Ladies and gents we are invoking the wet weather plan! No walk outside, but come directly to St Mary’s for a party and to meet Santa. (St Mary’s Church, Vale Road GU12 5JE)
1) arrive in the foyer and collect your lantern between 4:30 and 5:30pm
2) walk through the church with your lantern to meet St Nicholas by the Christmas tree
3) Advent crafts will be available to enjoy (snowman biscuits, tree decorating etc)
4) Party time with burgers and hot chocolate in the small hall
You are invited! Sat 7th Dec 2024 For the annual St Nicholas Lantern Walk! 🌟🎄🎅🏻✨🏮✨ Join us for a lantern lit walk from The Chapel (wharf rd) to St Mary’s (vale rd), and a bonfire party in the garden with St Nic! Bring your Christmas lanterns to light your way or use one of ours. (Dress for the weather!)
we have 3 time slots this year: 4:30/5:00/5:30 setting off from the Chapel. Text to book so you can be sure of a little gift from St Nicholas! Book your start time by text / WhatsApp on 07730 609446 By donation / give what you can, no set fee. All welcome, come and join the fun! #StNicholasLanternWalk
The foodbank team would like to say a very big thank you to the local Cub Scouts who visited tonight. They brought some wonderful, thoughtful donations, decorated our Foodbank Christmas tree and came up with some super ideas for a foodbank recipe book. You are very welcome to pop back to the Chapel for the Christmas Fair on Saturday so you can show your families your handiwork! It was lovely to see you all, come back again soon.
Christmas Invitation from St Mary’s 2024 You’re invited!
Saturday 30th Nov—Christmas at The Chapel (Wharf Rd) 14:00-16:30 Join us for festive fun, cake sale, hotdogs, raffle, free kids craft, toys, tombola, books, and more.
Saturday 7th December St Nicholas Day Lantern Walk (time slots 16:30 / 17:00 / 17:30): An atmospheric lantern walk from The Chapel on Wharf Rd to St Mary’s on Vale Rd, finishing with a bonfire party, hot chocolate and sweets from St Nicholas! Booking essential to see St Nic: Text / Phone / WhatsApp to book: 07730 609446
Wednesday 18th Dec Carols at the Train Station 18:15-19:15 Join the Ash Vale Village Singers, Ash Vale Station Gardeners, and St Mary’s Choir for a mince pie and a sing!
Sunday 22nd December Carols by Candlelight 18.30: Come and share the joy of singing our favourite Christmas Carols by candlelight at this very special service at St Mary’s, followed by mulled wine / cuppa and a mince pie. Let’s rejoice together.
Christmas Eve 24th Dec Christingle Journey (time slots from 3pm): Make a Christingle, visit the Innkeeper for a drink, see the Wise Men, stoke the shepherd’s bonfire, and see baby Jesus! Not forgetting Revd Neil’s amazing food! A Christmas adventure in aid of the Children’s Society. Text to book 07730 609446
Christmas Eve 24th Dec Midnight Mass 23:30 Come and celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and the first communion of Christmas.
Christmas Day 25th Dec: Christmas Service 10:30 Join us to celebrate our Lord Jesus’ birth. Children welcome, bring along your favourite gift to show & tell!
Christmas Generosity: This year we are asking for donations of Christmas treats & gifts for local food bank parcels please, we are also fundraising to support vulnerable women in Uganda, and collecting funds to bring some Christmas cheer to local refugees. To donate items for any of our projects you can bring things in when we are open, or contact us to make arrangements. To donate funds you can follow our donations link and select a project to support by donation, or pop in any time to donate. Thank you for your support! (Project Manager contact number: 07730 609446) Have a blessed and peaceful Christmas! Donations link https://givealittle.co/c/75npOYB3aZl4vFFBN2Ve3p
As this weekend is Remembrance Sunday, the Church service at St Mary’s will start an hour earlier at 9.30am and will be followed by the Civic service in the village. The Parade leaves the Ash Centre 10:40 am and walks up the hill to the War Memorial at the top of Ash Hill Road. Churches together organise a service, which includes a two-minute silence at 11 am. Tea and coffee served in the Ash Centre afterwards. #Remembrance
Have you booked your places yet for the Love And Light Party? Join us on the 31st October 4-6pm at The Chapel on Wharf Road GU12 5AY for disco, s’mores, crafts, games and family fun. We have hotdogs for tea, let us know if you need a veggie or gf option.
All are welcome. It’s free / by donation, just give what you can to help us cover the costs. There is no set fee for this community event.
BOOKING ESSENTIAL please so we can cater, and we need to have your children on the list if you would like a party bag. Phone / text / WhatsApp us on 07730 609446 to book.
Can we dress up? Yes of course! Wear something neon or white to glow up under the disco lights, come in costume if you like, but not too scary please as we do have little ones joining the party. Come and join us over at the Chapel to celebrate love and light!
Safety first – all children must be supervised by their accompanying adult at all times please. There will be sparklers at 5 pm weather permitting, make sure you wear gloves!
Would you like to support the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project this Christmas? We are appealing for Christmas essentials ( veggies, potatoes, chickens or trukeys, gravy granules), Christmas treats (biscuits, mince pies, puddings, custard, crisps, crackers, sweets, etc), winter warmers for the adults (hot water bottles, gloves, hats, socks, blankets etc), and new toys & games for the children (art materials, new toys, family games etc). Anything you are able to give will be gratefully received on or before Sunday 15th December.
We really appreciate your generosity, as it really does make a huge difference to the local people we support. If you like, why not make it into an advent calendar? Put one item per day in a box during Advent and bring the box once it is full? Contact the Project Manager or drop your donations off at The Chapel on Wednesdays 9am-2.30pm in term time when she is in. We do need all Christmas items by Sunday 15th December please to be in time for the parcels to go out.
We really appreciate funds donations too, as this enabls us to fill any gaps and buy things to finish off each parcel. Your funds will buy meat or veggies or whatever we are missing once all the donations have been counted on the 15th December. This is the donations link: https://givealittle.co/c/3ijYS6zC4gbOGqwer2tmdY
Whatever you decide to do this year, whether you donate some items, send funds, or give us your prayer support, we do thank you as it all makes a difference.
If you are a local business, scout group, team, group of friends, school, book club etc and would like to sponsor a specific item (e.g. 60 puddings or 60 tubs of chocolates, 60 tins of custard…. we would love to hear from you! We would be happy to put a sticker “merry christmas from xyz” if you would like to sponsor a specific item in each parcel.
Thank you for your support!
With lots of love and our best wishes from the Ash Villages Food Parcels Team.
Do you need to make a referral? If you are an agency and wish to add a household to our parcels list this Christmas please contact the Project Team on 07730 609446. We take referrals from local churches, citizens advice, local schools, social services, Homestart, health visitors, and similar agencies. We cover Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. The cut-off for Christmas Referrals is Sunday 15th December.
From the magical world of Harry Potter to the Guys and Dolls of Broadway, Vivace Chorus and the award-winning Friary Brass Band are treating you to a West End Extravaganza! Featuring songs from some of the West End’s longest-running and best-loved shows, including Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, this is a playlist of everything you love about top-quality musical theatre. Toe-tapping, funny, tear-jerking, exhilarating – it’s a show that’s guaranteed to delight and excite! See vivacechorus.org for more information, tickets from £20.
The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project team would like to say a big THANK YOU to the lovely 1st Ash Vale Beavers ‘Monday Group’ who visited us at The Chapel this week. We really appreciate all your wonderful donations, which filled up the donation boxes as you arrived. What a lot of goodies for the food parcels!
All these things will go out in the Food Parcels next week, and make a big difference to local families who are in need of a bit of help at this time.
It was lots of fun telling you all about the Food Bank and you are all very good at Kims Game! You remembered lots of the things we had in the food parcel box. You were great at the 4 corners game and sleeping lions too!
Thank you for the beautiful Harvest pictures you made to help remind everyone to celebrate harvest and support the food parcels project. We will be sure to display them as part of the Harvest decorations at St Mary’s.
The church is celebrating Harvest Festival on Sunday 6th Otober this year, all welcome at the 10:30 service, and we will have refreshments afterwards. Those of you who like to get creative are welcome to come and help decorate the church (St Mary’s on Vale Road) on the Saturday morning too, it’s lots of fun! See you there.
Please join us to Celebrate HARVEST festival this Sunday 6th October 2024 at 10:30am. All welcome whether you are a lifelong Christian or just exploring. Let’s celebrate the good things God gives us and be thankful.
We will have refreshments after the service too – all welcome for a cuppa and a chat.
Remember to have a look at the beautiful harvest decorations by our flowers team and local groups too. If you’d like to help, do pop in on Saturday morning from 10 and get creative! No experience needed, we would also welcome any donations of greenery, veggies and flowers for the display.
Would you like to support our harvest appeal? Please support your local foodbank this harvest! Donations can be brought to St Mary’s for the harvest festival service this Sunday 6th Oct at 10:30am, or leave your gifts in our foyer whenever we are open. #AshVillagesFoodArcelsProject
