Thursday 7 December at 11:00 am
Funeral of Marion Crawley
The funeral of Marion Crawley will take place on Thursday 7 December at 11.00am in the Hampden Chapel at Chilterns Crematorium, followed by a remembrance service at St Peter's at 2pm. Following the service there will be a reception in the Court House.
Sunday 10 December at 11:00 am
Ringing carols on handbells
Following high levels of enthusiasm last year, the handbells will return to ring carols! We will meet in the Court House Long Room after the morning service and everyone is welcome to come and have a go, led by our bellringing captain Mike Below. No need to be able to read music or to be able to sing, everything will be clear on the day.
Saturday 16 December at 6:00 pm
Town Carol Service
As we get ready for Christmas, St Peter's welcomes the whole Berkhamsted community to a big carol service in the church, with readings and traditional congregational carols. All are welcome!
Friday 5 January
Rosary
Please note that there is no Rosary on Friday 5 January.
Advent & Christmas at St Peter’s
Dates and times for services coming up at St Peter's over Advent and Christmas services are all listed on the parish website and on posters outside the church.
The website also lists Christmas concerts, along with ticket links.
Festival of Light – thanks
The Festival of Light on Sunday was a huge success. We welcomed 2,600 people through the church doors, who came in to see the church and light candles prayerfully. Fr Stuart has received praise from people about the event, and comments have been coming in by email and social media saying how beautiful and inspirational the experience was. It made a huge impression on the town and opened up a glorious sacred space to thousands who don't normally come into a church. Also, we took over £4000 (gross) in wine sales and donations!
Massive thanks are due to everyone who helped - to everyone who fetched, carried, constructed, climbed ladders, lit candles, sold raffle tickets, sold books, heated drinks, served on stalls, washed mugs, hung posters, sang, welcomed visitors, ran around like a mad thing or did anything else to make Sunday a success: THANK YOU.
This Sunday after the 9:30 morning service, Mark would like to hold a quick debriefing in the upper room of the Court House. Please come along to feed back on how the event went, and any improvements you can suggest. If you can't make it, Mark's email is below - your comments are welcome.
Christmas Tree Collection Service
What do you do with your Christmas tree after the festivities have finished? If you have a real tree, local Scout Groups in Berkhamsted and surrounding areas are again offering a collection service. For a suggested voluntary contribution of £6 per tree, they will pick up your tree on Sunday 7 January 2024 and take it to the Dacorum Council shredder. All funds raised will go to local Scout charities.
Book and pay for your tree collection online by midnight on 6 January, or visit the Scouts Christmas tree market stall in Berkhamsted, 9-3pm, Saturday 6 January.
Sponsor Amelia’s Christmas cards
Amelia Reeves (who sings in our choir) has decided to hand-make some Christmas cards to put into the Cards of Christmas Hope post box, to send to people who will be alone this Christmas.
Amelia is hoping that kind family and friends will sponsor her in making these cards. She is is raising money to go on her school music tour to Oberwesel in Germany next year, where she will be singing in the school choirs. If you'd like to support both Cards of Christmas Hope and Amelia's music trip, you can donate online or speak to her mum, Michele.
Shop online to support St Peter’s
We do encourage everyone to shop local of course (see below), but if you are doing Christmas shopping online, remember that you can turn your purchases into funds for St Peter's Church! All you need to do is start your shopping through the EasyFundraising website - log on, search for a retailer and click the big yellow Shop Now button. There are thousands of retailers, including John Lewis, Dunelm, Currys PC World, Lakeland, JD Sports... you can even book flights, train tickets and Just Eat food, and earn money for the church! Since we started this, we have raised over £2000 for St Peter's, so do please take part!
If this is your first time, you need to register on the EasyFundraising website first and select St Peter's Great Berkhamsted as your chosen cause — it only takes 2 minutes.
There are full instructions and a button on the St Peter's website to get you started:
Olivia on Radio 4
Sunday Worship on BBC Radio 4 this week was broadcast live from the chapel of St Catharine’s College in Cambridge. Olivia Davies, our former shared intern with Berkhamsted School, is now Ordinand/Ministry Student at St Catharine's College, and she is heard in the programme assisting with the prayers. This Advent service explores the theme of God’s justice in a broken world, and includes some rather wonderful music by Weelkes and Walford Davies, sung by the college choirs. You can listen on BBC Sounds at:
Advent Carol Service
Huge thanks are due to our music director Adrian Davis, organist Chris Beauchamp and the church choir for all their hard work for Sunday evening's Advent Carol Service. The service was live-streamed online, and was enjoyed by scores of viewers with many delighted comments.
The service is still available to watch online - just follow the link below (if a pop-up appears telling you to log in, simply ignore it by clicking the X, and you may also have to un-mute the video):
www.stpetersberkhamsted.org.uk 
Diocesan news
01442 865413 
