On Friday the 6th of December, Frampton Cotterell Parish Council hosted our annual community Christmas event, Carols Around the Tree – despite the oncoming Storm Darragh!
At the start of the evening, the wonderful Crossbow Singers led the community in singing a selection of traditional carols around the lit-up Christmas tree in the Brockeridge Centre garden. Guests, staff, councillors and volunteers all joined in with the choir, braving the burgeoning blustery conditions in the name of community spirit and a good old-fashioned sing along.
Following a short “thank you” speech from parish council chair, Linda Williams, everyone headed inside to enjoy the (warmer!) festivities, including a fabulous selection of stalls from local business-owners, artists and crafters where our guests could pick up some unique local gifts ready for Christmas.
Kids and grown-ups alike got stuck into this year’s Christmas Crafts. Our guests enthusiastically decorated yummy cookies, made potato-print wrapping paper, created their own Christmas tree decorations, and made woven Christmas trees out of yarn, paper plates, and beads. Our most recent recruit to the parish council staff team, new Community Nature Officer David Hanks, also ran a Christmas Wreath Crown Workshop teaching guests how to make magical wreaths out of natural materials.
Festive refreshments were as delicious and popular as ever, and included hot chocolates with whipped cream and marshmallows, teas and coffees, warm mulled wine (with non-alcoholic a option also available), mince pies, cakes, biscuits and more! We’d like to say a huge thank you to local baker and volunteer, Shirley, who donated beautiful Christmassy chocolate cupcakes, and the wonderful cake for our “Guess The Weight of the Cake” competition.
Speaking of donations, we also received s huge amount of truly fantastic donations for this year’s charity tombola – three large tables’ worth! Thanks to the generosity of the community, we were also able to run a separate children’s tombola which was absolutely overflowing with lovely toys and games for our younger parishioners to win. Thank you so much to all the kind people who sent in prize donations.
Christmas isn’t only a time for festivities, but also for giving. This year, our chosen charity for Carols Around the Tree was St. Peter’s Hospice. We are extremely happy to announce that from the proceeds of the tombola, refreshment sales, and the “Guess the Weight of the Cake” competition, we raised £299.37 for St. Peter’s Hospice. Thank you to all our guests who helped us raise this much money for such a worthwhile charity.
We would also like to express our particular thanks to the volunteers who offered their invaluable support in helping our staff run this year’s event. From helping out with kids crafts to serving hot drinks and staying to clear up afterwards, the help of our volunteers contributed to the overall success of this year’s event. Thank you to Rachel, Sally, Vicky, Mary, Anita and Matt for your help – you’re all true Christmas stars!
Thank you to everyone who attended and supported this year’s Carols Around the Tree – guests, staff, volunteers and parish councillors. Merry Christmas, everyone!
