church competition
Christmas Factor competition winner is Joy Hammond from West Chiltington
Mrs Joy Hammond of West Chiltington, West Sussex composed her carol ‘Long, Long Ago’ in an attempt to raise money for her local church, St Peter and St Paul’s in Ashington, which has been closed for badly-needed repairs for the last three months.
The judges of the competition voted her carol as the best of more than 100 entries from all over the UK. Joy wins £1,000 for her church plus her carol has been professionally arranged and recorded.
The congregation of St Peter and St Paul’s will be singing Joy’s carol during their Christmas Carol Service at the Ashington Community Centre on Sunday, 20th December at 6.00pm. The door-step singing of the winning carol is now also taking place on Sunday, 20th December on the steps of St Peter and St Paul’s as requested by Joy. Singing the carol outside the church will give the congregation a chance to get together near the church, which is a big part of their local community. Joy hopes this new carol will encourage more support for the church’s ongoing repairs.
Click on the link on the right to listen to “Long, Long Ago”.
New guide keeps carol singers in harmony with home owners this Christmas
As part of an on-going campaign to keep the door-to-door carol singing tradition alive, we have today (11th December) launched a new guide for carol singers to keep them safe and well this Christmas. The handy guide gives helpful tips for going carol singing as well as welcoming carol singers at your door to both singers and home owners alike. A poster has also been specifically designed and launched for home owners to display inside their front windows to show that carol singers are welcome at their door.
Click on the links on the right to download your copy of the carol singing guide and poster!
Become a star this Christmas and Win £1,000
A survey* recently commissioned by us has revealed that doorstep carol singing has declined significantly in recent years with only 2% of the survey respondents planning to go carol singing this year. In addition, almost three-quarters of Britons (73%) said that carollers are less welcome on the doorstep today than they were in the past.
At Ecclesiastical, we want to ensure that the tradition of carols and carolling remains vibrant and relevant to our lives today, which in turn may help increase participation levels and community involvement. We believe that doorstep carol singing not only helps spread the Christian word, but also encourages a sense of community, not to mention putting a smile on many peoples’ faces.
That’s why we’ve teamed up with ChurchAds.Net and their “Christmas starts with Christ” campaign to bring you the ‘The Christmas Factor’ competition – challenging you to come up with your very own Christmas carol.
Create your own masterpiece
All you need to do is compose the lyrics and melody of a new carol, no longer than three verses in total, based around the theme of the Nativity. All entries will be individually judged by a panel and the winner will win the following fantastic prizes:
£1,000 prize money for your church or local church group
A professionally produced version of the carol
A performance of your carol on your own doorstep
Promotion and downloadable version of the carol from ChurchAds.Net
Plus, we’ll aim to get your name in lights with a little publicity for you and your church.
Find out more details and details on how to enter the Christmas Factor competition, follow the instructions and you could be on your way to becoming a star this Christmas.
The competition closes at 17:00 on 27 November 2009. View the full Terms and Conditions for the competition.
*The survey commissioned by Ecclesiastical was carried out by YouGov on 21st-23rd September 2009. 2098 respondents took part in the survey.
