AS I sit down to write this I am warming up after being out on one of the most frosty nights of

the year.

I have been carol singing with members of the congregation from Gulworthy Parish.

We went to some of the remotest parts of West Devon and sang to those who live in scattered housing which marks the remains of a once thriving mining industry and farms which provided it with food.

Young children and their parents came out to greet us or peered out of windows. But there was an air of excitement and anticipation of Christmas. The tree lights twinkled as did the stars in the clear sky.

The carols we sang told of the first Christmas when a baby boy gave his first cry in an outbuilding behind an inn because that was the only place that was available.

Jesus was born in the most humble of situations. And that is a clue to what we celebrate at Christmas.

The child of Bethlehem is welcomed as the one who claims no earthly power or status, but offers a new perspective on life, showing that self-sacrificial love is the way we can become more fully human and share more deeply in the life of god.

I wish you all a very happy Christmas.

Preb John Rawlings

THE town lights and Dickensian Evening herald Christmas for me. We all owe a big ?thank you? to the Lions and the Chamber of Commerce.

A great deal of work is always done by just a few people. I also owe a personal ?thank you? to the Tavonians for lending Debbie and me our stunning (and warm) costumes for Dickensian Evening.

I am still writing cards, buying and wrapping presents, finding the decorations, and so on.

Most of my shopping is now done locally in one or other of our lovely shops, how I value those who serve our community so well.

We are very lucky to live in this peaceful and beautiful part of the world.

Many of you, like me, will have attended one or more Carol Services and my Christmas Day will begin with Midnight Service when, as usual, the parish church will be full to overflowing with regular and not so regular worshippers who value this way of celebrating Christmas.

However you celebrate, at home or away, in a crowd or alone, I wish you a Peaceful Christmas.

Tavistock Mayor

Marjorie Corner