Starring role for the Minster

YORK will never forget the inauguration of its 97th Archbishop. The sunny splendour of Dr John Sentamu's African robes, the singing, his bongo recital - it was a joyously loud way to make an entrance.

Yet a brief interlude of silence is the moment which will live for ever in the mind of the ceremony's organiser. "It was around 11.28 and 30 seconds when everybody was in place, and the people who needed to be outside were outside," recalls Jeremy Fletcher, Canon Precentor of York Minster.

"I had done everything I could, and could no longer control what happened. I didn't know when he would come to bang on the door.

"There were two minutes when we had to stand completely helpless, not knowing when the bang would come. I just sat there and relaxed. I couldn't do anything more about it."

The tranquillity was shattered as Dr Sentamu finally knocked on the West Door with a wooden staff. "And he didn't half hit it!" says Canon Fletcher.

It was a magnificent day for York Minster, and the highlight of a remarkable few weeks for the great cathedral. In the same month its exterior was painted in rainbow lights by artist Patrice Warrener, as part of the 400th anniversary celebrations of Guy Fawkes Night.

Soon afterwards it played host to a galaxy of stars, and a scrum of newshounds, at the memorial service for Yorkshire TV personality Richard Whiteley. That day, it was the interior's turn to be brilliantly illuminated - by fluorescent lights carried up to the rafters by remote-controlled helium balloons.

If that weren't enough, for the past few weeks the public and private Minster has been observed by a fly-on-the-wall camera crew for a documentary being shown on Friday night. And this at the cathedral's busiest time: there are seven carol services in seven days to fit in this week, as well as other services and the demands of holidaying visitors.

It is Canon Fletcher who oversees this hectic programme. But he still found time to talk about two extraordinary months in the life of the Minster.

Considering the Christmas demands made on the great church, November 30 was not the easiest day to enthrone an Archbishop. But it was already earmarked in the Minster diary for a bishop inauguration, and it suited Dr Sentamu, so that settled that.

When it came to organising the ceremony, the Minster authorities started with a fairly blank sheet of paper, Canon Fletcher revealed.

"What we didn't have was a large number of people who had done the last one, because it was ten years ago. You are almost inventing the administration again.

"As for the liturgy, there is no set form to the inauguration service."

The Dean of York, the Very Reverend Keith Jones, and Dr Sentamu walked through the Minster talking through ideas for the service, and from there it took shape.

"It was fantastic to see what this cathedral in this diocese at this particular point in the 21st century would want to say about, and with, this archbishop," said Canon Fletcher. "In other words, it had to be very much of its time."

On the day they knew they only had one go at getting it right. "It must be like rock climbing, in that your next move and you could fall off." They hung on to stage a triumph - and a first.

Although drums are not unknown at Minster youth events, and senior churchmen have been known to dance in its considerable aisles, nothing like this had ever formed part of such a formal ceremony.

"We felt very pleased that these ideas, which were in some ways beyond the experience of York Minster in a service like that, clearly worked," said Canon Fletcher. "The atmosphere in the place was electric."

Two days after the inauguration, the Minster hosted its first carol service. Just to add to the pressure, all this activity was being filmed for a BBC documentary, called York Minster At Christmas.

A series recording the inner life of St Paul's Cathedral a few years ago did not paint it in a positive light. So why did York Minster choose to allow the cameras in for the first time?

The Dean and Chapter were "convinced by the sales pitch", said Canon Fletcher. "The filmmakers said, 'it wouldn't be in our interests to make it an expos'." And, he added honestly, the publicity can only help when they have a £30 million appeal on the go.

When the programme is broadcast on Friday we are unlikely to witness rows and rivalry of the sort exposed by the St Paul's cameras.

"It's well known that two or three years ago there was a lot of pressure on us. I think an approach by a film crew then might have failed. There was too much on our plates."

Although there are still disagreements, as you might expect within an institution with 190 employees and 500 volunteers, "we are a body attempting to work together as a team". The greatest crisis captured by the documentary crew was when the Minster School didn't have a stage for its nativity play, with the Chapter House full of sandwiches for the Archbishop's inauguration.

Canon Fletcher says he only lost his temper during filming once. After being followed around by the three or four-man camera crew for weeks, you sometimes forget they are there, he said.

He has enjoyed seeing York Minster from an outsider's perspective. "You do begin to realise how much of huge interest and real fun there is here."

The documentary makers wanted to capture a flavour of all the cathedral's many roles: a place of worship, a school, a library, a visitor attraction, a conference centre, a restaurant.

Then there is all that Christmas activity. From the advent crown suspended above the nave to the metal nativity figures which are assembled in time for the Crib Service on Christmas Eve, there is always something seasonal to enjoy in the Minster.

But when Canon Fletcher looks back on an astonishing few weeks, his mind will always return to that moment on the morning of November 30 when the new Archbishop knocked on the West Door.

"At that point I became a worshipper like everybody else," he said. "It was stunning."

Home-coming for film-maker Lucy

WHEN Dr Sentamu disembarked from his boat at Marygate on the way to his Minster inauguration, it was a special moment for film-maker Lucy McDowell.

She was born and brought up in York - living in Marygate until the age of 18.

Making the documentary York Minster At Christmas for Lion Television has been a welcome return to her home city. But she has not had much time to catch up with old friends.

It has been seven weeks of hectic hard work. And it's not over yet.

After filming the Service Of Nine Lessons And Carols tomorrow, Lucy will be up all night finishing the final edit before the programme is broadcast on Friday.

Distilling the enormously complex life of York Minster into one hour's worth of television has not been easy.

"It's very hard to cover everything, but you try to get all the essence of the Minster by talking about a few characters and a few storylines. You try to hint at the whole community. One of the challenges we have had is to be entertaining. It would be easy to make a dry documentary on how the Minster works."

There have been two occasions in the making of the film when she was lost in the moment. One was on the boat with Dr Sentamu: "such an amazing atmosphere".

The other was the Foundation For The Study Of Infant Death carol service. All who attended had lost a child. "Myself and Alison, who was filming it, found that very, very moving," said Lucy.

York Minster At Christmas is shown on BBC2 at 9pm on Friday, December 23

Updated: 08:49 Wednesday, December 21, 2005