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    28

    Nov 2020

    Last Updated: 27/11/2020
    Community
    Community

    Pateley Bridge maintains Christingle tradition for charity

    by Tim Flanagan

    | 28 Nov, 2020
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    The Children's Society charity will not be losing out on support for its annual Christingle fundraiser in Pateley Bridge this year, as a virtual service can be seen online on Christmas Eve.

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    Despite the COVID-19 lockdown and its limitations on the festive season, the special spirit of Christmas is being maintained in Pateley Bridge this year.

    The annual Christingle Service, that has been held at the Parish Church of St Cuthbert for more than 30 years, is going virtual and can be seen online at 6pm on Christmas Eve.

    In the meantime, a video showing how Christingles are made, has been posted on the St Cuthbert Facebook page.

    Organiser Mrs Joyce Liggins told the Stray Ferret:

    "Many local people view the Christmas Eve service as their start to the festive season and the church is usually packed.
    "In normal years the congregation make up their Christingles during the service with a candle and an orange and they make their donation to the Children's Society in a box provided.
    "Unfortunately, with the coronavirus crisis, we cannot hold the service this year, but we didn't want the charity to lose out, so Gillian Yeadon and I asked St Aidan's students Jasmine, Eve and Amy to sing for us and with the help of The Rev. Darryl Hall and Sue Hickson, who did video recordings, we were able to capture two Christingle events."




    The Christingle tradition has, like the bringing of an evergreen tree into a house, its roots in Germany and dates back to the 18th century, when it was introduced by Moravian Bishop Johannes de Watteville.

    Since 1968 Christingle services have been held across the UK to raise money for the Children's Society charity, which helps vulnerable young people.




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    In 2018, St Cuthbert's was one of 6,000 locations throughout the country to support the society's #Christingle50 campaign, which raised more than £1.2 million.

    Anybody who would like to support the Pateley Bridge Christingle this year and donate to The Children’s Society, can obtain a Christingle Collecting Candle or go to the fundraising page and give a donation online.

    Collecting candles and Christingle kits can be obtained from joyce.m.liggins51@gmail.com

    Donations can be made through our online fundraising page at: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Joyce-Liggins1