New Milton Advertiser 18th December 2020

Friday 18th December 2020 · 15

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Pennington's knitted Christmas scene with St Mark’s vicar the Rev. Rachel Noël (Photo: renoufdesign.co.uk)

The knitivity – village display sew impressive

who organised the creative in- stallation, has crocheted the nativity characters, complete with face masks. Children from all the neigh- bourhood’s schools, preschools and nurseries got in on the act, decorating recycled es- tate agent boards to create an advent calendar to add to the display. Daily video stories told by representatives of the com- munity will be posted online as each door is opened. “I wanted to find a way of connecting the community,” said the Rev. Rachel. “I knew I needed a crochet project this season to help with my own mental health during this pan- demic and decided to open it up to everyone to be a part of.

“Usually, we’d work togeth- er to create a large community Christmas fair, but obviously that’s not possible this year. “My hope is that this has helped create opportunities for glimpses of light, hope and the joy of God this season. We have come together as a village and we should feel proud of what we have collectively achieved.” Knitter Amanda Hopwood, manager of Oakhaven Hospice craft shop, said the project had given her a sense of purpose while on furlough. “It feels great to be part of such a lovely community,” she said. After Christmas, the squares will be used again to make blan- kets for those in need.

Residents combine to carry out the wool of God in church scene

BY LIZ HENDRIE

YARN bombers have brought festive cheer to the village of Pennington with the creation of a woolly Christmas tree and nativity scene. More than 50 volunteers have come together to produce more than 300 knitted and crocheted squares which were pieced to- gether to create a seven-metre tree plus a stable scene outside St Mark’s Church. Vicar the Rev. Rachel Noël,

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Residents can remotely change the display at St Thomas's Church in Lymington (Photo: renoufdesign.co.uk)

Town church switches on more options for phone-controlled lights

A CHURCH’S Christmas lights display which residents can control from their smartphones has grown even bigger this year. This festive season St Thom- as’s Church in Lymington has added extra features to its il- luminations which for the past four years have been able to be selected by residents going online to choose how they twin- kle. The idea was thought up by the vicar, the Rev. Peter Salis- bury, who is a former IT pro- grammer and has arranged two computers to coordinate the display which can be seen from as far as the town’s sea wall. He said: “The message is that the church belongs to the com- munity, so why shouldn’t the community be able to set the lights as they want?” Additions this year are lights in the windows and new, bright- er ones on the clock face. They join installations on the iconic cupola at the top of the tower which can all be made to flash or glow in different colours and patterns depending on what programmes people chose via the church’s website. On Monday the running fa- vourite, entitled Rainbow, had

been picked 100 times – possi- bly reflecting the rainbow sym - bol for supporting the NHS dur- ing the pandemic. Nearly 790 selections had been made in total, with each one lasting for at least 10 sec- onds. Last year the favourite was a red-and-white display, en- titled Saints. There is even the option for people to create and name their own displays. The Rev. Peter said: “It’s fan- tastic. We got one or two people who say it’s tacky but most peo- ple think it’s great fun, particu- larly younger folk who live on

their smartphones. They appre- ciate the opportunity. “I used to be a computer pro- grammer years ago, so it comes naturally to me. When I heard you could buy controllable lights, I though, we could not miss the opportunity.” The display was switched on at the same time as the town council’s displays in the centre of Lymington, although without the usual ceremony to avoid crowds gathering. To select a display on the church, visit lymingtonchurch. org/lights

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A mast-see display from sailing club LYMINGTON Town Sailing Club has used a mast to cre- ate what it says is one of the tallest Christmas lights dis- plays in the area. "This has included making scrubs and PPE for local nurs- es, volunteering for council services and supporting local foodbanks.”

Tony Evans, the club com- modore, said members want- ed to “bring a bit of cheer to the community” this year af- ter a tough few months. He said: “It’s obviously not been a great year but every- one at the club has tried to do as much as possible to help the community.

He asked anyone who en- joyed the new lights to do- nate to the New Forest Basics Bank in the town which is aiming to deliver 600 Christ- mas food parcels to families in need. To donate visit local giving.org/appeal/BasicsBank Christmas

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