Christmas time at St Martin’s is always a very special experience and this year was no exception. Preparations started at the end of November when Toby once again organised a work party to tidy up the churchyard, clearing leaves, and to do some extra cleaning inside to supplement the wonderful work of Trish, our regular cleaner. Thank you to everyone who took part.
The annual carol service took place the Sunday before Christmas. It was well attended and great to have such a good representation from St Martin’s School. Special thanks to the flower team whose decoration of the church provided a wonderful atmosphere. The service started in traditional style with an unaccompanied solo first verse of ‘Once in Royal David’s city’. Fabian Reis did a superb job, following in the footsteps of his brother Gabriel who has sung the solo previously and this year joined the tenors. We were very fortunate to have two other past soloists in the choir for the service, Francesca Ede and Sam Talbot-Williams, and another, James Twallin, in the congregation. We are particularly grateful to our brilliant organist, Hugh Cobbe, who has directed the choir so ably for the past 31 years!
The Midnight Mass service at 1130 on the 24th was a wonderful way to start Christmas Day. Thanks to the work of Don Beaver and his family the church looked magnificent, floodlit from outside and with the candles lit inside. Thank you to Marvin for leading us.
This morning we celebrated the Epiphany, again led by Marvin, which was a great way to start 2020.
However tomorrow, sadly, the funeral of Helen Millard takes place at St Martin’s. Helen and her husband Mark lived at the Old Rectory, opposite the church, in the 80s and early 90s. Mark was churchwarden for several years and they were both regular attenders as well as generous donors, not just to the church but also their friends. They are both sorely missed but will always be remembered by those of us who were lucky enough to know them.