Christmas Tree Festival in village

HATHERN Parish Church will be staging its 15th and ever popular Christmas Tree Festival on Friday, December 7, through to Sunday, December 9.

Opening times are from 10am - 8pm on Friday and Saturday December, and from noon UNTIL 5.30pm on Sunday.

This year’s event promises to be as good as ever, with over a dozen new exhibitors displaying trees, making over 100 trees in total.

As usual there will be a tombola with a prize every time and a Christmas Hamper Raffle.

There will be musical interludes as well – on Friday at 11am the Hathern School Choir will perform a medley of seasonal songs while at 4pm Derek Hunter will be playing carols on the church organ.

On Saturday and Sunday at 2pm Michael Hockaday will be giving a Christmas welcome with well- known seasonal music, and at 4.30pm on Sunday a quintet from Hathern Band will entertain.

Admission is £3 for adults and accompanied children are free. The admission includes a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit.

The Sunday morning Eucharist will still take place at 10.30am and, as the church is full of trees it takes place in a magical setting.

Following the close of the festival, on Sunday evening at 7.30pm there will be a Christmas Songs of Praise set among the trees with sherry and mince pies - this is a very popular service so once arrive early - seating is limited for this service.

For SatNav users the post code for Hathern Church is LE12 5LA.