A LARGE crowd of 300 revellers joined into the festive spirit, gathering at The Royal Anchor pub for this year’s carol singing with Father Christmas and the Haslemere Town Band.

Excited children, parents, grandparents and friends joined in to celebrate the event’s 27th anniversary, while enjoying hot soup donated by Dave McCoy, roasted chestnuts by Luffs, mulled wine by Peter and Simon, as well as mince pies donated by Sainsbury’s superstore.

Favourite Christmas carols included The First Noel, While Shepherds watched their Flocks, Away in a Manger, Ding Dong! Merrily On High, Little Donkey, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, Silent Night, I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas and We Wish You a Merry Christmas, when as if by magic, snow fell from the crisp, cold starlit sky.

Christmas messages were delivered by Bramshott and Liphook Parish Council chairman Jane Ives, Paul Robinson, who heads the Peak Centre for the elderly, Community Laundry chairman Irene Ellis, and Father Christmas who thanked Malcolm Bray for providing the sound system, The Royal Anchor, Hiscox Pet Stores, Gables newsagents, the Liphook crew from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service as well as family and friends for their tireless support of this annual event.

The collection was in aid of the Royal British Legion Liphook branch to commemorate 35 members of the parish, who currently don’t have their names recorded on the War Memorial at St Mary’s Church, at Bramshott.

The RBL memorial project will include a leather-bound book of remembrance delivered in time for dedication on Sunday, November 11, during the 2018 Remembrance Service and 100th anniversary commemorations of the end of WWI.