HRH The Countess of Wessex reads for Ascension Day podcast

Abbeycast was launched at the start of the lockdown for all those missing church services with weekly podcasts featuring a reading, short address, music, prayers and a blessing. They have been enthusiastically received by worshippers all over the world. Recordings are made at the Abbey observing social distancing measures and then edited off-site. The Countess recorded her contribution from her Bagshot Park home.

This episode led by the Dean of Westminster, The Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle celebrates Christ’s Ascension into Heaven, forty days after Easter. The Reverend Canon Dr James Hawkey, Canon Theologian says in his Address:

Even as Christ moves away from his disciples he offers them a renewed hope which is a road-map for the future; his promise is that the gift of Easter will be known permanently in their lives, as they witness to others what they have seen and heard.

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford’s Coelos ascendit hodie sung by the Abbey Choir and conducted by James O’Donnell, Organist and Master of the Choristers, is supplied by the Choir’s record label, Hyperion Records.

Previous readers for the podcast have included His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, The Right Hon Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand and The Bishop of London, the Right Reverend and Right Hon Dame Sarah Mullally DBE.

Listen to the podcast