CHURCHES around our diocese will mark Christmas with a host of different events to celebrate Jesus's birth.

Librarian Kerry Wheatley at the Alderman Lacey Library in Copnor with one of the knitted sheep that is part of the sheep trail organised by St Cuthbert’s Church.

As well as the usual carol services, crib services and Midnight Communions, there will be special events designed to show that ‘Christmas Starts with Christ’.

There will be Christmas tree festivals, in which dozens of community groups decorate trees in different ways, crib festivals, with displays of Nativity cribs, and Christmas trails in local shops.

Mainland:

St Cuthbert’s Church in Copnor, and Whiteley Church will both create sheep trails around their communities as part of the Christmas celebrations.

Twelve knitted sheep have been hidden in shops and the library along Tangier Road, Copnor, for families to discover. St Cuthbert’s worshippers have put together a sheep trail which lists the places where you can find the sheep. Those leaflets are available at Alderman Lacey Library from today (December 2), and all completed entries will be entered into a prize draw.

And during December, shoppers at Whiteley’s new shopping precinct will look for more than a dozen sheep hidden in shops such as Boots, WH Smith, Next, Mamas and Papas and more. Pick up a leaflet listing the shops and visit each, recording the name of each sheep. The trail leaflet also gives details of Whiteley Church’s Christmas services and the next Messy Church on December 15.

Meanwhile, St Jude’s Church in Southsea will organise a similar trail, but with characters of the Nativity. Knitted versions of Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men and other characters from the Nativity story have been hidden in shops on Palmerston Road precinct and Marmion Road near the church.

Anyone who wants to join the fun can collect a Bethlehem Trail quiz sheet from St Jude’s Church, Kent Road. It will give you some clues to where the characters can be found. If you answer all the questions correctly there will be a small prize awarded at the Crib Service at 4pm on Christmas Eve.

There’s also a Christmas Tree Festival at St Cuthbert’s, Copnor, from December 6-8. A dazzling display of more than 20 decorated trees will be on display from 11am-5.30pm on December 7, and from 2pm-5pm on December 8. There’s live music from the Pompey Pluckers, schoolchildren and the church choir.

It all begins with a concert by the Madding Crowd at 8pm on December 6 – tickets are £7 and available on 07763-210659.

St John’s Church in Locks Heath will host a Crib Festival from December 5-8. It will involve more than 50 cribs on display, including much-loved family cribs, craft sets, knitted sets and cribs from different countries. People can vote for their favourite.

It will be opened at 10am on December 5 by the Mayor of Fareham, Cllr Susan Bayford, and will continue until December 8. It’s open each day from 10am-6pm, and from 11am on the Sunday. Groups from the church and the community will exhibit cribs, pictures and collages

The church will also be alive with music, with the popular St Vincent Singers performing at 3pm on the Saturday, and St John’s C of E Primary School at 2pm on the Friday. Refreshments will include soup at lunchtime and mulled wine throughout the day. Entry is free, but donations will be gratefully received. The proceeds will be divided between two charities - Fareham Basic Bank and Two Saints, which supports the homeless.

St Mary’s Church in Alverstoke, Gosport, will host a Christmas Tree Festival from December 6-8. Around 70 Christmas trees will have been decorated by local individuals and community groups, and will go on display for three days.

There will be a formal opening at 6.15pm on Thursday 5th December, and the trees will be on display from 11am-7pm on December 6, 11am-6.30pm on December 7 and 11am-6pm on December 8.

There’s also the chance to come and join the singing of Handel’s Messiah on the evening of Saturday 7 December. All are welcome to come and sing or listen to the choruses from part one of The Messiah. The rehearsal is from 7pm-8pm and the performance from 8.15pm.

Holy Rood Church in Stubbington will host a ‘Live Nativity’ on December 14, which gives families the chance to meet the characters from the Nativity story and stroke real animals in a stable.

Between 10am and 1pm, you can walk through the story of the first Christmas at Holy Rood church centre in Stubbington, meet Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the angels, the wise men and the baby Jesus. The journey will take you through the church and garden, and will finish at the stable where children can see and stroke real animals.

The previous weekend, there will also be Christmas fun for families with an event entitled ‘Joy to the World’ at Holy Rood Church Centre on Saturday 7 December.

Children aged between five and 11 can enjoy juggling, face-painting, craft, fun and games, the Christmas story and prizes between 10am and 12.30pm. Admission is free. See www.croftonparish.org.uk for details.

Worshippers from across south-east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight will again help to give a Christmas present to those who wouldn’t otherwise receive one.

The annual voucher scheme run by Churches Homeless Action, allows people to buy £5 gift vouchers from stores such as Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Argos, so that they can be given to homeless people, disadvantaged families or asylum seekers.

Those who donate the vouchers can also write a Christmas card to go along with the voucher, which personalises the gift. Those vouchers should be sent to the deanery office, St Faith’s Church, Crasswell Street, Portsmouth, PO1 1HT, by December 17.

They will then be given at a carol sing-in at St Mary’s Church, Fratton Road, to representatives of agencies such as Central Point, Fareham Direct Access Hostel, Haslar Visitor Group, Portsmouth Foyer, Portsmouth Women’s Refuge, the Roberts Centre and St Simon’s Church, which provides meals and support for the homeless. That happens at 12noon on December 20. Those agencies then give the cards and vouchers to those clients who they know wouldn’t receive any festive gifts any other way.

There will also be a Christmas Tree Festival at West Meon Church on the weekend of December 14-15.

The trees have been decorated by local schools, clubs and businesses and will be on display from 11am-4pm each day. Admission is free. The festival will be followed by a carol service on Sunday 15 December, from 4pm.

And while most of us are putting our finishing touches to family arrangements on Christmas Eve, worshippers will be helping patients in the Queen Alexandra Hospital ensure they aren’t left out.

Volunteers will visit the wards to sing Christmas carols from 6pm-8pm on Christmas Eve. Would you like to join them? Ring 023-9229 6408 to volunteer.

Isle of Wight:

Worshippers from St Mary’s Church, Brighstone and St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Mottistone will welcome thousands of visitors to their annual Christmas Tree Festival between December 5-8. It’s now in its 17th year and has raised nearly £70,000 for local and national charities. More than 130 trees are decorated by community groups and organisations across the Isle of Wight, and displayed in six venues.

There’s also a packed programme of concerts, craft fayres, mini-market, demonstrations and musical entertainment.

This year, a new feature will be the Nativity Pageant, which will be re-enacted through Brighstone village from 3.30pm on December 8. Local residents will be dressed as Nativity characters, with Mary, Joseph and a donkey leading the audience around the village to a stable in the field behind Brighstone C of E Primary School. There, the audience will see shepherds with their sheep, angels and wise men celebrating Jesus’ birth. The Brighstone Barnacles, Brighstone Singers and Players and the primary school choir will sing a medley of carols.

Other highlights of the festival include the lighting of the hospice tree outside St Mary’s Church at 7pm on December 4, and carols followed by the lighting of the ‘Tree of Unity’ outside the Methodist Church by the High Sheriff of the Isle of Wight at 3.30pm on December 5.

Trees will be on display in those churches and also in the Reading Rooms, Wilberforce Hall and Scout Centre in Brighstone, as well as in Mottistone Parish Church. Each venue is open daily from 10am-6pm. The trees will remain in St Mary’s and the Methodist Church until Christmas. For more details, see www.bxtf.co.uk or ring 01983-741166.

The annual display of Christmas trees at St Peter’s Church, Havenstreet, happens either side of Christmas.

Decorated trees will be lining the church on  December 21-22 from 10.30am-4.30pm, and again after Christmas from December 27-29. Admission is free, any donations will be given to church funds, and refreshments are available.