Shielding by Roy M Hugman

Submitted by: Roy H.

‘Shielding’ began as a tune written during lockdown.

The background is that I play and compose traditional (Northumbrian) music . In ‘Shielding’ I’d tried to express the emotional roller coaster of months of worry, pain, grief and yet somehow also hope. I’d always felt ‘Shielding’ was an optimistic piece of music … that all will be well!

I took ‘Shielding’ along to play with my music friends. At the time we five could still meet up to play once each week, for safety in the enormous grain shed at Kathy’s Farm. They liked ‘Shielding’ and so we decided to make a video recording.

Later I added words and the local church embedded them into the video we’d made. They called it ‘a hymn of reassurance’ and used it in an on-line service.