First Carol Service of 2025

Reading time: 2 minutes...

Usually, our first Carol Concert would be either The Salvation Army‘s (this Saturday at the Citadel), the Service at St Botolph’s in the nearby village of Barton Seagrave or, more recently, in the ‘other’ village – Warkton . Not this year! 🤔

Instead, Ann had spotted some Christmas promotional material for the Church of St Peter and St Paul‘s Service in the town a while ago, and so we pencilled it in.

In our (almost) 30 years here, we’d only ever been to this Church once before for the annual Carol Concert (back in 2015), where our neighbour, Valerie, was part of the visiting Choir – Belcanto. So, ten years since our previous visit, we were looking forward to this opportunity even more than usual.

The Church of St Peter & St Paul is better known as ‘P&P’ by the locals and is the oldest building in Kettering. It has stood on the present site for over 500 years.

We parked easily in the lower car-park near the Church and were soon braving the rain and gales that seemed to be a feature of this week’s weather! Jo, Janet & Helen arrived just after us, and we shared the pew!

Organised by Kettering Town Council, Churches Together and the Rotary Club of Kettering, it was certainly a packed Programme. Led by Revd. Angie Milne, I don’t think you could have crammed any more content into the 60 minutes.

• 1 Blessing
• 3 Prayers
• 7 Carols
• 9 Readings

Talking of cramming, I’d say that the Church was about 85/90% full – so that was pleasing, especially with the weather being so foul outside. What worked especially well was the choice of Carols – nothing ‘unusual’, and just like the ubiquitous tin of Christmas Quality Street, plenty of variety where everyone found a favourite!

• Once In Royal David’s City
• See Amid The Winter’s Snow
• O Little Town of Bethlehem
• Unto Us A Child Is Born
• While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
• O Come, All Ye Faithful
• Hark, The Herald Angels Sing

Apart from us five, other ‘great and good’ from Kettering were well represented and gave a short reading 👍👍

• MP for Kettering (Rosie Wrighting)
• Mayor of Kettering (Cllr. Ben Jameson)
• President of the Rotary Club, Kettering (Geoff Blurton)
• Chair, Kettering & District, Churches Together (Dave Nunn)
• St Peter & St Paul’s Food Kitchen (Kathy Webster)
• North Northants Community First Responders (Keli Watts)
• Pupils of St Peter’s School
• Vice-President, Parkinson’s UK, Kettering (Eleanor Patrick)
• Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire (Alexandra Wallace)

On the musical side…

• Kettering Salvation Army Band led by Richard Phillips
• Organist Mark Edwards
• Choir of St Peter’s School
• Resident Choir conducted by Tony Edwards

We weren’t sure what tonight’s event would be like, but I’m pleased to say, we really enjoyed it! The local private School – St Peter’s – Choir redefined the word angelic, whilst the Church’s resident Choir punched well above their weight. The Citadel’s Salvation Army Band were – just like their instruments – as polished as ever! The only slightly odd moment was when the Church organist’s accompaniment went a bit ‘off script’ during one of the Carols! The moment was just short enough to leave us thinking that the Church cat might have briefly taken a shine to the keyboard! It raised a giggle, and only Mark (and Him upstairs) knows the truth! 🤔😀

A great evening! We’re definitely full of the Christmas Spirit now (but that might have been the Bailey’s when we got home!) 🎄😇🥴. Our next Carol Service is on Sunday at the Salvation Army Citadel in town.