Last year thousands of people visited the Nine Elms Advent Calendar – with 24 events in 24 days, a trail of 25 stunning windows and over 50 organisations involved from across Nine Elms and beyond. Led by Betsy Blatchley, Pioneer Minister in the Arts, The Nine Elms Arts Ministry are back this year with myriad ways for you to get involved this Christmas whether its making your own light based decorations or following each of the local Advent trails over the coming month.
This new Advent Calendar project is appropriate for our ‘new times’. This year’s theme is ‘Light in the Darkness’ - where they plan to light up Nine Elms - literally and in the hearts of the whole community.
24 beautiful windows will be revealed online through December to create the complete trail, and all physical windows will be viewable by 5th Dec which can be enjoyed in Covid-safe ways by all ages, exploring the trails in household groups. There will be areas of ‘light up’ events to launch each trail, an online ‘spotlight’ of a different venue each day, competitions, interactive maps, activity packs for families, and a performance element in each area.
VINCI St. Modwen and Covent Garden Market Authority are getting stuck in again this year by sponsoring and dressing an advent installation at the Griffin School, a popular pit-stop along the Advent Calendar trail.
Get involved!: This year the Nine Elms Arts Ministry are inviting residents to decorate and light up their own windows around the theme, with workshops and resources to support you.
For more information on the Nine Elms Advent trail, visit: nineelms.org/focus/nine-elms-arts-ministry
Join in online from 1st Dec and on foot from 5th Dec and follow the trail on Insta, Twitter & Facebook using #NineElmsAdvent
Find FREE resources packs for decorating your own window, including ideas, templates and activities here: www.nineelmsartsministry.org or email adventcalendar@nineelmsartsministry.org
Continuing the theme of lighting up the darkness, together with our partners Covent Garden Market Authority, VINCI St. Modwen will be providing three large Christmas trees along Thessaly Road this December.
You'll find one in the garden of Yvonne Carr Children's Centre, another inside the school gate St George's Primary School and the final one outside the Rose Community Centre.
The trees and materials will be sourced from Evergreen, Evergreens, Wittington’s and Lavenders, all based at the Flower Market just down the road, making it a truly local Christmas. The trees will be loaded with hundreds of fairy lights and will be decorated by local children over the coming weeks.
For VSM, it really is about giving back to the communities we serve and ensuring that in this dimmest of years, there is some extra Christmas cheer to helps us all through. 2020 will be remembered for those small, personal moments close to home. We hope the trees with their twinkling lights will give everyone walking past one – or all three – an extra reason to smile. We have enjoyed working closely with local community partners and facilitators in the realisation of this ambition.
Make sure you’re following us on Twitter @StM_NineElms for all the latest news on the project.