The same as last year: snow on the weekend before Christmas. This time we had a wedding at Gt Missenden. Paul, who's son was to be married, arranged a gang of helpers and a tractor to clear the access and spread the extra grit we'd persuaded the council to deliver. Together with some Church volunteers, we managed to achieve this by mid morning – but the snow was starting to fall. We had already arranged contingency plans for an organist and arranged for Vicar Rosie to be collected by a 4x4. Both of these turned out to have been good decisions! Paul had hired a 4wd minibus to relay guests to and from the Church. I hear the wedding went very well, although they were late starting and several guests failed to arrive.
By the afternoon we'd had a very heavy snowfall – at least 8 inches (20cm) at Little Hampden. So some phone calls and decisions: the 8am service on Sunday had been cancelled. We decided to move the 10am down from the Church to the Oldham Hall in the village and to take a decision on the planned 6pm service of lessons and carols on Sunday morning. Communicating with everybody was a challenge: we e-mailed round regularly and put updates on the web site. Not everyone is into these communication methods but we hope that those who are told their less techie friends.
Meanwhile we were prepared to hold another DIY Carol Service at Little Hampden. Geoff was available to play our new organ (and was, I believe, delighted to do so) We had e-mailed round the village inviting all to attend and suggesting that any children who had nativity costumes should turn up. In the event we had a donkey, a king and two angels. We also had an impromptu shepherd. Brenda improvised a nativity getting us to imagine the missing players. We had a full Church for the service which ended with the messy grace!
Cancelling the 6pm service at Great Missenden was the right decision in view of the weather – the roads and pavements are still very dangerous. We're all sorry fr the choir who have been practising but we'll try to include some of their work in the Christmas Eve service – weather permitting.
So I was able to spend some time at Little Hampden where the snow is beautiful and the sunset and moon coming up were wonderful.
By the afternoon we'd had a very heavy snowfall – at least 8 inches (20cm) at Little Hampden. So some phone calls and decisions: the 8am service on Sunday had been cancelled. We decided to move the 10am down from the Church to the Oldham Hall in the village and to take a decision on the planned 6pm service of lessons and carols on Sunday morning. Communicating with everybody was a challenge: we e-mailed round regularly and put updates on the web site. Not everyone is into these communication methods but we hope that those who are told their less techie friends.
Meanwhile we were prepared to hold another DIY Carol Service at Little Hampden. Geoff was available to play our new organ (and was, I believe, delighted to do so) We had e-mailed round the village inviting all to attend and suggesting that any children who had nativity costumes should turn up. In the event we had a donkey, a king and two angels. We also had an impromptu shepherd. Brenda improvised a nativity getting us to imagine the missing players. We had a full Church for the service which ended with the messy grace!
Cancelling the 6pm service at Great Missenden was the right decision in view of the weather – the roads and pavements are still very dangerous. We're all sorry fr the choir who have been practising but we'll try to include some of their work in the Christmas Eve service – weather permitting.
So I was able to spend some time at Little Hampden where the snow is beautiful and the sunset and moon coming up were wonderful.
No comments:
Post a Comment