St Helens Church, High Street, Wheathampstead, St Albans, AL4 8AA. Worship Times: 10am every Sunday

19-Dec Weekend Email with Livestream Link
 

In this email:
  • Sunday’s Services
  • Gingerbread Stars Giveaway
  • Community Christmas Messages
DIARY  CHANGES DURING THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS
20th December 2025 – 4th January 2026
  • Coffee in the Chancel (weekday) is closed for the holidays. Saturday opening hours – 10-11.30AM, back on 3rd January. Weekday session resumes Monday 5th January,  9.30–11.30AM. 
  • ‘The Ark’ Parent-and-Toddler group resumes on Wednesday 7th January at 9.30AM, St Helen’s Church.

 

 

 
 

SUNDAY’S SERVICES

 

 
 
Get ready to show off your most festive Christmas wear at on “Christmas Jumper Sunday”. Prizes for the best jumpers!

Join us in St Helen’s Church at 10am for our Parish Communion Service led by our youth group. We welcome Bishop of Hertford, the Rt Revd Jane Mainwaring who will preside and preach at this service. If you can’t join us in church, please join us online. Click here or on the image above for the YouTube link..

 

 
Do join us in church for this beautiful atmospheric candlelit service. Or watch online here as this service will be livestreamed.

 
 

CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICES

 

 
 

CHRISTMAS DAY SERVICES

 

 

 
Gingerbread Stars

We have a tradition of visiting all the businesses in the High Street and offering best wishes for Christmas in the form of a gingerbread star. We would like to do this again on Tuesday 23rd December.

We need people to make gingerbread stars please! We also then need people to visit and give away the biscuits! It is a lovely thing to do! So if you are free to help at 10am on the 23rd for about an hour please let Hilary (07712791625) know.

 
In the UK, we send enough Christmas cards that if we placed them alongside each other, they’d cover the world’s circumference 500 times. As an eco-church, St Helen’s aims to save trees by offering a central point where congregation members can send one Christmas card to everyone else. All are welcome to add a Christmas message to friends and family to the noticeboard in the chancel.
Snowdrop Garden Open Days — Possibly for the Last Time —
in Support of the Beds & Herts Historic Churches Trust
We are pleased to share that the Bishop of St Albans’ Garden will open to visitors in February 2026, offering a much-loved chance to enjoy God’s creation in its early spring beauty. Next year’s openings may be the last time the garden is made accessible to the public, making the occasion especially meaningful.

Thousands of snowdrops and other early bulbs will be in bloom, creating a peaceful, uplifting place to wander and reflect. All proceeds will go directly to the Beds and Herts Historic Churches Trust, which helps fund essential repairs to historic churches across Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Open Garden Dates
Abbey Gate House, Abbey Mill Lane, St Albans AL3 4HD
• Saturday 14 February
• Sunday 15 February
• Saturday 21 February
• Sunday 22 February
Time: 2pm–4pm

Entry: £5 per adult (all proceeds to the Trust)

All are warmly invited to visit the garden—perhaps for the final time as we are not sure if the new Bishop will continue to allow the garden to be opened to the public —enjoy its seasonal beauty and support the preservation of our cherished church buildings.
 

If you have a concern about someone else or yourself:
please call 07870748773 or e mail Christine.anstice@yahoo.co.uk

 

 

 
 

Events and Activities this week (at St. Helen’s Church unless otherwise indicated).
Please ask if you need further details

 

 
 

Monday 22nd December
7.30pm – 9.15pm Bellringing Practice

Tuesday 23rd December

Wednesday 24th December
3.30pm – 4.30pm Crib Service
11.00pm – 12.00am Midnight Communion

Thursday 25th December
10.00am – 11.00am Christmas Communion at St Helen’s
10.00am – 11.00am Christmas Celebration at St Peter’s

 

 

Friday 26th December

Saturday 27th December

Sunday 28th December
10.00am – 11.00am Parish Communion (no livestream)