Harpenden Songs of Praise

At the end of October, Songs of Praise came to film one of their Christmas programmes at High Street Methodist Church in Harpenden.

You will be able to watch the edition on BBC 1 on Sunday 8 December at 1:25pm and afterwards on BBC iPlayer .

Deacon Sarah Wickett shares her experience of what happened when Songs of Praise came to film.

At High Street and Batford churches in Harpenden, we have been knitting Christmas angels to be shared in our community for years. Each angel has a label attached from the Christmas story such as “Do not be afraid “or “Joy to the world”. The angels are given to people in care homes, and to our church neighbours which, being a town centre church, meant local shops and businesses.

The project grew into a success, it was featured on local radio, in Premier Christianity magazine and even BBC Radio 4! In August this year, Songs of Praise emailed having read about the project and, after a few conversations with researchers and producers, it was decided that they would film part of one of their Christmas programmes here.

Arrangements were made with the local care home and businesses who were to be filmed receiving the angels and with the church team here at Harpenden, where the knitting was to take place for the filming. We discussed the filming with the Communications Team and as children, teenagers and vulnerable adults were involved, consulted the District Safeguarding Officer.

Getting people together for filming the knitting was a challenge, as was ensuring that everyone had signed the BBC contributor release forms. On the filming day, our church café became a closed TV set. The only people in it were those who had agreed to be involved in the filming. One church member had the dedicated task of checking people into the café.

The film crew and producer put everyone at their ease. People made a wonderful effort, with Christmas decorations and wearing Christmas jumpers in October! People were pleased to be part of the event, told me that they had a wonderful time and some even made some new friends. The care home and local business were delighted to be part of the filming, helping to deepen our relationship.

It was an opportunity to show how a community can come together and do something positive. One person had said it was on her heart to give the knitted angels to people who are lonely at Christmas and hoped it would let them know they were cared about. That moment was very precious for me.

On the filming day I felt upheld by the prayers of my churches, circuit and the Diaconal Order. Thank you everyone!

It was a real privilege to share good news! To share the message which the angels brought. God is with us, do not be afraid! and the angels joy when Jesus was born. The gift of hope wrapped up, in the baby in the manger!

Advice to other churches when Songs of Praise comes
Seek guidance from the Communications Team
Be clear about the reason behind your project
Be able to articulate your project clearly
Keep sharing the vision with everyone involved from your church: so they can talk about the project confidently
Agree a clear filming schedule with the BBC
Ask what the BBC might need e.g. designated parking space, locked room to store their cameras, lunch time arrangements?
Create a space for the BBC to keep their equipment in your church
Only allow people in the filming area who have signed appropriate forms and agreed to be part of the filming
Make sure all consent forms are signed on the day of filming.