Songs of Praise

Sean Fletcher is in Alton in Staffordshire, not at its famous theme park Alton Towers but at its castle, now a Catholic youth retreat centre which raises self-esteem, and builds and strengthens friendships. He meets the young Christians running it who help ensure the youngsters leave with some treasured memories.

The programme looks back at two stories of amazing faith featured over the last year, including the fantastic freestyle footballer from Milton Keynes and the Christian astronaut who walked on the moon but found more fulfilment when he gave his life to God.

The Rev Kate Bottley visits the Great Yorkshire Show, where the chaplain to the Yorkshire Agricultural Society tells her about the show's 160-year history and how the church has always played a central role. Kate finds out more about the challenges facing the agricultural community and meets Kate Dale, the Christian farmer who is reaching out to offer support.

JB Gill visits Thirsk to discover the story of the real-life Yorkshire vet behind the ever-popular books of James Herriot. Herriot was the pen name of Alf Wight, and JB meets his son Jim at the museum that was once his father's veterinary practice and their family home. They walk up to Sutton Bank to enjoy what Alf described as 'the finest view in England' and talk about Alf's Christian values and the enduring success of All Creatures Great and Small in print and on screen.

Kate also meets the newly appointed bishop of Ripon, Helen-Ann Hartley, for tea and scones and talks about moving to Yorkshire and her vision for her new role.

With hymns and songs celebrating the beauty of creation, including a performance from teenage singing star Elan Catrin Parry.

It's been 40 years since the last papal visit to Ireland, and Claire McCollum is there to join the celebrations for the historic visit of Pope Francis. The Holy Father specially chose Dublin to host the World Meeting of Families 2018, the largest international gathering of families in the world. We meet up with the 100 strong group travelling from the Archdiocese of Birmingham to be part of the event and we're in Croke Park Stadium for the Festival of Families. One of the places Pope Francis will visit is Knock Shrine and Sean Fletcher finds out what draws 1.5 million pilgrims there every year. There's also another opportunity to see how Claire got on when she joined pilgrims climbing Croagh Patrick, known as Ireland's holy mountain, on Reek Sunday. Claire finds out why some young Christians choose to climb barefoot, despite the mountain being covered in sharp stones. There are hymns from Ireland and a performance of Amazing Grace by the group Celtic Woman, filmed on Clew Bay.

Claire McCollum is in Newcastle upon Tyne to see Christian artefacts discovered nearby at Hadrian's Wall, and the programme sees how the city that loves football is helping children with disabilities. JB Gill catches up with Gospel Choir of the Year judge Karen Gibson to find out what it was like to sing at the recent royal wedding, and there are hymns from the Church of St Thomas the Martyr in the heart of the city, led by Philippa Hanna.