Desert Island Discs 3

Desert Island Discs Day 3
The 23rd Psalm. The Lord's My Shepherd (Crimond)

I am waiting for the day when a car squeals to a halt, and someone jumps out and says 'You must be a Blipper'
My hobby can be clearly identified by unusual behaviour with a camera. Why else would I be trying to line up a distant church on a very dull morning by climbing on a gate, and then be heard calling to a group of sheep in order to gain their attention?
Needless to say the image was not quite what I had hoped for.

My Dad always said 'No wedding or funeral is complete without the 23rd Psalm, and of course it has to be sung to the tune of Crimond.'

I would not describe myself as a religious person, but my life has been built on the foundations of the Church of England.
Sunday school and the Parish Church featured regulary in childhood, and if you wanted to go to the youth club on Friday evenings, you had to attend confirmation class for the hour beforehand. Throughout my school life there was a daily assembly with the singing of hymns, so it is inevitable that, what ever my beliefs are now, hymns still have their place in my life - usually when I'm mowing the lawn - and on the desert island too.

From an early age I remember my Gran playing this on the piano and dad and I would sing along. I saw my father cry at weddings when it was played, and I cried when we sang it at his funeral.

On my desert island this will bring back memories of good times and sad times, but more than that it will be uplifting. The words offer comfort and hope, and I will sing them loud and clear from the highest point of the island.


The Lord's my Shepherd

The Lord's my Shepherd I'll not want,
He makes me down to lie,
In pastures green, he leadeth me,
The quiet waters by.

My soul he doth restore again,
And me to walk doth make,
Within the paths of righteousness,
E'en for his own name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through death's dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill,
For though art with me and thy rod,
And staff me comfort still.

Goodness and mercy all my life,
Shall surely follow me,
And in God's house for ever more,
My dwelling-place shall be.