On Friday 6 December, the Feast of St Nicholas of Santa Claus fame, we opened our first Christmas Tree Festival in All Saints' Church, Charlton, with an Opening Night Drinks Reception. About 45 friends and neighbours came together to celebrate the coming of Light in the Darkness. We entered the Church lit by candlelight, listened to the Rector (Ruth Howlett-Shipley) tell us a little about the life of St Nicholas and then all performed the traditional count-down to the switching on of the Christmas Tree lights. We were delighted with the wide variety of the sixteen Christmas Tree entries, which included a Tree of Hope, on which one could hang messages of hope for a troubled world, a football themed white and red tree, a tree highlighted the effects of climate change, a Fishmas Tree, made of wooden fish. The tree which received the most votes was entitled Beachcombing and was made entirely of items found on a beach, including rather a lot of plastic waste, created by Vince and Jane Jenkins.We sang carols amongst the trees and finished off the evening with a visit from Santa (for grownups), who handed out miniature ports, whiskies and liqueur chocolates - or sprouts - depending on whether you were on the Nice or Naughty List.The Festival continued on the Saturday, with a Family Day, including crafting Christmas decorations, a Christingle on Sunday afternoon, and the annual Downton Band Concert on the Tuesday.Thank you very much to all who helped organise and all who came to support us in this new venture.#ChristmasTreeFestival #CharltonAllSaints #LightintheDarkness
Charlton produced a mouth-watering array of cakes and quiches for the Family Days of the Christmas Tree Festival, accompanied by ample amounts of tea, coffee, hot chocolate and hot blackcurrant.The weather was stormy but inside it was all smiles.Thank you to everyone who baked and served and particularly to everyone who braved the elements to support us.#ChristmasTreeFestival #CharltonAllSaints #Cake
Charlton All Saints has been associated with Downton Band for over 100 years, when Charlton's choirmaster was also the Band leader. We were delighted to welcome them back to All Saints' on Tuesday evening with a full Church, to round up our Christmas Tree Festival. The Band played singalong carols by request, and there was some lively audience participation during the Twelve Days of Christmas.Barbara and her team of helpers served seasonal refreshments during the interval and ran the raffle. A retiring collection was shared between the Band and the Church, and the evening finished with a rousing chorus of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".Same time next year?#ChristmasTreeFestival #DowntonBand #CharltonAllSaints #Christmas
Our annual village Bonfire and Fireworks night was enjoyed by nearly 200 people from Charlton and the surrounding area. The bonfire was built with wood collected over the previous week, by kind permission of the farmer, Will Dickson. By the time it was lit at 6pm on Saturday 2 November, it was huge and topped with a Guy Faulks. At 6.30pm we were treated to the fireworks display, much to the delight of the crowd. The weather was just right - mild and not too windy.Then we all headed into Charlton Barn, by kind permission of Howard & Megan Taylor, to enjoy hot-dogs, mulled wine, local beer and more wine and a catch-up with friends. The evening was rounded off with the traditional raffle. A good time was had by all.We on the PCC would like to extend our grateful thanks to everyone involved in this event - those organising the fireworks, insurance, risk assessment, collecting the wood, handling the publicity, selling tickets, cooking sausages & onions, mulling the wine, stocking and serving at the bar, serving hot-dogs, selling raffle tickets. Thank you also to everyone who came along on Sunday morning to help with the clean-up.Most importantly, thank you to everyone who bought a ticket and came along to support this great event.
