- Kate Bottley recalls a moving moment singing hymns with a stranger at Glastonbury Tor at sunrise
- The encounter highlighted the emotional connection hymns have for people, such as bonding with loved ones
- Kate reflects on the experience as a vicar and Songs of Praise presenter, embracing the value of religious songs
This Gogglebox star likely isn’t the only one who was experiencing a mind-altering moment at 4am during Glastonbury festival…
Once a familiar face on the hit Channel 4 show, Reverend Kate Bottley, 50, now has a career in broadcasting.
Today she hosted a special edition of Songs of Praise alongside Aled Jones, celebrating the nation’s favourite school assembly hymns.
But it was ‘on the top of Glastonbury Tor’ that she realised the true value of these religious songs.
In a scenario you might not initially place a vicar, she found herself singing with a stranger who was ‘holding a joint in one hand and a bottle of Jack Daniels in the other’, watching the sunrise over Glastonbury.
Bottley told The Telegraph that he made her realise the value of hymns, as she battled with the idea of it being ‘cliché’ for a TV vicar to present the long-standing BBC show.
The man she came across told her how hymns connected him to his sick mum. Bottley recalls: ‘He said, “I go to the nursing home every Sunday to see my mum. And my mum can’t remember who I am anymore.
“But when I put Songs of Praise on suddenly, I have her back for half an hour”.’
He explained how he and his mum sing the hymns together, holding hands and told Bottley: ‘It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing.’
Next, Bottley explains that he asked: ‘Shall we sing now?’
‘And we sang Morning Has Broken together as the sun came up.
‘It was beautiful.’
She went on: ‘Never underestimate the value, was the message that came across.
‘You never know who’s watching.’
The vicar has broadcast from Glastonbury with BBC Radio 2 and interviewed the festival’s founder, Michael Eavis, himself.
The pair discussed his relationship with Christianity as they stood on the iconic festival site in Somerset.
Bottley has been a presenter on Songs of Praise since 2016 and was part of the joyous singalong special, which saw children performing school assembly hymns from Victoria Hall in Bolton.
She first appeared on Channel 4’s Gogglebox in 2014. The channel approached her to come on the show after a wedding flash mob video of her went viral on YouTube.
Bottley has since talked about how the show affected her life and not enjoying her experience.
On the Walking the Dog podcast, she said it was ‘quite intrusive, really. But y’know we consented to that intrusion.’
Gogglebox returns November 28 at 9pm on Channel 4.
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