This year, our church carol service was a week earlier than we would normally have placed it. I’m not sure whether next Sunday evening’s World Cup final will be such a problem for services held on 18th December now that England have been knocked out of the competition but it was far too late to rearrange things. It did mean that our service fell on what is known as Gaudete Sunday, which seems quite fitting for a carol service (Gaudete is Latin for ‘rejoice’, based on a reading often used on the day).

The other tweak this year was having Charnwood Training Band with us, doing a short programme of music at the start of the service and supporting the choir. That worked pretty well although I struggled when I picked up my tuba again at the end for the band to play people out with ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’. I think I’d lost my brass chops through all the other singing I’d been doing and my tuba had been sat, going cold, since the start of the service. Never mind.

If we repeat the idea in future, I think I might try to write some more custom arrangements so that the band features more in some introductions and interludes. They added a lovely texture but it certainly didn’t overpower the choir, the organ and, of course, the congregation. We’ll see… and also whether I can persuade everyone else to start the Christmas planning round about August!