Good afternoon,
Welcome to our bumper edition of Signpost for Christmas week! It has been an incredibly long year, and whilst many of us won’t be able to spend time with loved ones this festive season, let’s hope that 2021 will be a more hopeful and social year. We have a fantastic selection of seasonal treats for you that we hope you enjoy.
Each week our Signpost time machine remembers historical events that occurred on this week in history, but for this issue we wanted to share some classic Christmas number 1’s.
It has been 68 years since the charts began, and in that time there have been 63 different songs performed by 59 different artists or groups that have reached Christmas number 1. You can see the whole list here.
1952 saw the first-ever official Christmas number 1 With Al Martino’s “Here in my Heart” with Elvis Presley taking the top spot ten years later in 1962 with “Return to Sender”. “Mary’s Boy Child" won gold for both Harry Belafonte in 1957 and Boney M in 1978.
The Beatles still hold the record for the most Christmas number 1’s with “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “I Feel Fine”, the double A-side “Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out” and “Hello, Goodbye”.
For all of the classic pop songs, there are also a huge array of novelty songs that have topped the Christmas charts. Who can forget "Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West)", "Merry Xmas Everybody", “Mr Blobby” or “There's No-One Quite Like Grandma” by St Winifred's School Choir.
REFLECT
CONNECT
LEARN
DO
FUN
That's all for this year from us. We will return with issue 36 of Signpost on the 4th January 2021. We wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a joyous New Year.
Please get in touch through our email communityimpact@stmonicatrust.org.uk and let us know how we are doing.
Don't forget that our online services of worship and contributions from the Pastoral Care Team can be found at https://vimeo.com/stmonicatrust.