Before I discovered musical theatre, my earliest passion was architecture. It started with ruined castles and abbeys, soon included churches, and eventually architecture of any sort.
From when I was six, my long suffering parents would rent a house in the summer holidays close to a cluster of buildings I wanted to see. They finally thought enough was enough when I persuaded them to rent a house near Port Talbot so I could see Margam Abbey. This was when I discovered Cardiff Castle; but that's another story.
My love of architecture has never dimmed, which explains why one unusually beautiful day last summer, I found myself among 300 or so other guests at St John's Smith Square in Westminster, invited by English Heritage to hear the results of its research into the condition of the country's historic places of worship - and, importantly, to celebrate all those who do so much to save these much loved buildings from irreversible decay.
As I talked to Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, I became increasingly aware that there are hard working groups and individuals rescuing all kinds of heritage all over the country. They all deserve greater recognition. In saving our heritage, they are saving a part of our identity - that intangible but vivid feeling that it is good to live here.
Just think for a moment about your local heritage. Was there a Building Preservation Trust who saved the old water mill? And another group of enthusiasts who saved the art deco cinema? Is the Civic Society working with the council to improve the historic town centre?
Was it a friend's group who succeeded in getting a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to restore the Victorian park? Or perhaps there is a young couple busy restoring that derelict Edwardian villa at the end of the street?
To my mind, these people are heritage angels and their endeavours deserve more glory. It is for this reason that I am delighted to help organise a new annual award scheme, The English Heritage Angel Awards to celebrate the people behind the best heritage rescues in the country.
Anyone who has worked on buildings or a historic site that is, or is eligible to be, on English Heritage's Heritage at Risk Register are valid contenders.
The register lists historic buildings, monuments, archaeological remains, parks, gardens, landscapes, conservation areas, battlefields and even shipwrecks. All are among the country's most important treasures and all, for one reason or another, are on the point of collapsing, dissolving or disappearing.
The 2010 register reveals that one in 32 Grade I and II buildings is at risk, as are one in 14 conservation areas, one in six scheduled monuments and one in 16 registered parks and gardens.
The register is being updated to include, for the first time, places of worship. That is a lot of heritage to save and in the present economic climate, no one is pretending it is easy. The good news is that 311 entries were removed from the register last year. The bad news is that there are 5,504 still to go.
I know there are hundreds of angels out there and I want to show the world their extraordinary efforts in helping to save England's precious heritage from neglect and eventually decay, if not for these people.
The Inaugural English Heritage Angel Awards Ceremony will be held on Monday 31 October at the Palace Theatre in London's West End.