Christmas without St Luke's carol singers wouldn't be Christmas In Wimbledon Park. This account records the origins & history of this treasured community venture and asks important questions about its future. As ever the answer lies in the hands of residents, old and new.

              Editor

Not the "merry urchins" with one verse of "While Shepherds washed ......" and a held out hand or the Rotary with their records of famous choirs (not that anyone should deride their efforts, either at Christmas or in the rest of the year, to help those in need). I am talking about the wheezing harmonium and cheerful, if not always cordant, voices of the members of St. Luke's Church on their annual visit to every avenue and road in the parish.

For many this has become part of the ritual of Christmas, either as a participant or as someone who opens their door to the collector's knock each year. For others it will be a new experience. Traditions such as this become part of the fabric of a community and people cease to wonder why they happen and if they are necessary. So for newcomer and for long-time resident here are the answers to the questions you might never ask but perhaps you have wondered about.

Christmas 1943, with D Day, Flying bombs and victory not yet won, was probably not the best time to go carol singing, but that is the first year that we have records of people from St. Luke's collecting money for a good cause in this way. The £14 that resulted was put to the national appeal for comforts for our prisoners of war. You don't have to read the experiences of many of these people to realise how much the clothes, blankets, food and other gifts were needed and appreciated. Fourteen pounds does not sound much, but it is the equivalent of £300 today, so it wasn't a bad start. We think the same fund was the beneficiary of the carol singing efforts in the next three years. Peace did not remove the need to help those who had suffered following capture during the war.

In 1947, however, an historic decision was made. We have no record of how or when it was reached, but it has affected many people's lives in the ensuing years. Really there were two decisions. One was whether to continue carol singing and the other was about who should benefit. The answer to the first was obviously - 'yes' - and to the second - Dr. Barnardo's - as it then was called. It must have been quite a good decision because nothing much has changed in the following 51 years! Barnardo's (new name) still benefits from our singing and the parish's generosity. It is a charity that has had a mixed press in recent years, but its emphasis has changed greatly and it seeks to help children by keeping them in the family where possible, rather than a life in a children's home.

Christmas lights go on see page 5