Singing to the Rafters

This year Pett Church has had some of its renovations done and the church has been closed for this. So it was a great pleasure to go to the Nine Carol Service there last Sunday.

It was a lovely evening so my brother, my sister and I walked. It was just dusk. Other people were walking too. Christmas lights around the village were just lighting up.

We passed the Two Sawyers.

Tic Toc

And the postbox.

There is now such a poignancy to postboxes which, in the past, would have been bulging at this time of the year. I have often seen them so full, that cards have been spilling out. On the rare occasions I do post a letter or card these days, it can be heard to plonk on the bottom of an otherwise empty box. 

The delightful tradition of sending cards at Christmas is fast dying out and this is due to the extortionate cost of stamps .... now £1.70 for 1st class and 87p for 2nd class. Add this to the cost of the cards and it amounts to quite a lot of money. Once upon a time I would send as many as 80 cards but no longer .... (not all by post I hasten to add.)

 

Here is the church ..... just as its getting dark.

The scaffolding remains outside for the next phase of renovations.

Inside the church, the pews were filling up quickly. I was glad to sit with Paula and Jamie because my brother has a great voice and both Paula and I can sing a lot better if he is near us. Well he is a music teacher.

 

We sang the well-known carols and heard the familiar readings. The Winchelsea church choir had been borrowed for the service  so we had some strong voices in the choir stalls and some lovely descants soaring up to the newly plastered rafters.

I do know the carols rather well after all these decades but I was la la-ing for the more obscure verses due to poor visibility .... the church was lit by candles and I couldn`t see the carol sheet that well..

 

The church had been decorated by our very own Fran who was so brilliant at wreath making. Other people were involved as well.

The nativity was set up by the altar.

From there it was a good view of the inside and how smart it looked.

After catching up with lots of people from around the village we walked home in the dark, admiring all the Christmas lights along the way.