Carol singing in tune with island residents

FATHER Christmas took time out of his busy schedule to drop in to the Mermaid Tavern this week.

Luckily enough, we were in the middle of the residents' Christmas dinner at the time and all the island children were present. A few Christmas wishes and a few early gifts later, everyone was happy for the rest of the evening.

A couple of nights before was the island carol singing night. This is an age-old Herm tradition that always comes a week or so before the big day.

Several host houses are chosen and volunteers are split into groups to help those houses. The carol singing group heads to the first house to belt out few tunes and is then invited in for nibbles and festive snacks. The people in that house then join the group to move on to the second house.

In this way, the event goes on late into the evening over several locations and a good few carols can be sung. Plus, there is always the added excitement for the children of running around in the dark by torchlight.

This year we were accompanied by Lucie Waylen and her violin, which added a nice traditional feel to the night.

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Resident pastry chef Lucy Dobson Jones treated fellow Hermites to a cake decorating masterclass. Over two nights, they were able to learn how to ice and then decorate their homemade Christmas cakes.

Lucy is the wife of the White House Hotel manager, Sion Dobson Jones, and bakes all the cupcakes and cookies that are sold in the Ship during the summer season. Her cakes are also very popular at island get-togethers and for the school summer fayre.

Hopefully, this can be the start of other, similar night classes.

This time of year is a good one for islanders to share their skills with their neighbours and to keep busy during the cold winter evenings.