Combined churches coordinating carols

AN annual tradition is set to take place this weekend with members of Meredith churches coming together for an evening of Christmas carols.

The free event reaches full voice Sunday, 18 December at the Meredith Memorial Hall and is coordinated by members of Advanced Meredith Association and Meredith’s St Joseph’s Catholic Church, Epiphany Anglican Church, Uniting Church.

St Joseph’s representative Mary Foster said it will be a fun, festive evening.

“It’s a wonderful evening. We’ll have a lot of children’s carols. You’ve got to have Rudolph and Jingle Bells for them,” she said.

“Church numbers might be low nowadays but I think the community at large, even if they don’t go to church, still like to be part of the Christmas celebrations.”

“We get all ages coming and it’s a real community thing here at Meredith.”

A free barbecue will sizzle from 6pm with activities including children’s face painting before the carols start at 7.30pm.

Equipment and about 10 musicians from Bannockburn’s Momentum Church will provide accompaniment during the event alongside Anglican Church organist Dawn MacDonald.

Featured classics will include Silent Night, O Come, All Ye Faithful, Joy to the World, and Away in a Manger.

Ms Foster said the carols event is a great annual occasion for the township.

“This has been going on since before I came to Meredith and that’s been 35 years. I’ve been involved ever since I’ve been here,” she said.

“Last year we had post-COVID funding sourced by Advanced Meredith and we had a really big deal with lots of free things and children’s presents.

“It was a lovely community get-back. We had 200 people attending so it will be nice to see what the numbers hold for this year.”