PATRONAL day celebrations are to be held in a small village church near Wellington next month with a special festival of ‘music and community’.

The weekend of December 6 and 7 is the closest to St Nicholas’ Day, who is the patron saint of St Nicholas’ Church, in Kittisford.

Churchwarden Annie Musgrove said the celebrations had been made possible by a grant from the Choral Evensong Trust, which supports churches in celebrating their patron saints.

Ms Musgrove said: “St Nicholas was a fourth century bishop from what is now Turkey.

“He gave away his wealth to help those in need, especially children.

“One famous story tells how he secretly dropped a bag of gold down a chimney to help three poor sisters.

“The bag landed in a stocking hung up to dry by the fire, giving rise to the Christmas tradition of stockings.

“In many European countries children still leave out their shoes on St Nicholas’ Day, hoping to find sweets and small gifts inside.”

Kittisford’s celebrations begin on the Saturday at 6 pm with a choral concert by Bute Voices, an up-and-coming choir from Cardiff comprised of students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

On the Sunday at 12 noon there will be a community singing workshop in Kittisford House Barn led by Alexander Douglas, a choral director and lecturer in the music department of King’s College London.

The music prepared in the workshop will then be sung in a choral evensong at 3.30 pm in the church.

Ms Musgrove said: “After the service, everybody is warmly invited to a reception back in the barn.

“And, for the children, those who leave a shoe in the church porch may just discover a small surprise waiting for them by the end of the service!”