After 18 months of pandemic, SJS felt that people needed more socially distanced socialising with some colour and fun brought to the neighbourhood – as can be seen by these beautiful photographs.
15 households in St John’s, decorated their front windows/gardens with a ‘grand unveiling’ of their creative offering to a very appreciative audience (adults and children alike). Some hosted mince pies, chocolates, mulled wine and other non-alcoholic drinks. There was singing, accompanied by the Chair of SJS on the recorder (one of the many skills needed for this job!), to keep the tune. By the 24th, the musical accompaniment had expanded to include the accordian, tambourine and shakers. Some played recordings of Christmas Music in the background. The windows all told a story (eg see ‘The Christmas Spider’ – from Western Ukraine) culminating in the main story of the season ‘The Nativity’. Each gathering, on the pavement outside the house, took a few minutes to as long as we could bear the cold. A collection tin was on hand for any donations to SJS but our main aim was for neighbours to come out and share a moment of chatting and laughter in our wonderful pocket of London.
December 5th: 29 Lind St ‘Oh Christmas Tree’
December 7th: 140 Albyn Rd ‘We Three Kings’
December 8th: 90 Cranbrook Rd ‘Oh Little Town of Bethlehem’
December 9th: 206 Albyn Rd ‘Christmas in St John’s’
December 10th: 152 Albyn Rd ‘Ginger Bread House’
December 11th: 64 Ashmead Rd ‘Magical Garden’
December 12th: 146 Albyn Rd ‘Whilst Shepherd’s Watched’
December 13th: 28 Lind St ‘Rudolph’
December 14th: 142 Albyn Rd ‘This Little Light of Mine’ (Candles)
December 17th: 42 Admiral St ‘Magical Snow’
December 19th: 13 Ashmead Rd ‘Silent Night’
December 20th: 12 St John’s Vale ‘The Christmas Spider’
The Christmas Spider Story
Decorations for everyone’s Christmas tree!
December 21st 88 Cranbrook Rd: ‘In the Bleak Mid-Winter’
December 22nd: 3a St John’s Vale ‘Snowy Scene’
December 24th: 12 Lind St ‘The Nativity’
Some more festive window and garden decorations from around St John’s.