The Latest News
Bottled Christmas memories
9th December 2022
Despite the festive season being around the corner and despite many Christmas cards promoting it, there seems to be lack of both ‘peace on Earth’ and ‘goodwill towards all’ at the present time. Indeed, something that has been in short supply for a few months alongside the other challenges that 2022 has meted out over the past 12 months.
I am aware that many people have had no option but to use the current financial crisis as an opportunity for a hard reset in terms of how they approach the festive season. Despite the Christmas carol "In the Bleak Mid-winter" reminding us that as shepherds, wise men or poor men, we could either bring a lamb, do our part or indeed bring our heart, we are all easily drawn into the game of Christmas Top Trumps as we compete over the abundance of our festive tables and our limitless generosity. Perhaps a good reminder of what is important.
If I reflect on the many Christmases I have enjoyed, I remember very little about the excess stuff of Christmas but rather remember the laughs, the activities and those surrounding the sheer nonsense that was Christmas in our family home. For us as a family, this involved singing carols (lots of carols) around the wards in the town hospital on Christmas Eve where my parents worked and also on at least 4 occasions leaving the house at 5.30am to drive to Cambridge and then queue (and queue) all day to be present at King’s College Cambridge to witness for ourselves the world-famous candlelit carol service at 3.02pm. If any Christmas memory could be bottled forever, any one of those Cambridge visits would do me - the serenity of the music, the calm atmosphere of the candlelit chapel, the expectation of Christmas morning only hours away and all enjoyed sitting alongside my very dear dad.
I wonder what your bottled Christmas memory would be?
With that in mind, it is a relief to us all that many family traditions can be resurrected. Whilst for many of us, the composition of the family gathering may change with many absent friends and family members, the on-going process of memory making can resume. Similarly, school traditions are also back in full swing as we begin the final week of term and despite our own weariness, we all ensure that every opportunity is taken to make this festive period special.
Thank you all for your hard work this term and for your on-going support of ‘all the dear children in our tender care’ so that they grow and thrive.
Can I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a happy and healthy 2023.
Andrew Roach, Director of Education, Learning Partners
Despite the festive season being around the corner and despite many Christmas cards promoting it, there seems to be lack of both ‘peace on Earth’ and ‘goodwill towards all’ at the present time. Indeed, something that has been in short supply for a few months alongside the other challenges that 2022 has meted out over the past 12 months.
I am aware that many people have had no option but to use the current financial crisis as an opportunity for a hard reset in terms of how they approach the festive season. Despite the Christmas carol "In the Bleak Mid-winter" reminding us that as shepherds, wise men or poor men, we could either bring a lamb, do our part or indeed bring our heart, we are all easily drawn into the game of Christmas Top Trumps as we compete over the abundance of our festive tables and our limitless generosity. Perhaps a good reminder of what is important.
If I reflect on the many Christmases I have enjoyed, I remember very little about the excess stuff of Christmas but rather remember the laughs, the activities and those surrounding the sheer nonsense that was Christmas in our family home. For us as a family, this involved singing carols (lots of carols) around the wards in the town hospital on Christmas Eve where my parents worked and also on at least 4 occasions leaving the house at 5.30am to drive to Cambridge and then queue (and queue) all day to be present at King’s College Cambridge to witness for ourselves the world-famous candlelit carol service at 3.02pm. If any Christmas memory could be bottled forever, any one of those Cambridge visits would do me - the serenity of the music, the calm atmosphere of the candlelit chapel, the expectation of Christmas morning only hours away and all enjoyed sitting alongside my very dear dad.
I wonder what your bottled Christmas memory would be?
With that in mind, it is a relief to us all that many family traditions can be resurrected. Whilst for many of us, the composition of the family gathering may change with many absent friends and family members, the on-going process of memory making can resume. Similarly, school traditions are also back in full swing as we begin the final week of term and despite our own weariness, we all ensure that every opportunity is taken to make this festive period special.
Thank you all for your hard work this term and for your on-going support of ‘all the dear children in our tender care’ so that they grow and thrive.
Can I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a happy and healthy 2023.
Andrew Roach, Director of Education, Learning Partners
