Despite the Storm...

Sunday 24 November 2024 - the non-carnival!

This year, the weather was not on our side! As Storm Bert blew through, Harpenden Town Council made the difficult decision to cancel the carnival. This meant there would be no market, no stalls, no fairground rides…

But - with everything ready and a mountain of donated mince pies we decided to go ahead, open our doors and offer warm hospitality on a rainy windy afternoon.

Though we had to scale down our outside plans, including letting our visiting animals stay in their own shelters, our guests were offered refreshments and a visit to the Inn and carpenter’s workshop in Bethlehem inside - for hot fruit punch and the chance to make their own Christmas decorations.

Our children’s activity tables were as popular as ever and around 100 children came in to make a Christmas wreath.

There was a photo opportunity on offer with Mary and Joseph in the stable and families were given books to take away telling the Christmas story.

Our amazing band of volunteers braved the storm and helped us bring some joy to our community. They welcomed on the door, served hot drinks, helped with crafts and carpentry and served at the Inn. Many of them dressed up and adopted different characters from the nativity: Shepherds, Inn Keepers and even Roman Centurians we all present to bring the story to life.

There were also those who helped behind the scenes to set everything up and helped clear away at the end of the afternoon.

We rounded off the celebrations with carols led by the choir.

We offered all this hospitality for free but invited donations to one of our supported charities: The Haven.

Despite numbers being significantly lower than our normal carnival activities, a very welcome £500 was donated and will help continue their work, helping young people with anxiety.

Thank you to everyone who helped make the afternoon a success whether you donated mince pies, served drinks, dressed up or sang carols.

Despite our best efforts we couldn’t use all the mince pies everyone generously donated. However, the surplus will still bless our community as we will serve some in Wesleys, add a box or two to our Christmas SHARE bags and the remainder will be going to the Salvation Army for their Christmas hampers and to Southdown Performing Arts Centre to give out at the Southdown Lights Up.