A Welsh vicar who came close to winning Britain's Got Talent in the Côr Glanaethwy choir has described how he prayed for God's will to be done to cope with the stress in the run-up to the final.
Canon Robert Townsend, Area Dean of Arfon in Bangor in the Church in Wales, was in the 167-strong choir along with his wife Kath and their 18-year-old daughter Gwen.
He told Christian Today that he and Kath joined the choir after they signed their daughter up for acting and singing lessons at Cefin and Rhian Roberts' performing arts school Ysgol Glanaethwy near Bangor when she was ten.
The school has three choirs, including one for adults, and all three came together as one for Britain's Got Talent.
Even though they were favourites to win, Canon Townsend said he did not mind being beaten into third place by Jules O'Dwyer and her dog Matisse and magician Jamie Raven, and was simply thrilled they had got as far as they did.
At the first audition the choir sang Karl Jenkins' 'Benedictus'. They sang 'The Prayer' in the semi-final and a choral arrangement of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' in the final.
Their final performance was described as "completely magical" by judge David Walliams who joked he was "so proud to be a quarter Welsh".
Speaking from a motorway service station as the choir headed home to North Wales to begin preparations for celebrating their 25th anniversary and for a tour to Patagonia later this year, Canon Townsend said: "I went to church at 8am yesterday. It was a case, as with many things in my life, of saying to God: 'Your will be done.' I just prayed, not that the choir would win, but that we would do our best."
He said the performing arts school out of which the choir has come is not a Christian organisation, but a Christian ethos runs through it.
"When you are in a competition, if you do not come first you are always generous to the people who have come first. You never complain."
The choir has experience of competitions through competition regularly in Welsh eisteddfods or music and poetry festivals. But nothing had prepared them for the first audition. "As soon as we reached a crescendo, the crowds were on their feet cheering. This was slightly nerve wracking. A choir like ours is used to silence during the performance then applause at the end."
The next two rounds were more subdued, with smaller television audiences. The most nerve wracking part then was sitting in the green room with the other competitors, and watching others on the television screen in the room. Moments such as when another favourite, soloist Callum Scott, briefly fluffed his lines, had a big impact on everyone in the green room.
The best thing was the sense of family spirit in the choir, and the sense of what is possible for them in the future. "This has been testament to what we can do," said Canon Townsend.
The judges seemed to agree. After their final performance, Simon Cowell said: "I think we may be looking at the winners of Britain's Got Talent. Every single one of you has given it 100 per cent from the minute we met you. You have showed commitment and this is a big difference from other choirs I've heard."
David Walliams said: "It was completely magical, made me proud to be a quarter Welsh. Everyone in Wales will be voting for you and after that performance everyone in the United Kingdom too."
Alesha Dixon said: "It was magical, you sang with so much passion."
Amanda Holden said: "It was absolutely epic. This would be the perfect thing at the Royal Variety, I just think you were amazing."
