Hornsey, London - Mar 2025

Christmas is well and truly over for another year, with all the decorations safely packed away and we're already one month into the new year. The Hornsey congregation has many happy memories of the Christmas celebrations we have shared in over the festive period.

The main highlight from this festive season was the Christmas Dinner and Dance which was held in the hall, organised by Sr Sonia Pessoa and Sr Patricia White. It was a wonderful occasion, enjoyed by all, with many of our church members who also brought along friends and family. It is lucky we have a large hall as there were around 100 people, a lot of tables and chairs and of course, space was needed for a dancefloor. Thank you to all who donated to the raffle creating an impressive array of prizes. Br Carl Skepple was our DJ for the evening, providing a broad selection of music for all to dance to, with the dancefloor being full most of the evening. As always, the food was delicious and a big thank you to Sr Sonia and her team in the kitchen for putting on this spread. The evening raised over £1,000 for church funds.

Part of the enjoyment of Christmas is joining together to sing Christmas carols. We held our service of Nine Lessons and Carols on Sunday 15th December, led by Br Newman, sharing the reading of the lessons taking us through the Christmas story. The singing continued later that week when we joined forces with Hornsey Churches Together for carol singing outside Sainsbury's and were accompanied by London Metropolitan Brass. There were more carols at our Christingle service, which was led by Br Edwin Quildan, and some of the music was provided by the steel band. The service had a real family feel to it, as many of our church members brought family and friends with them who enjoyed receiving their Christingles.

On 12th January, we had the pleasure of welcoming the family and friends of Imani King-Yombo and Isaiah Jeffrey-Parkinson for their infant baptisms. They are the great grandchildren of one of our longstanding members, Sr Muriel Jeffrey. The church was full, and it was very special to be joined by Sr Muriel, who hasn't been able to get to church for a long time due to ill-health.

We are looking forward to 2025 and all the events we have coming up and wish you all a Happy New Year.

Sr Claire Newman