Christmas conjures up cosy images of log fires, snow-clad pine trees and dreaming spires - although most of us get to see them only on greetings cards. Even if it's more likely to be wild, windy and rain-drenched, wherever you are this Christmas, why not check out what's happening, musically, in your neck of the woods? There's great delight in wrapping up and striding forth to your local church for an afternoon carol service or midnight Mass.
If you live in west Cork, you won't have far to walk before you come upon a scene straight out of one of those greeting cards: St Barrahane's Church of Ireland, in Castletownshend, tucked at the bottom of the hill, where the village runs into the sea. But a stunning location on the edge of the Atlantic can have its drawbacks. "We had a wedding rehearsal at St Barrahane's on the 29th of December about three years ago," says the Rev Trevor Lester. "It was in the middle of a gale - and during the rehearsal I had to hold an umbrella over the bride. Fortunately, the day of the wedding was dry and sunny, but we still had to get the roof redone." The culprits, it seems, are galvanised nails, which corrode in the salt air. The roof of the church in Skibbereen has been similarly afflicted, as has the church hall, so the 350 souls of Lester's parish have embarked on a campaign to raise £250,000 for restoration projects. "We're nearly there," says the man they call "The Rev Trev". "We've already redone the organ in Skibbereen and the tower of the church in Baltimore. We started fund-raising in May 2000 and we'll finish in May 2002." How did they raise all this money? The usual things: cake sales, concerts, throwing the clergyman out of an aircraft at 3,500 feet . . . "We thought a parachute jump might appeal to the sense of adventure of 18- to 25-year-olds, and I felt, as the leader of the church, I'd better jump as well - and so did my wife, and two of my kids. It was fabulous. The adrenalin rush was unbelievable," says the indefatigable Lester.
Unusual modes of transport are nothing new in this parish, which includes the islands of Sherkin and Cape. "I go out to Cape every Christmas for communion for the seven or eight people I have out there. We have a very ecumenical arrangement: I stay in the priest's house on the island; we have the communion that evening, at eight o'clock or so, and once we've finished communion, we sing a few carols and have the usual tea and buns and sandwiches. A lot of the majority community attend as well. It's terrific."
Once back on dry land, Lester embarks on a hectic round of services and parish activities, which begins tonight with a Christmas concert at St Matthew's Church, in Baltimore, and runs the gamut, from the 19th anniversary of the West Cork Choral Singers in Abbeystrewery Church Hall, on Sunday, to an ecumenical carol service in Abbeystrewery, on December 23rd. "All the proceeds of our carol services go to charity, but for this one I divvy up the take between charities in the town." Another church runs a Christmas Fair, and there's a special service at which some of the parish children play the organ while the Christmas story is retold in an informal setting. "That's a lovely little service - it gets all the mammies and daddies out," says Lester, who admits, with suitable good cheer, that his seasonal congregations are probably twice as big as the usual ones. He adds that he doesn't mind in the slightest. "We love to have people come to church. It's great to have them there - and who knows? It might just kick-start them into a more regular habit."
