14 Dec 2020
ROYAL PARTY: The three kings, from left, Ian Kirkbride, Sarah Fells and Angus Wheeler
COVID-19 may have put paid to many events in 2020, but clergy at Barnard Castle’s parish church were determined the show must go on for one of the biggest services of the year.
The crib service normally attracts between 500 and 600 people to St Mary’s Church on Christmas Eve tea time.
And while the current Tier 3 restrictions make such a gathering impossible, Revd Canon Alec Harding has ensured the service will go ahead – with a little help from members of the Castle Players, the imaginative use of puppets and a script written by players’ chairman Laurence Sach.