Carol service and party

Sunday 7 December 2025

For many years our final meeting before Christmas has been a Christmas service, followed by a vestry tea, giving an opportunity both to sing and blether. This year we welcomed Llinos Jones and her friends, so there were young people playing around, to our delight.

The service, led by Margaret Brandie, incorporated the making and lighting of Christingles. This Moravian tradition combines an orange, representing the world, a candle representing Jesus Christ as Light of the World, a red ribbon wrapped around the orange, representing the blood of Christ, and dried fruit skewered on cocktail sticks, representing the fruits of the earth and the four seasons.

Six years previously, we’d all been allowed to try our hand at making these visual aids … this year, the children showed us how it should be done! And of course there was the Welsh version of the Christingle hymn (read the words at this link), sung to the tune The Holly and the Ivy.

The five readings, in a mixture of Welsh and English, were helpfully accompanied by a service sheet giving the text in both languages and interleaved with hymns for the season to well-known tunes. We did our best with the singing … and it was fortunate that we weren’t asked to sing after the plentiful tea that followed.

Grateful thanks to those who took part, especially to Margaret Brandie for devising the service and marshalling the props. Thanks also to Huw Thomas for leading from the piano for both the hymns and the children’s games, to Jennifer Welsher, who organised the presents for the children, and to Lilian John who took charge of the refreshments.