The Village of Wark

You’ll remember that I mentioned in this column last week that the Senior Citizens Christmas Dinner had been running for at least 25 years.  Well, word reached me this week that this is a tradition going back at least 50 years!  My informant tells me that she became involved that long ago and that it had been going for some time then.  I think we can safely say that this is another venerable Wark village tradition and one very much worth carrying on with.

I’m sure you won’t need reminding of another, slightly more recent tradition.  The Christmas carols on the Green will take place again on Christmas Eve, starting at about 6.30 p.m.  I know from one or two people from further afield, that they have discovered this get-together and look forward to coming to join us on the night.  Of course we trust that Santa will make an appearance again, but I suppose you can never be quite sure of that.

Christmas services this year will be a Midnight Mass at St. Mungo’s in Simonburn at 11.30 p.m.  on Christmas Eve with a Family Communion on Christmas day at St. Michael’s at 10.30 a.m.

For this next section I’d like to stray just a few miles up the valley.  I do hope some of you got the chance to make a trip up to Bellingham last week to see the Bellingham and District Amateur Dramatic Society’s show the Cristal Mere, one of the fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm.  The set was very interesting, using a big chunk of Bellingham Town hall and the costumes were out of this world.  The play itself was quite an unsettling story of power, love, loss and growing up, all beautifully done by a huge cast of actors.  I thought it especially great to see so many young people involved and who knows, we might get them back to Wark sometime.