A Village Festival of Lessons and Carols was held this morning at All Hallows Church, Henshaw.
There was a good congregation despite the cold and windy weather..
The service was led by Reverend Canon Steve Wright and the lessons were read by members of the congregation.
The congregation joined in singing well-known carols including "Once in Royal David's City", "Unto us a Boy is Born"" and "O Come All Ye Faithful"
A special additional feature of the service was the two carols sung by Reverend Canon Steve Wright and Mrs Hilda Rowlands, Love came down at Christmas and Like a candle flame. Their voices blended beautifully.
Afterwards, everyone was invited into the 'Church Room' for refreshments and fellowship. A welcoming hot apple drink was served as well as tea/coffee with mince pies and Sheila's lovely shortbread bicuits.
Last Sunday the paths around our church were ankle deep in leaves. This morning there was an excellent turn out of willing volunteers helping to clear away the mountains of leaves which have fallen in the past few weeks. It was a very cold and very frosty morning, but we soon warmed up when we set to work with rakes and bags!
We were pleased to find large patches of tiny snowdrop shoots nestling under the leaves - something to look forward to in the New Year!
Friday 9th Auguat 2024
In response to popular demand the Over the Wall players gave a second performance of the murder mystery comedy 'Heirs and Disgraces' at Greenhead Village Hall. The hall was packed to capacity with many attired according to the period of the play set in the 1940's.
During the interval we all enjoyed an extremely nice supper.
After the performance the raffle was drawn, a prize awarded to the winning table who correctly identified 'the culprit' (Rev'd Keith Teasdale!) and a prize was awarded for the best attire of the 40's.,
A very entertaining evening, good company, good food.on a lovely summer evening.
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Hexham Abbey Flower Festival
July 2024
As part of the celebrations to mark the1350th Anniversary of Hexham Abbey a Flower Festival was held at the Abbey between 26th -28th July 2024. The theme of the festival was a celebration of Northern Saints, of which there are many, perhaps the most well known being St Cuthbert..
Many teams of flower arrangers and helpers from Flower Clubs and Parish Flower Teams across the region participated, creating some very beautiful and inspirational displays with each organisation representing a Northern Saint. A number of the saints celebrated had a close connection with the Abbey.
In the beautiful and peaceful setting of the Abbey this festival reminds us of our extraordinary heritage. In the programme welcome Rev'd Canon David Glover's words are:
' We celebrate the past that we might find inspiration for the future'
In the early part of this year a small team of flower arrangers and helpers,from the Parish of Beltingham with Henshaw, led by Mrs Pauline Storey, decided to participate in the Hexham Abbey Flower Festival.
The Northern Saint allocated to us was St Eata (pronounced Air-ta), a saint unknown to us at that stage.
St Eata was one of twelve English boys educated by Aidan at Lindisfarne. He became a monk and eventually Abbot at Melrose. One of the monks he trained there was Cuthbert who arrived in 651. Several years later he went with Cuthbert and others to build a monastery at Ripon. Eata later became Bishop of Bernicia, the northern half of Northumberland. This eventually became divided into the Diocese of Lindisfarne and the Diocese of Hexham. Eata ruled Lindisfarne and later became Bishop of Hexham. He died after only a year at Hexham and his remains are in the Abbey.
A model of St Eata was carefully crafted by Mrs Hilda Rowlands with the mitre and bag made by Mrs Carol Adams and Mrs Anne Brunton respectively.
St Eata is now in All Hallows' Church at Henshaw and will remain for a short time.
Our thanks to Mrs Janet Beakes who provided us with much of the greenery for the arrangements including the beautiful sea holly.
A very enjoyable event.
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