Aled Jones (L), James B Partridge (C) and Kate Bottley (R). (Photo: BBC)
The popular church song Shine Jesus Shine is also a hit at school assemblies, according to the findings of a Songs of Praise poll.
The BBC show asked people to vote for their favourite school assembly hymn and thousands of people responded.
Shine Jesus Shine, by Graham Kendrick, took the top spot followed by the older classics Give Me Oil in My Lamp in second place, and Lord of the Dance in third.
The results were unveiled by presenter Aled Jones and Church of England priest Kate Bottley during the BBC’s recent Big School Assembly Singalong broadcast from Victoria Hall, Bolton.
They were joined by James B Partridge, who has gone viral on TikTok with his renditions of school assembly hymns.
Other favourites in the top 20 were All Things Bright and Beautiful in fourth place, One More Step (6th), He’s Got the Whole World (9th), Morning Has Broken (11th), This Little Light of Mine (17th) and Go Tell it on the Mountain (20th).
The results were also posted on social media, with lots of people sharing their memories and some saying it had brought tears to their eyes.
“Really enjoyed the programme. Some wonderful memories of school assembly,” said one person.
Another said, “And I’m immediately transported back to sitting on the mat aged 8 at the school assembly. Happy days thank you.”
Others noted that many of the songs on the list were from the past and that the singing of hymns is dying out across British schools.
“How many actual school children were involved in ‘the nation’? Are any of these sung now? (Ahem, good to see “Lord of the Dance”. I am 63.),” wrote one person.
This prompted Songs of Praise producer David Waters to write a reply to their post clarifying, “It seems a few schools still sing these but not many, our celebration was mainly for people (mostly 35 and over) who cherish these hymns from their schooldays.
“It certainly seems to have brought back great memories. Hopefully more children will come to them too,” he said.
Another person posted, “Fantastic pity these assembly songs stopped.”
Shine Jesus Shine was released by Kendrick in 1987 and is still regularly sung in churches today.
Announcing the winner of the Songs of Praise poll, Aled Jones called it a “hymn of hope”.
