a little island
0:03:37 > 0:03:39in the middle of Grasmere lake.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45So why is this island so important?
0:03:45 > 0:03:46I'm dying to tell you, Pam.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49This little island came up for sale in 1893.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52It sparked a whole series of events.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55So four acres in the middle of Grasmere came up for sale
0:03:55 > 0:03:58in a private auction and it duly sold into private ownership.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03It had an impact on a man called Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06who was a vicar of Crosthwaite in the North Lakes, and it was this
0:04:06 > 0:04:10island coming up for sale that made him passionately believe
0:04:10 > 0:04:13that an organisation could be formed that would acquire these pieces
0:04:13 > 0:04:16of land and look after them forever for everybody.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21He had a strong sense of stewardship, a sense of duty,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25not only to preserve the natural environment for the benefit
0:04:25 > 0:04:29of future generations and for our forebears,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32but also because he loved the natural world as well
0:04:32 > 0:04:34and he saw God in everything.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40So this was a man of vision. Where did that vision take him?
0:04:40 > 0:04:43His first port of call was to go and see a lady called Octavia Hill,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46whom he'd worked with in the city of London as a young man.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49He knew she was a seasoned campaigner,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51she knew how things worked, she knew how the system worked,
0:04:51 > 0:04:53she knew influential people.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56She advised him to go and talk to Sir Robert Hunter,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58who had a great legal brain.
0:04:58 > 0:05:02So it was the three of those people bringing different skills together
0:05:02 > 0:05:05that collaboratively managed to deliver this vision.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11The National Trust achieved almost immediate success
0:05:11 > 0:05:13and just a few weeks after its foundation
0:05:13 > 0:05:15was given its first property -
0:05:15 > 0:05:20five acres of clifftop at Dinas Oleu in Wales.
0:05:20 > 0:05:25The following year, in 1896, it bought its first building for £10 -
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Alfriston Clergy House in Sussex.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31And in 1902 it launched its first appeal
0:05:31 > 0:05:35to buy Brandelhow on Derwentwater in the Lake District.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39I think the thing that inspires me,
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Rawnsley obviously committed large parts of his life
0:05:43 > 0:05:47with people who were less well advantaged.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53And he had this passionate belief, this really philanthropic drive,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56that he wanted ordinary people, whatever their station in life,
0:05:56 > 0:05:58to have access to the good things
0:05:58 > 0:06:01and to have access to nature and natural beauty.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03I think that's just such an inspirational thing.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Next, we hear from a choir who have come together
0:08:31 > 0:08:35because of their shared love of music, performance and faith -
0:08:35 > 0:08:40and it's a mix that's worked so well for Manchester Inspirational Voices
0:08:40 > 0:08:43that they are currently the Songs Of Praise Gospel Choir Of The Year.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47We hear them now with a song which is really a prayer
0:08:47 > 0:08:49that we never stop moving closer to God.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55# Bring us
0:08:55 > 0:08:59# Closer, closer, closer
0:08:59 > 0:09:04# To that perfect
0:09:04 > 0:09:08# Place
0:09:10 > 0:09:13# The stars are gathered
0:09:13 > 0:09:16# And illuminate
0:09:16 > 0:09:20# To see us safely
0:09:20 > 0:09:24# Through heaven's gate
0:09:24 > 0:09:27# We look behind us
0:09:27 > 0:09:31# At the wonder of the Earth
0:09:31 > 0:09:35# Only to remind us
0:09:35 > 0:09:38# When God came first
0:09:38 > 0:09:40# Way up there
0:09:40 > 0:09:44# Where peace remains
0:09:44 > 0:09:49# Where silence thunders
0:09:49 > 0:09:52# And the angels sing
0:09:52 > 0:09:55# Imagination
0:09:55 > 0:09:59# And amazing grace
0:09:59 > 0:10:01# Every woman, child and man
0:10:01 > 0:10:05# Every woman, child and man
0:10:05 > 0:10:08# Will one day
0:10:08 > 0:10:10# Will one day
0:10:10 > 0:10:12# Take each other's hand
0:10:12 > 0:10:15# Hand
0:10:15 > 0:10:19# Way up there
0:10:19 > 0:10:22# Where peace remains
0:10:22 > 0:10:23# Silence
0:10:23 > 0:10:26# The silence thunders
0:10:26 > 0:10:27# And the angels sing
0:10:27 > 0:10:29# And the angels sing
0:10:29 > 0:10:32# Imagination
0:10:32 > 0:10:34# And amazing grace
0:10:34 > 0:10:36# And amazing grace
0:10:36 > 0:10:38# Bring us
0:10:38 > 0:10:40# Bring us closer
0:10:40 > 0:10:43# To that perfect place
0:10:44 > 0:10:47# Getting closer
0:10:47 > 0:10:49# Closer to our home
0:10:49 > 0:10:51# We're getting closer
0:10:51 > 0:10:53# We're getting closer
0:10:53 > 0:10:58# To that perfect
0:10:58 > 0:11:06# Place. #
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Cumbria has always provided inspiration for poets.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19But Wordsworth's timeless image of daffodils fluttering
0:11:19 > 0:11:23and dancing in the breeze is a far cry from the much grittier picture
0:11:23 > 0:11:27of Cumbrian life revealed when the 20th-century poet
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Norman Nicholson wrote about the former Millom Ironworks.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35"For what does it matter if it rains all day?
0:11:36 > 0:11:39"And what's the good of knowing Which way the wind is blowing
0:11:40 > 0:11:44"When whichever way it blows it's a cold wind now."
0:11:46 > 0:11:49It looks a bit like walking on the surface of the moon because
0:11:49 > 0:11:52where we are is actually on the remains of the slag bank.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54When Norman lived here,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57this would have been growing in size all the time.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59It would have been glowing red
0:11:59 > 0:12:02as the spoil was tipped on a regular basis.
0:12:02 > 0:12:04And now it's barren, it's grey,
0:12:04 > 0:12:07but it's got that wonderful haunting beauty,
0:12:07 > 0:12:10especially when you look beyond what's left of the detritus
0:12:10 > 0:12:13from the ironworks and we can see the beautiful Duddon Estuary
0:12:13 > 0:12:15and beyond that we can look up the estuary
0:12:15 > 0:12:18and we can see the hills of the Lake District.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23The once-thriving Millom Ironworks closed in 1968,
0:12:23 > 0:12:25devastating the town.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29The expressiveness of Norman's poetry resonated
0:12:29 > 0:12:32with what was happening throughout the country.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34So what did he write about?
0:12:34 > 0:12:38It's not poetry which is about dancing daffodils, I have to say.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42"I wonder, Duddon, if you still remember
0:12:42 > 0:12:46"an oldish man with a nose like a pony's nose
0:12:46 > 0:12:50"Broad bones, legs long and lean but strong enough to carry him
0:12:50 > 0:12:52"Over Hard Knott at 70 years of age."
0:12:53 > 0:12:56It's more about poetry which extols the virtues of weeds
0:12:56 > 0:12:58as much as anything else.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00For example, if we just talk about weeds,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03he can see the strength and the durability of weeds
0:13:03 > 0:13:06and the fact that they shouldn't just be dismissed
0:13:06 > 0:13:07simply because they aren't cut up
0:13:07 > 0:13:09and put in a bouquet in the florist shop.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16"They don't ask for fertiliser or bits of rag to scare away birds.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19"They come without invitation;
0:13:19 > 0:13:22"And they don't take the hint when you want them to go.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25"Weeds are nobody's guests;
0:13:25 > 0:13:27"More like squatters."
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Do you think his work deserves more recognition today?
0:13:31 > 0:13:33Beyond a shadow of a doubt.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37This is a poet who had this wonderful empathy
0:13:37 > 0:13:39with ordinary people.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43"Every inland fell is glinting
0:13:43 > 0:13:46"Black Combe alone still hides
0:13:46 > 0:13:51"Its bald, bleak forehead, balaclava'd out of sight."
0:13:51 > 0:13:53He sees things from a different angle
0:13:53 > 0:13:56and yet it's a different angle that makes you think,
0:13:56 > 0:13:58"Oh yes, that's right. I never thought of it like that."
0:13:59 > 0:14:01"Nobbut God.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04"First on There was silence.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07"And God said: 'Let there be clatter'. "
0:14:09 > 0:14:12A lot of his early poetry was to do with religion.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14He was very Christian in his outlook.
0:14:14 > 0:14:18One of the most appealing aspects of Nicholson's religious work
0:14:18 > 0:14:21is the way he transplanted the Bible stories
0:14:21 > 0:14:23from the Holy Land to Cumbria.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26So he writes about Joseph wandering around amongst the allotments.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29"Congratulations Herod.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31"You've done better than God.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35"Congratulations, Herod
0:14:35 > 0:14:37"But when all is done and said
0:14:37 > 0:14:42"The final sums of history may add up in the red."
0:14:43 > 0:14:46You can read into a lot of his work
0:14:46 > 0:14:49this Christian underlining of what his thoughts are.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54He's an underdog poet from an underdog town
0:14:54 > 0:14:56and, as we all know, the underdog will have his day.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Later, we'll hear more about Norman Nicholson
0:15:01 > 0:15:04from one of his most notable admirers, Melvyn Bragg.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Up and down the country today, choristers and congregations
0:17:40 > 0:17:43will have filled their churches with singing.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47Well, the Reverend Kate Bottley is in Norfolk meeting a lady
0:17:47 > 0:17:50who's been singing in her church choir for 70 years.
0:17:51 > 0:17:57In 1947, a 12-year-old Olwyn Barber joined St Faith's Church choir.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59She had no idea that she'd still be singing away
0:17:59 > 0:18:02in the same choir stall seven decades later.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07That makes her one of the UK's longest-serving choristers.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10The church has organised a special service in her honour
0:18:10 > 0:18:13and I've been invited to join in and to meet this amazing lady.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22You've been coming to this church for a long time.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25When did you first start worshipping here?
0:18:25 > 0:18:27When I was five, my mother first brought me
0:18:27 > 0:18:29and I went to Sunday school.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32How did you end up singing in the choir?
0:18:32 > 0:18:34I went along to see the rector and he told me
0:18:34 > 0:18:37to go and see the choirmaster, Mr Wilkinson.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39He said yes.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42That was quite a brave thing to do as a 12-year-old, wasn't it?
0:18:42 > 0:18:44To go and see the vicar and ask if you could be in the choir.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47I suppose it was but I didn't really think of it.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50You're a bit of a quiet revolutionary - that's what you are!
0:18:50 > 0:18:56# Dear Lord of thee three things I pray... #
0:18:56 > 0:19:01Now, I understand at the time there were no other girls in the choir.
0:19:01 > 0:19:02No.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06There was one soprano and two altos but we were the first girls.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09It wasn't usual for choirs to have ladies and girls.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11And how was that?
0:19:11 > 0:19:14What was that like - to be the first girls to sing in the choir?
0:19:14 > 0:19:17I think the boys thought it was a bit of a hoot sometimes.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20I first met her when I joined the choir
0:19:20 > 0:19:22as a schoolboy of eight years old
0:19:22 > 0:19:26and with other choirboys in those days,
0:19:26 > 0:19:28Olwyn took us under her wing.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30And we have a joke in our church these days
0:19:30 > 0:19:34that we would have to obtain a faculty if we wanted to remove her
0:19:34 > 0:19:37because she's part of the fixtures and fittings.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41I was thrilled to hear that you have now reached 70 years of singing.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43And what does it mean to you to sing in the choir?
0:19:43 > 0:19:47It's so lovely to be able to sing all God's praises.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49You know, the anthems.
0:19:49 > 0:19:54You can feel him speaking to you through the words and the music.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56It's very moving at times.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04She's wonderful. She is such an inspiration to us.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07All those years in one choir.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10Just, you know, what faith in God does that show?
0:20:10 > 0:20:15May God continue to bless you in your singing and music making.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18How does it feel to have a service dedicated to you?
0:20:18 > 0:20:20I'm thrilled about it.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23To be able to sing some of the hymns that I love.
0:20:26 > 0:20:28The ones that I've chosen.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32Christ Is Made The Sure Foundation, Loving Shepherd Of Thy Sheep.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39And Thine Be The Glory.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41How wonderful. I love that hymn.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44And why are those special to you?
0:20:44 > 0:20:48"Lo Jesus meets you", the second verse.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52And that's what I believe he will do in the end,
0:20:52 > 0:20:54is be there and greet you.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00It's something that I would hate not to have any longer
0:21:00 > 0:21:04and I'm so grateful that I'm still able to be here
0:21:04 > 0:21:06and sing God's praises.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11And what better way to sing God's praise
0:21:11 > 0:21:15than with Isaac Watts' wonderful hymn Sweet Is The Work?
0:23:19 > 0:23:23Earlier, we heard about the poet Norman Nicholson,
0:23:23 > 0:23:25who is much loved in his hometown
0:23:25 > 0:23:28and whose admirers include another native of Cumbria.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36Hello. Norman Nicholson was born in Millom in Cumberland in 1914.
0:23:36 > 0:23:38The son of a gentleman's outfitter...
0:23:38 > 0:23:41Melvyn Bragg is the president of the Norman Nicholson Society
0:23:41 > 0:23:44and he presented an edition of the South Bank Show
0:23:44 > 0:23:46about the poet in 1984.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50If I were to introduce you to Norman Nicholson as a man
0:23:50 > 0:23:52I would say, "Be careful!"
0:23:52 > 0:23:56He can be grumpy. He doesn't suffer fools gladly.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59But he knows a lot and he knows things that are worth knowing.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02And if he thinks you're worth trusting,
0:24:02 > 0:24:04you'll have good talk and a good walk.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08To be honest, I respond to it partly because I'm local too
0:24:08 > 0:24:10and so the local connection matters to me.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13But more than that, I think anyone can respond to it
0:24:13 > 0:24:17because he's talking about the world around him, the world as it is,
0:24:17 > 0:24:19the world of landscape.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21And that mattered to him a lot
0:24:21 > 0:24:24and he makes it matter to us by the way he writes.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27And also he writes very well. He's a very good craftsman poet.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29I like the language he uses.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32I like the fact that he brings in a lot of the northern words
0:24:32 > 0:24:34and he's very careful in his constructions.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37It was not for nothing he was admired by TS Eliot
0:24:37 > 0:24:40and some of the great poets because he was good.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43"I stump, stamp, blow a whistle over and over.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48"Staring into the rowdy air seeking you or you.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52"Anyone who can lip read the words of my whisper
0:24:52 > 0:24:54"as clear as a clang of a bell."
0:24:55 > 0:24:58This was his world, his entire world.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02And he drew on it and kept drawing on it and drawing on it
0:25:02 > 0:25:04to great richness really.
0:25:04 > 0:25:08Both in describing it and in taking wing from it
0:25:08 > 0:25:10as he did in his religious poems.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13He uses the place to express his religious views.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16One of my favourites is The Sea to the West.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19I did a reading with him at Grasmere.
0:25:19 > 0:25:22It was some anniversary of Wordsworth, I think.
0:25:22 > 0:25:24He read and I read and so on.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28He ended with Sea To The West, which is a wonderful poem.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31It is looking out, which he did from Millom, to the west
0:25:31 > 0:25:32across the sea,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35and this is the first and last stanza. He's here.
0:25:38 > 0:25:39"When the sea's to the west
0:25:39 > 0:25:41"The evenings are one dazzle -
0:25:41 > 0:25:44"You can find no sign of water.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48"Sun upflows the horizon;
0:25:48 > 0:25:49"Waves of shine
0:25:49 > 0:25:51"Heave, crest, fracture,
0:25:51 > 0:25:53"Explode on the shore;
0:25:53 > 0:25:55"The wide day burns
0:25:55 > 0:25:58"In the incandescent mantle of the air.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01"Then, on the stroke of bedtime,
0:26:01 > 0:26:02"I'd turn to the town,
0:26:02 > 0:26:04"Cycle past purpling dykes
0:26:04 > 0:26:07"To a brown drizzle
0:26:07 > 0:26:08"Where black-scum shadows
0:26:08 > 0:26:12"Stagnated between backyard walls.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14"I pulled the warm dark over my head
0:26:14 > 0:26:17"Like an eiderdown
0:26:17 > 0:26:18"Yet in that final stare when I
0:26:18 > 0:26:21"(Five times, perhaps, 15) -
0:26:21 > 0:26:23"Creak protesting away -
0:26:23 > 0:26:25"The sea to the west
0:26:25 > 0:26:27"The land darkening -
0:26:27 > 0:26:29"Let my eyes at the last be blinded
0:26:29 > 0:26:31"Not by the dark
0:26:31 > 0:26:32"But by dazzle."
0:26:32 > 0:26:36And that is a simple way of him speaking of the place,
0:26:36 > 0:26:38speaking of his feelings
0:26:38 > 0:26:41and speaking of his spiritual convictions, really.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48# In this world
0:26:48 > 0:26:51# I walk alone
0:26:52 > 0:26:55# With no place
0:26:56 > 0:27:00# To call my home
0:27:00 > 0:27:07# But there's one who holds my hand
0:27:07 > 0:27:11# The rocky road
0:27:11 > 0:27:15# Through barren lands
0:27:15 > 0:27:19# The way is dark
0:27:19 > 0:27:23# The road is steep
0:27:23 > 0:27:26# But he's become
0:27:26 > 0:27:31# My eyes to see
0:27:31 > 0:27:35# The strength to climb
0:27:35 > 0:27:39# My griefs to bear
0:27:39 > 0:27:43# The saviour lives
0:27:43 > 0:27:47# Inside me there
0:27:47 > 0:27:51# In your love
0:27:51 > 0:27:56# I find release
0:27:56 > 0:27:59# A haven from
0:27:59 > 0:28:04# My unbelief
0:28:04 > 0:28:07# Take my life
0:28:07 > 0:28:11# And let me be
0:28:11 > 0:28:16# A living prayer
0:28:16 > 0:28:20# My God to thee
0:28:29 > 0:28:36# In these trials of life I find
0:28:38 > 0:28:46# Another voice inside my mind
0:28:46 > 0:28:53# He comforts me and bids me live
0:28:53 > 0:28:57# Inside the love
0:28:57 > 0:29:02# The father gives
0:29:02 > 0:29:06# In your love
0:29:06 > 0:29:10# I find release
0:29:10 > 0:29:15# A haven from
0:29:15 > 0:29:18# My unbelief
0:29:18 > 0:29:23# Take my life
0:29:23 > 0:29:26# And let me be
0:29:26 > 0:29:31# A living prayer
0:29:31 > 0:29:35# My God to thee
0:29:35 > 0:29:39# Take my life
0:29:39 > 0:29:43# And let me be
0:29:43 > 0:29:48# A living prayer
0:29:48 > 0:29:53# My God to thee. #
0:29:58 > 0:30:00We started the programme with Grasmere Island
0:30:00 > 0:30:02and we're going to end with it, too,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05because of a delightful postscript to the story
0:30:05 > 0:30:07of that Victorian clergyman
0:30:07 > 0:30:09who was so incensed by the private sale of this island
0:30:09 > 0:30:14that he set up an organisation that became the National Trust.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18Well, just earlier this year, 124 years later,
0:30:18 > 0:30:22Grasmere Ireland has finally been bequeathed to the National Trust
0:30:22 > 0:30:24and therefore to the rest of us.
0:30:24 > 0:30:29So let's end with a hymn that speaks of the faithfulness of God
0:30:29 > 0:30:31year on year.