CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY

Thursday 6th December
Outside Holy Cross Church Uckfield
6.30pm-7pm

Join us around the Christmas tree outside Holy Cross Church as we officially switch on the lights to the big tree and launch this year’s Festival of Christmas Trees. Enjoy Carols, mulled wine and help us celebrate as the 2018 exterior light display by Off the Wall Entertainment is revealed!

 FESTIVAL OF CHRISTMAS TREES 

Friday 7th December	10am - 9pm
Saturday 8th December	10am - 6pm
Sunday 9th December	11.30am - 4pm

Entry is Free

The 2018 Festival of Christmas Trees returns and promises to better than ever with 100 sponsored and decorated trees, Join us, with friends and family, to see this magical display of Christmas trees. Enjoy the entertainment and don’t forget to visit the Belmont centre for seasonal refreshments, hot lunches, biscuit decorating, Christmas crafts and gifts.

 FESTIVAL OF CHRISTMAS TREES – CHRISTMAS SERVICE

Sunday 9th December

Holy Cross Church 4.30pm - 5.30pm

Join us for this special service and celebrate with the closing of the Festival of Christmas Trees. Sit and sing carols among the incredible display of Christmas trees.

Click here to see photographs of last year's Tree Festival.

Dear All,

This November is a hugely significant month.

At 11.00 a.m. on the 1th November (“the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”) we will be commemorating the 100^th anniversary of the end of the First World War. With military and civilian deaths of some 19 million people, it was at the time the worst carnage in human history. Called “the War to end all Wars”, it sadly was the precursor to the Second World War in which a staggering 60 million people – soldiers, sailors and aircrew along with many in the civilian populations – lost their lives.

It all seems incredible now, and – living comfortable and sheltered lives – we are protected from the reality of what happened then & what in some traumatic parts of the world still happens now.

At all three of our Plurality Churches we will be holding Acts of Commemoration in the morning. Then, in Holy Cross, we will at 3.00 p.m. be holding the Town’s Civic Act of Remembrance followed later in Victoria Pleasure Grounds by the lighting of a beacon bonfire with the reading out the list of the fallen, doused torches representing their individual lives, hopes and aspirations being snuffed out as the names are called, one by one.

It will be a powerful reminder of those who “gave their today for our tomorrow” as the Kohima epitaph puts it. It reminds us of the men and women in our current armed forces who risk their lives for our safety and community. It also reminds us of present conflicts, of the millions of lost and displaced people whose lives have been shattered by contemporary civil war and hatred.

As Christians we are called to commemorate the dead but also remember the living who need our care, our support and our prayers, not just for those far away but for those of our own communities in the here and now.

In Laurence Binyon’s words which will again re-echo at the heart of our Memorials –

Love Fr. John

 Nature Notes

I thought today I would write about my favourite bird – the blue tit. What are they doing now? Well, they would all have finished moulting by now and have a full set of beautiful new feathers. Winter is the best time to watch birds as there are fewer leaves on the trees and the bird’s plumage is at its best. In Britain, where we have our own sub-species called Cyanistes caeruleus obscurus, the females and surviving male juveniles will be on the move. Most of them move about 60 kilometres (37 miles) in a south westerly direction, while the adult males will remain on territory guarding it and the cavity they have chosen to display to a prospective mate in the spring.

The blue tits that move away for the winter will team up with other small birds such as long-tailed tits, great tits, marsh tits, goldcrests and chiffchaffs to form a mixed species foraging flock. These flocks will rampage through the countryside and gardens searching for food and watching out for predators. Many eyes will ensure that any sparrowhawk or other hunter nearby will be spotted. Also, they communicate constantly with each other with many calls including what is called the hawk alarm. This is a high pitched elongated seeee tone which they will all understand means that a hawk or other avian predator is nearby. They will also be telling each other about any food that they find. However, if they stray into a resident male blue tit’s territory, they can expect to be confronted with a tirade of blue tit anger calls and a display of strength and fury.

This will be the status quo until the winter solstice on or about 21^st December when things will begin to change. The adult male blue tits will then start to regularly sing and show off to any passing eligible females that venture into his territory. He will occasionally perform the ‘moth flight’ which entails slowly flying down to the nest hole from a high perch while calling and quivering his wings. He will then enter the cavity and pop out again to show the female that he has sole right to it, and it could be hers to build her nest in and lay her eggs during the coming April. Many females will ignore him as they will prefer to move back to the area that they bred in last year, but one will decide he and the cavity are ok and stay with him for as long as it takes to breed.

Dr. Martyn Stenning

Change of dates for the Open Door Services November and December 2018

The November Open Door Service will be held on Sunday 4^th to avoid clashing with the Remembrance Sunday Service

The December Open Door Service will be held on Sunday 16^th to avoid clashing with the Festival of Christmas Trees and to coincide with Christingle.