Join us at King Charles the Martyr as we celebrate the joy, peace and beauty of the Christmas season. Throughout December, our church is filled with music, candlelight, festive displays and community gatherings for all ages. From concerts and fairs to special services and our much-loved Christmas Tree Festival, there is something for everyone to enjoy.See all the details at https://www.kcmtw.org/christmas/Sunday 30 November, 6:30pm: service of music and readings for AdventSaturday 6 December, 7pm: Concert - Bach's MagnificatThursday 11 - Sunday 14 December: Christmas Tree FestivalThursday 11 December, 6:30pm: 'Wassail & Wine' carol eventSaturday 13 December, 11am-4pm: Christmas FairSunday 14 December, 4pm: Christingle ServiceSunday 21 December, 6:30pm: Nine Lessons & Carols by candelight
The prodigiously exciting Baroque specialist Steven Devine returns for our annual Christmas concert, with a stunning programme. Bach's famous Magnificat for full orchestra, soloists and five-voice choir, is enhanced by the addition of four Christmas interpolations that Bach composed to be sung between movements. Tickets: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/mkctw/bachs-christmas-magnificat/e-kjbpgvPerformed by the Decimus Ensemble and The Devine Musick – principal players of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Academy of Ancient Music and others. Programme also includes Bach's Ascension Oratorio BWV 11, and Johann Bernhard Bach: Caprice, Air (Lentement), La Joye from Orchestral Suite No 4 in D.
Sunday 30 November: Advent Sunday10:00 Parish Communion18:30 Music & Readings for AdventSunday 14 December(No 10am service)16:00 ChristingleSunday 21 December10:00 Parish Communion18:30 Christmas Carol ServiceWednesday 24 December: Christmas Eve16:00 Scratch Nativity23:30 Midnight MassThursday 25 December: Christmas Day10:00 Parish Communion
Saturday 31 January 2026, 2:30pmLancelot Andrewes: "a paper-life better than none"Professor Peter McCullough, Lincoln College Oxford2026 marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Lancelot Andrewes—scholar, preacher, bishop, and dean of the Chapel Royal. Upon his passing in September 1626, King Charles 'thought it not fit his sermons should dye with him', and in commissioning William Laud to publish them, consoled himself and graced Andrewes' future readers with the consolation that 'a paper-life' was 'better than none'. This lecture will use Andrewes' long and varied 'real' life to put into a wider context Charles' admiration for him, and the ways that the 'paper-life' of his published sermons, one of the greatest monuments of English Renaissance prose, have sustained the bishop's remarkable after-life to our own day.Followed by tea. Free, with retiring collection. Previous lectureMany thanks to Simon Thurley, whose lecture on "The Pleasure Palaces of Charles I and Henrietta Maria", held on 24 September 2025, was extremely well received. For more information on his research and publications, see https://www.simonthurley.com/
