As he lay dying at Newark in October 1216, his authority in tatters and his realm engulfed by civil war, King John made his will. In it, he stated his desire that his body be ‘buried in the church of the Blessed Virgin and St Wulfstan at Worcester’. His original intention had been burial at Beaulieu Abbey, a house he had founded and whose monks desperately sought his corpse, but by late 1216 Hampshire was deep in enemy territory. So John, along with the earliest surviving English royal will (still held by the Cathedral Library), made his last journey to Worcester, secure and dependable, to be laid to rest beside the last Anglo-Saxon bishop and his patron saint, in a tomb he still occupies.

Margaret Miller brought in some very tasty French Epiphany Cakes that were flaky pastry with a frangipane filling. In France they are made with feve (Broad Bean) in the cake and the finder is made King for the day. Margaret made ours with small figurines in which people were able to keep. The photos below were taken after the service whilst people were eating and celebrating.

This month sees the week of prayer for Christian Unity, taking place from 18th to 25th January, an annual initiative in which churches throughout the world are asked to pray for one another as a way of growing closer.

On Saturday 14th December the children put on a wonderful performance of the Nativity Story. Around twenty local children participated, having been working hard at rehearsals during November.

Over 80 people turned up to hear Paul Harding talk about Oliver Cromwell and whether he banned Christmas. He started by asking whether we had heard about the banning of Christmas and if we thought Oliver Cromwell was responsible.

As part of their curriculum some of the students at Christopher Whitehead Language College looked at the environment and up-cycling and decided to make decorations for a Christmas Tree that they kindly donated to our Church.

A group of stalwarts met at the church on a cold and frosty morning to go to Cardiff for the day.

In 1997, Birmingham City Council invented Winterval, a clumsy elision of ‘Winter Festival’ which ran through the winters of 1997-98 and 1998-99. The aim was to encourage people to engage in celebrations in the newly-rejuvenated city centre, encompassing various festivals which took place during the winter months, including Diwali (Hindu), Ramadan (Muslim), Hanukkah (Jewish), Chinese New Year and, of course, Christmas. For the country’s multi-ethnic second city, home to several different faith communities, the idea was not without merit. Church leaders, however, immediately criticised the idea in depressingly familiar terms, deeming it ‘political correctness’ and decrying the ‘sell-out’ to secularism.

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