Sounding ChildhoodMain Menu30 Selections from the Top Ranking Hymns for ChildrenAlphabetical Index of Hymn TitlesScoresRecordingsTimelineCredits, 2015 Recording & WebsiteCredits, Permissions and CopyrightWorks CitedRehearsal VideosPart 2--Songs for School and PlayPart 3--Bands of Mercy SongsAlisa Clapp-ItnyreAlisa Clapp-Itnyre ea81b58f96dc50ac6f0312cb8dfd4bbc7d5bfddcSOUNDING VICTORIAN Project 2016
There is a happy time (Band of Hope)
12017-06-23T17:38:37+00:00Donal Hegartyd91ac6951fc09687a65f62d6a62eb9d3c37c260311Recording: Children’s Choir, June 2015, in two parts.plain2017-06-23T17:38:37+00:00Donal Hegartyd91ac6951fc09687a65f62d6a62eb9d3c37c2603
“There is a happy time” is a take-off of the hymn “There is a happy land” by the Bands of Hope to educate children about temperance. Temperance, or abstaining from alcoholic drink, was an enormously important issue during the 19th century and children were considered vital in two ways: to teach temperance at the youngest ages, and, two, to carry weight with the adults in their own lives. In 1847 the first society was established to cater specifically to children: the Band of Hope as founded by the Leeds Temperance Society under the leadership of Rev. Jabez Tunnicliff and Mrs. Anne Jane Carlile. The idea spread and by the end of the century, the Band of Hope organizations could boast three million members. If the original hymn “There is a happy land” reads “far, far away/ Where saints in glory stand/ Bright, bright as day”—a song about heaven—the take-off revels in a time when “temp’rance truth shall shine/ bright, bright as day” and, rather than urging singers to “come to this happy land…from sin and sorrow free,” this song urges the “temp’rance band” to “come, come away… from the danger flee,” clearly marking the sin to be that of the “demon drink.” The same spritely tune about heaven inspires action from its youthful singers now.
More discussion on this song can be found in Chapter 5, British Hymn Books for Children.
