Janet Gogerty's Blog: Sandscript - Posts Tagged "saint-thomas-becket"
Sandscript goes Seasonal
Sandscript goes Seasonal
It must be that time of year again, there’s a new documentary series on BBC2 about a cathedral, this time it’s Canterbury. Cathedra is just Latin for chair, the throne of a bishop and of course this is the throne of the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1,400 years of Christianity and the mother church of 85 million Anglicans worldwide.
And who can resist watching? If you like history, architecture, love people watching, or are a Christian of any denomination, all life is here. We started with the obligatory scene of sweet little choir boys at their boarding school, getting up very early for breakfast, then singing practice before school lessons. But Canterbury has another unique feature that makes it stand out from the other great cathedrals; here one of the most famous murders in history took place in 1170. Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was slain by four of the knights of King Henry the second.
Cathedrals look as solid as stone, but no documentary is complete without scaffold and stone masons at work. Dramatically, but alas not caught on film, a piece of stone fell out of the great south window in 2009, narrowly missing a member of the public. A major project began, involving removing the stained glass window and rebuilding the whole window.
Back to people; equality was also a theme, women as clergy yes, but not yet allowed to be bishops at the time of filming. Women have always been stalwarts of the church, hard working vicar’s wives, cleaning rosters, feeding up young curates and creating the beautiful embroidery for altars and clergy. Equality is rarely straightforward. The weekly sewing group was mending the regalia ready for Christmas and the ladies twittered round a tall chap as he tried on his splendid robe.
One of the women said tersely ‘It’s not the same now there are women…we had to chop nine inches off the bottom…’
This is all about dressing up and who is more likely to impress processing down the long aisle, the six foot three man or a five foot nothing dumpy middle aged woman?
But there was the birth of the girl choir, equality? You can’t argue with biology; a choir of men and boys ranging from the tiniest boy with the voice of an angel to the finest bass who sends shivers down your spine, means they have never needed women or girls. The new girls are aged 12 to 18 years, a contrast to the boys 8 to 13 years. Nor do they have equal opportunities; they come from local schools and attend a weekly practice, not for them the scholarships and private education of the boys that can set them up in adult life with a musical or other career. But the girls were enjoying the new enterprise and will be a breath of fresh air, imagine the choir master trying to control sixteen giggling teenage girls.
Many of us are hypocrites; we will not go to the local quarter empty church to hear a few elderly ladies warbling. If we get the chance, we want to squeeze into a cathedral, admiring the ancient stone in flickering candlelight, taking in the centuries old scent of timber beams and incense, feeling the magnificent pipe organ reverberating. Or we will put our feet up and enjoy a carol service on television, with close ups of angelic, round mouthed choir boys.
You can see parts 2 and 3 of Canterbury Cathedral at 9pm on BBC2, Monday 15th December and Friday 19th December.
For a different view of cathedrals and pictures, visit my website.
http://www.ccsidewriter.co.uk/chapter...
It must be that time of year again, there’s a new documentary series on BBC2 about a cathedral, this time it’s Canterbury. Cathedra is just Latin for chair, the throne of a bishop and of course this is the throne of the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1,400 years of Christianity and the mother church of 85 million Anglicans worldwide.
And who can resist watching? If you like history, architecture, love people watching, or are a Christian of any denomination, all life is here. We started with the obligatory scene of sweet little choir boys at their boarding school, getting up very early for breakfast, then singing practice before school lessons. But Canterbury has another unique feature that makes it stand out from the other great cathedrals; here one of the most famous murders in history took place in 1170. Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was slain by four of the knights of King Henry the second.
Cathedrals look as solid as stone, but no documentary is complete without scaffold and stone masons at work. Dramatically, but alas not caught on film, a piece of stone fell out of the great south window in 2009, narrowly missing a member of the public. A major project began, involving removing the stained glass window and rebuilding the whole window.
Back to people; equality was also a theme, women as clergy yes, but not yet allowed to be bishops at the time of filming. Women have always been stalwarts of the church, hard working vicar’s wives, cleaning rosters, feeding up young curates and creating the beautiful embroidery for altars and clergy. Equality is rarely straightforward. The weekly sewing group was mending the regalia ready for Christmas and the ladies twittered round a tall chap as he tried on his splendid robe.
One of the women said tersely ‘It’s not the same now there are women…we had to chop nine inches off the bottom…’
This is all about dressing up and who is more likely to impress processing down the long aisle, the six foot three man or a five foot nothing dumpy middle aged woman?
But there was the birth of the girl choir, equality? You can’t argue with biology; a choir of men and boys ranging from the tiniest boy with the voice of an angel to the finest bass who sends shivers down your spine, means they have never needed women or girls. The new girls are aged 12 to 18 years, a contrast to the boys 8 to 13 years. Nor do they have equal opportunities; they come from local schools and attend a weekly practice, not for them the scholarships and private education of the boys that can set them up in adult life with a musical or other career. But the girls were enjoying the new enterprise and will be a breath of fresh air, imagine the choir master trying to control sixteen giggling teenage girls.
Many of us are hypocrites; we will not go to the local quarter empty church to hear a few elderly ladies warbling. If we get the chance, we want to squeeze into a cathedral, admiring the ancient stone in flickering candlelight, taking in the centuries old scent of timber beams and incense, feeling the magnificent pipe organ reverberating. Or we will put our feet up and enjoy a carol service on television, with close ups of angelic, round mouthed choir boys.
You can see parts 2 and 3 of Canterbury Cathedral at 9pm on BBC2, Monday 15th December and Friday 19th December.
For a different view of cathedrals and pictures, visit my website.
http://www.ccsidewriter.co.uk/chapter...
Sandscript
I like to write first drafts with pen and paper; at home, in busy cafes, in the garden, at our beach hut... even sitting in a sea front car park waiting for the rain to stop I get my note book out. We
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