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What are you doing at present?  Losing weight to be ready for Christmas celebrations, or planning that diet for early New Year?  Either way, bear in mind that crash diets are NOT a good idea.  And now a recent study has found that heart attacks and strokes are more common among people who shed and...

Charles Dickens’ novella A Christmas Carol was first published 175 years ago, on 19th December 1843, at a time when the author was hard-pressed financially but appeared inspired by his themes of redemption and poverty. The first edition sold out by Christmas Eve, and by the end of the next year 13 editions had been...

We think of the traditional British Christmas as a few days off work, a family get-together and a big meal. In fact, that only goes back to Victorian times. Before that it was a religious event, with church services and carols, but not a great community event. Among important influences on the change was a...

The death of a very young child is perhaps the hardest grief of all to bear.  So the 28th December is a very poignant day in the church calendar.  It is when the worldwide Church joins with bereaved parents to grieve the loss of babies and young children.  For Holy Innocents day recalls the massacre...

Beatrix Potter, the children’s writer and illustrator, died of pneumonia in Cumbria 75 years ago, on 22nd December 1943. Born in 1866 in Kensington to a well-off family, she had limited higher education but schooled herself to the extent that she could be described as a natural scientist, particularly in the study of fungi. She...

In January we began this course exploring signs and symbols with the Cross: a sign of death, but also a sign of victory. We end the year with a sign that proclaims birth and new life: the crib of Christmas. In December cribs will be set up in churches, homes, villages and town centres. It...

Do you listen to podcasts?  Then you are right ‘on trend’, because nearly six million adults in Britain are now listening to the audio format each week, according to Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator.  That is nearly double the number recorded five years ago. What’s most popular?  That Peter Crouch Podcast, produced by the BBC, where...

With Christmas in mind…. What do you call a cat in the desert?  Sandy Claws. What goes oh oh oh? Santa walking backwards. What did the dog get for Christmas?  A mobile bone. Who delivers presents to sharks at Christmas?  Santa Jaws. What did Adam say in the Garden of Eden on December 24? It’s...

If you are looking to splash around a vast amount of money this Christmas, why not contact The Royal Mint?  It has just launched Britain’s most expensive ever Christmas crackers – which include a solid gold bar and gold diamond necklace. A pack of six of the crackers will set you back £5000, but at...

Our high streets are filling up with takeaways.  Fast-food outlets have risen by a third in less than a decade, at the same time as hundreds of shops are closing every year. So says the Office for National Statistics. The figures reveal that high streets now have the highest concentration of fast-food outlets since 2010. ...

From The Rectory, St James the Least My dear Nephew Darren It really is time to get some new figures for the crib. After a series of accidents over the years, we are now down to two wise men, two shepherds, and one three-legged sheep that only remains upright if it is leaning against a...

Here you can download the Church News Service for November.