25 November 2025

We watched the ‘Big School Assembly Singalong’ on the ‘Songs of Praise’ programme last Sunday. It took place in the Victoria Hall, Bolton and was hosted by Aled Jones. A school choir led the praise accompanied by upright piano and a collection of instruments often heard in school like the glockenspiel and recorder!

The BBC had organised a poll of favourite assembly songs. People were invited to pick their favourite five songs from a list of fifty. They included the traditional, ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’, the seasonal, ‘Autumn Days’ and the contemporary, ‘Cauliflowers fluffy’ by the Christmas impresario, John Rutter.

Sydney Carter had two hymns in the top ten. At number 6, it was ‘One more step along the world I go’ and at number 3, it was ‘The Lord of the Dance’. Both are now in our Church Hymnary (2005) but appeared in the perennial favourite, ‘Come and Praise’ produced by the BBC for schools in 1978!

In fact, thirteen of the top ten came from this book and a fourteenth from the second volume produced in 1988 i.e. ‘Make me a channel of your peace’. There were some hymns like ’O Jesus I have promised’ at 7, ‘I the Lord of sea and sky’ at 5 and top of the pops at number 1, ‘Shine, Jesus shine’.

I am not sure when the Rutter song was written but most of the songs in the top twenty were either hymns or songs featured in the 1978 ‘Come and Praise’. There were no songs from Mark and Helen Johnson who have flooded the school market with books of songs and Nativity Plays.

We used a lot of their work in my last charge. They produced CDs with the music and with children singing the songs. The latter was helpful with smaller numbers in a Sunday School giving support and volume. The ‘Big School Assembly Singalong’ seemed out of date. Maybe it reflected the age of the participants who were certainly young at heart!