British Pilgrimage feature on BBC 1 Songs of Praise


William Parsons, and Guy Hayward, founders of the British Pilgrimage Trust, were honoured to be featured on BBC1 Songs of Praise during their  pilgrimage from London to Walsingham.

Will had devised a pilgrimage route connecting Willesden and Walsingham, and he had found a song to offer for each day of the pilgrimage (you can listen to the songs here), and the pair delivered these songs at a range of holy places en route.

The presenter was David Grant, Take That’s singing teacher, who offered great advice and support to the singing pilgrims – though he refused to join their auto-baptism in the river Little Ouse!

The pilgrimage took two weeks. Like so much of British Pilgrimage, there currently is little established infrastructure for pilgrims, so on top of walking 15 miles per day, the pair had to wild-camp, filter wild water, and sing for their supper!

This BBC filming was made on day 10, on the border between Suffolk and Norfolk, between the two churches of Santon Downham.