Santa Claus is coming (to Sea Mills)

Covid-19 restrictions are making Christmas a bit of a challenge this year but residents in Sea Mills and surrounding areas are doing their best to come up with ideas to brighten a socially-distanced Christmas.

The chilly streets are already glowing with fairy lights. Lit up snowmen, Father Christmases and numerous reindeer are very much in evidence. St Edyth’s church tower is adorned with a bright star as it has been during December for the last few years; a welcome signal to all that Christmas is near.

A Snowman and Father Christmas look out from the windows of this house in Sea Mills. Photo – Mary Milton

This year, Severn Ride and Stride are encouraging residents to take part in the Four Villages Light Trail between December 12-27. From 5.30-8.30pm each night, over 80 participating households and businesses in Sea Mills and Coombe Dingle, Avonmouth, Shirehampton and Lawrence Weston will light up their homes or gardens for others to enjoy. Severn Ride and Stride promote healthy and sustainable travel in the city and hope that the trail will galvanise people to get out and about safely.

Many residents have decorated their gardens. Photo – Mary Milton

“We hope people will embrace the fresh winter air, reconnect with friends and neighbours on the trail, and rediscover how wonderful it is to walk and cycle locally,” says organiser Alexa Bingham.

Maps, including a potentially prize winning ‘bingo’ card can be obtained by signing up at the Ride and Stride website.

One of the houses taking part in the Four Villages Light Trail. Photo – Mary Milton

Severn Ride and Stride are not the only people in the community thinking creatively. Sea Mills and Coombe Dingle Climate Action Group formed at a socially-distanced first meeting on Sea Mills Recreation Ground in September. They have produced a blog promoting the creation of cheap and environmentally friendly displays for the trail. They suggest using recycled materials and lighting with lamps the household would be using anyway.

Sea Mills Climate Action Group suggest making displays from recycled materials. Photo – Bryony Cole

Individual streets are also running their own activities. Residents in St Edyth’s Road and the Pentagon are creating their own advent calendar: paper displays which are visible in the daytime when the road is used by children attending the primary school. Starting with the Sea Mills museum in a phone box on the corner with Shirehampton Road, there will be a new numbered window display added in a different house each day. The street will be filled with colour by Christmas.

Numbers one and six on the St Edyth’s Road advent calendar. Photo – Mary Milton

Some of the most exciting news is that – following assurances from Boris Johnson that Santa can continue to operate as as long as he behaves in a “responsible way” – Santa will tour the four villages in the week before Christmas.

Avonmouth Projects group organised the tour for the first time last year, with Santa causing quite a stir and a lot of excitement from local children as he arrived, lights flashing and music blaring, in Sea Mills Square. Over three nights he handed out 750 small gifts to local children.

Santa will be visiting Sea Mills and Coombe Dingle on Friday, December 18, with Lawrence Weston, Shirehampton and Avonmouth getting a visit on the following two evenings. The group are requesting that social distancing be observed to keep Santa and everyone else safe. The normal distribution of gifts has been modified with Santa’s ever resourceful elves cleverly designing a slide to attach to the sleigh.

Covid-19 won’t stop Santa coming to town. Photo – Mary Milton

With restrictions easing over the Christmas period, both Highgrove Church and St Edyth’s are holding services where pre-booking is necessary. Both have been streaming worship online for months and the Christmas services will be available in this way as well as in person. There will be carol services and Christmas Day worship at both venues, with limited numbers to ensure social distancing.

Ed Marsh leads the worship at Highgrove and chairs Sea Mills Community Initiatives,  a joint venture between Highgrove and St Edyth’s which also manages the Cafe on the Square. “As churches in Sea Mills, we’ve been delighted to see so many people from the community drop in at the Cafe on the Square in the last few weeks,” Ed says, “In the midst of all the challenges that Covid-19 has brought, we can’t wait to welcome people to celebrate Christmas with us, both in person and online, this year.”

Looking into the new year, things are hopeful too. The Cafe on the Square’s planning application for a new awning has been accepted. This will allow socially-distanced drinks and snacks to be served outside and undercover, when restrictions allow. The £8,000 needed to purchase the awning and patio heaters was raised in less than a month by the local community. For the customers who have been braving the rain and cold under woolly hats, hoods and umbrellas to support the cafe, the dawning of the awning can’t come soon enough.

Mary Milton is reporting on Sea Mills as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a pilot project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media

Main photo by Mary Milton

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