Father Christmas has arrived in Rye in recent years by various routes, and in various vehicles (including a boat, as shown above), and he can arrive on your doorstep this Christmas in Rye and surrounding villages if you act now.
And there will be no lack of carol services and Christmas events in Rye and the surrounding villages over the holiday period, though many organisations and bodies will be pausing their activities.
This includes Rye News which will be taking a break for one week (with no edition between Christmas and the New Year), so the next edition will be published late on January 2 and should be available as breakfast time reading on Friday, January 3.
This coming Sunday, December 22, Rye’s parish church of St Mary’s has town carols by candlelight at 6pm following a Christingle service at Rye Harbour at 3pm, while the Methodist Church in Rye will be holding its carol service at 10:30am on December 22.
Over in Appledore the Multi Market will be taking place in the Village Hall from 10am to 12 noon, and there will be a farmers’ market in Brede Village Hall from 10am to 12:30pm. Peasmarsh Memorial Hall hosts a farmers’ market tomorrow, Saturday, from 9:30am – 12 noon and there is a carol service in the church on Sunday from 6:30pm.
In Iden there is a Christmas Day service in All Saints at 9:30am. The following Sunday, December 29, there will be a 3pm service with tea afterward in the Old Hall to say farewell to Vicar Teresa Munro.
Playden church hosts a midnight service on Christmas Eve beginning at 11:30pm (following a crib service at 3pm) with its Christmas carol service this coming Sunday, December 22 at 3pm followed by mulled wine and refreshments. The Christmas Day family service will be at 11am on December 25.
On Christmas Eve Midnight Mass will be celebrated in Beckley Church at 11:30pm and on Christmas Day the Peasmarsh Church service will be at 10am.
Northiam is warming up local children for Christmas with a “Messy Sheep Trail” of 19 knitted sheep hidden round the village, and everyone is asked to make a list of where they are so the shepherd can bring them to the crib service on Christmas Eve at 4pm in the church.
And this Saturday the community cinema in Northiam is showing “The Lion King” at 4pm and 7:30pm in the Village Hall followed on Sunday by the Candlelit carol service at 6:30 in St Mary’s. The crib service is at 4pm on Christmas Eve with Midnight Communion at 11:15pm, and the family celebration on Christmas Day at 10:30am.
Winchelsea Beach is holding its annual Christmas party for local primary school age children on Saturday December 28 at 4:30pm to 6:30pm in the Community Hall. Contact 07817 962 680 if you have a child who wishes to attend.
Image Credits: John Minter , Rye News library .
I wonder why the church offers ‘crib’ services when the popular carol from 1882 echoes the Gospel of St Luke making clear that there is no room in the inn or crib and the baby is laid ‘in a manger’. Why isn’t it called a Manger Service to reflect the reality of the birth?
To answer Andy Stuart: Crib Services usually involve a ‘Blessing of The Crib’ at some point during the service. In this instance ‘the Crib’ is the nativity scene itself – Mary, Joseph, shepherds and various animals – as well as a manger with baby. The Magi arrive on 6th January at Epiphany.
May be NATIVITY service could be used as it’s the story of Jesus’s birth and then ‘bless the Manger’ as Manger is the word used in the Bible and also the carol Away in a Manger no crib for a bed ..is a carol many children learn…