Christmas 2017 In Hope Parish

Christmas started in Hope on Advent Sunday where a large congregation was greeted at the church by the life-size crib figures seen in this photo. They had been decorated by local schools and uniform groups.

Models ready to take there place in the stable

The Wise Men (and their camel) can be seen in the next photo talking about the Big Epiphany Celebrations taking place on 7th January.

The Wise men and their camel

The Angel Gabriel and Roman Centurion played their parts in preparing Mary and Joseph for the journey to the stable.
The whole congregation followed them out of the church and across the road to the “Inn”. Mary and Joseph reached the stable as the Christmas lights were switched on and the church bells rang out.

The following Saturday afternoon Hope Church became a nativity grotto and visiting children were invited to follow the Stable Trail. Below you can see some of the characters that the children met .

At Emmanuel’s MMM Night (Music, Mince pies and Mulled wine) Elwyn Kirkham and his fellow band members provided the music and were joined by Alice for some of the songs. The evening was greatly enjoyed by the appreciative audience and the money raised will be divided between the church and Nightingale House.

At the Pop In Christmas party everyone enjoyed soup and mince pies, with carol singing, Christmas crackers and entertainment as you can see in the next photo.

Entertainment provided by Pam, Angela, Rosina, Dianah and Harry

Thank you to all who contributed to these events and thank you to Adam for reminding us all that “Christmas begins with Christ”.