It has just been announced that Sulgrave Village Shop has been shortlisted to win a Countryside Alliance Award in the Midlands Region Village Shop/Post Office category.

The Awards are the Countryside Alliance’s annual celebration of British food & farming, enterprise and heritage through small hard-working businesses. The awards are now in their thirteenth year and have become the definitive rural business award to win. They are set apart from other award schemes because they are driven by public nomination, offering customers the chance to say why their favourite businesses are worthy of national acclaim. The awards received over eleven thousand nominations this year so the Village Shop has done extremely well to be shortlisted and thanks are due to the many people from the village and further afield who sent in their nominations. Regional champions will be announced in March 2018, the winners advancing to the British final which will be held in April 2018 at the House of Lords.

Photographs of the recent Christmas Tasting event at the shop on Saturday 2nd December and of the Christmas Market held in the Church on the same day can be seen in the rest of this entry.

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Below zero temperatures and a bitterly cold wind failed to deter party goers sheltering between one of the village’s several bakehouses and the former Methodist Chapel. More pictures in the rest of this entry.

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The first time Eagles Court has featured among the Advent Calendar Windows, on possibly the last fine night before the blizzard!

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A rather windy night was no deterrent to the early evening party-goers. 6 down, only 18 to go now!

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We move from one ancient farm building to another – Rectory Farm, one of the oldest farmhouses in the village.

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The advent calendar window decoration is on the first floor but the two levels together make for a bright and cheerful entrance to the village at Christmastime.

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The idea of a Christingle service came originally from the Moravian Church in 1747 as a symbol of Christ’s light and love. The Children’s Society introduced it to the Church of England in 1986, and it has since become a popular service for all ages. This was the twenty-eighth service in the Church of St James the Less in Sulgrave. All money collected goes to the good work of the Children’s Society with the least fortunate of today’s young people. See the next page for more photographs of the children performing their nativity play and receiving the oranges with lighted candles….

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Penguins – the girls own choice! More pictures on the next page.

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Photograph by Jo Horne, who was also responsible for the artwork

Each day of December in Sulgrave sees the unveiling of an individual decoration, usually a house window, celebrating the Advent season. Villagers gather to share mince pies and mulled wine whilst waiting to admire their neighbours’ latest flights of imagination. In as much secrecy as was possible in such a public place, a small and dedicated team transformed the village bus shelter into a manger, complete with very woolly sheep, within which to stage the nativity scene. More photographs on the next page.

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