The Church of St Peter Great Berkhamsted

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):

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:

This week we have started to explore Advent in preparation for the first Advent Sunday this weekend. We listened to the carol 'The First Nowell' (the early modern English name for Christmas) and thought about how the shepherds felt when the angel appeared. The children learnt about how shepherds were poor and spent the night with their sheep on the hills so it was a surprise that they were invited to visit Jesus in the stable. This led to us discussing how important it is that everyone is included and I set the children a challenge to look out for one person in school who is not being included. They were then asked to think of ways of including them in the things they were doing.

We are looking forward to the next couple of weeks with all the Christmas activities and counting down the time to Christmas, starting off with the Travelling Crib coming to our school before we have our Nativity performances.

The children's bookshop Make Believe Ideas on the Wilderness (behind Tesco) has a Santa's Grotto Wednesday-Saturday this week and next week (last day Saturday 9 December) 10am-4pm. £12 entry, includes a gift and an audience with Santa himself! Book in the shop or by email:

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:

Congratulations to Rev Joe Roberts, former vicar of Holy Trinity Potten End, who has just become an Army Chaplain.  Officer Roberts was ceremonially inducted at a ceremony at Sandhurst but rewarding and formative. Our prayers are with Rev Joe, Jaime, Felicity and Matilda.

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.

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.

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.

Dacorum Talking Newspaper for the Blind (DTN) has been in existence for many years, and Elinor Mumford has been associated with it for over 25 years, both as a reader and now as an editor. They are five teams of four readers, each team having a regular editor. They record items of local news taken from the Gazette every Thursday evening at Adeyfield Community Centre. DTN are desperately short of editors. Training will be given, all it requires is a once every five weeks commitment and an interest in local events. If you are interested in learning more please contact:

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.

Herts for Refugees support people who have, for whatever reason, fled their home country in search of a better life. As the cold winter months are upon us, they are working to support people living in camps and new arrivals in the UK and prevent deaths from hypothermia. They are appealing for donations of waterproof winter coats - if you have an old coat that you could spare, please drop it into the large collection box inside St Peter's Church (next to the noticeboard). 

Just a reminder that there is no Rosary on Friday 5 January.

Age UK Dacorum's annual fundraising Community Christmas Concert will be at St Peter's Church, led by Fr Stuart. The festive event will include traditional and popular Christmas music performed by the Castle Choir and other local musicians, congregational carols, and of course mulled wine and mince pies! Seasonal readings both sacred and secular will be given by local celebrity guests, including comedian Robin Ince, food writer Nigel Barden, rugby commentator Miles Harrison, the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire Liz Green, and a number of other local community figures.

Please come along and support the wonderful work of our local Age UK - advance tickets are £8 and include the mulled wine and mince pies!

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.

St. Mary’s Church, Northchurch invite you to an Advent Quiet Morning. Everyone is welcome to come along at any time between 10am and 12noon to come and reflect in the quietness of this Church.

Berkhamsted Choral Society with English Philharmonia Brass celebrate the Yuletide season at St Peter's with music and carols for choir and audience. Book your tickets online: adults £20, under-18s free! Please note that this concert starts at 7pm (not 7:30pm as stated in last week's news).

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.

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!

Doing your Christmas shopping in St Albans this weekend? Stop off at the Cathedral for a festive break with Carols on the Hour. From 11am to 4pm there will be a short carol service on the hour, every hour, led by different St Albans choirs. It's a lovely way to get some seasonal cheer and join in Christmas joy as we prepare for the holy season.

The Chiltern Chamber Choir's annual Christmas concert is always a highlight of the year. This year they will be performing Handel's Messiah. This is a very popular concert, so advance booking is strongly recommended! Tickets £18 in advance, £20 on the door, under-18s and full-time students free.

Please note that there is no Rosary on Friday 5 January.

Berkhamsted Music presents a piano recital by the internationally acclaimed pianist Victor Maslov, who will play a selection of pieces by Rachmaninoff and Mussorgsky's famous Pictures at an Exhibition. Tickets £20, under-18s FREE.

Berkhamsted Music presents a recital of string music by the acclaimed Scottish ensemble, Resol Quartet, who will play works by Mozart, Puccini and Mendelssohn at Berkhamsted Civic Centre on the High Street. Tickets £20, under-18s FREE.