What’s on in York – Handel’s Messiah in the beautiful setting of York Minster’s Nave.

Experience the story of Christ through this celebrated and popular oratorio, performed by the York Minster Choir.

  • 9th Dec 2017

19.00

BOOK TICKETS

The York Minster Choir will be joined by internationally renowned soloists this Christmas for a special performance of Handel’s Messiah in the beautiful setting of York Minster’s Nave.

The famous work was first performed in Dublin in 1742 and has since become one of the best-known and most popular English oratorios.

What better way to celebrate Christmas than to experience the story of Christ through this moving and poignant choral performance?

Tickets are priced at £25, £18 and £12 and are available from the York Theatre Royal Box Office, by telephoning 01904 623568 or in person at the theatre in St Leonard’s Place, YO1 7HD.

What’s on in York: Experience the Christmas trail at York Minster

Interact with the Minster during Advent and Christmas
  • 9th Dec 2017 – 07th Jan 2018

09.00am

FREE

Discover more about the Christmas story by exploring the activity stops hidden around the Minster.

Follow a trail with items to look at, touch, smell and discuss at each stop.

Free with admission, collect your trail from the admission desks. No need to book.

What’s on in York: Sankta Lucia – Festival of Light

An atmospheric, candlelit procession and carol service for all the family based on the traditional Swedish Lucia celebration.

8th Dec 2017

York Minster

7.30pm

FREE

7.30pm (doors open at 7pm)

An atmospheric, candlelit procession and carol service for all the family based on the traditional Swedish Lucia celebration.

In Sweden, Lucia is one of the most significant traditions in the calendar – a powerful symbol and celebration of light and an integral part of the Advent season.

The celebration of Sankta Lucia is based on the bravery and martyrdom of a young Sicilian girl – St Lucy – who died in the early fourth century. Her name and story reached Sweden along with Christianity, and she remained popular even after the Reformation as the bringer of light during the long darkness of winter.

The Lucia procession enters singing the traditional Lucia song, the tune of which was brought to Sweden from Italy in the middle of the 19th century. The singers are dressed in white gowns and carry candles, with Lucia herself as the focal point, wearing a crown of candles and a red ribbon round her waist, symbolising her martyrdom. The ‘starboys’ go back to a tradition of re-enacting the journey of the Magi on Twelfth Night.

The service is run in partnership with the York Anglo-Scandinavian Society.

No booking is required but please arrive early as this is a popular service.

What’s on in York – Book Launch: ‘The Nazi’s Daughter’ by Tim Murgatroyd

York Explore Library :

Thu 7 Dec :

6.30pm – 8.00pm :

Free

NaziTim will be talking about the real life wartime story of amazing heroism that inspired ‘The Nazi’s Daughter’, as well as the murky story of Dutch Nazis who collaborated with the Germans. He will also explain how Audrey Hepburn made it into the novel!

The Netherlands, Spring 1943. When her glittering career as a ballerina is cut short by a dancing injury, Elise Van Thooft-Noman, rebellious daughter of a powerful Dutch Nazi, flees to an isolated island off the coast of Holland. Here she meets Pieter Goedhart, reluctant village schoolmaster and Resistance fighter. A dangerous affair is kindled between them. Meanwhile Elise’s Nazi family and the terrifying brutality of war are closing in, threatening to destroy all she holds dear . . .

New York, September 2008. Uncomfortably overweight, single and scraping thirty, Jenni Malarkey is summoned to a mysterious party to celebrate her estranged grandmother’s glamorous life. Her journey through Elise’s secret history will force her to confront a legacy of guilt and shame . .

Past and present intersect, as unlikely hearts connect to seek love and redemption, in this haunting time-shift novel set in wartime Holland and contemporary New York.

Tim Murgatroyd was brought up in Yorkshire. He read English at Hertford College, Oxford University, and now lives with his family in York. His first novel, ‘Taming Poison Dragons‘ set in 12th Century China, has been described as ‘a captivatingly original and unforgettable story of tragedy and enduring love’. The sequels, ‘Breaking Bamboo‘, and ‘The Mandate of Heaven‘ have now been translated into Chinese by the prestigious Shanghai Literature and Arts publishing house.

Tim’s latest novel, ‘The Nazi’s Daughter’, is a haunting time-shift novel set in World War 2 and contemporary New York.

Tim has also published three e-booklets of poetry in a series called ‘Poems for Mobiles’: ‘Lullaby’, ‘Drunk’ and ‘The Stars are Apples’.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase on the night with complimentary drink, cash only.

To book tickets please click here.

Call for volunteers to help shift wood-chip “mountain” in Foxwood

The Foxwood Residents Association is asking for help with a community garden project at the Foxwood Community centre which will see a large amount of wood chippings spread on flower beds. The move is intended to discourage week growth next season when the Association will be entering the “Yorkshire in Bloom” contest.

Some  of the chippings will be spread on a new woodland path

Anyone with some time to spare helping spread the chippings should ring Sue on York 794111

Sue and Neil with the wood-chip “mountain”

Woodland walk taking shape

What’s on in York: Book Launch of ‘Forever Now’ by Helen Cadbury

 York Explore Library :

Tue 5 Dec :

6.30pm – 8.00pm :

Free

Dec _5 Forever Now Helen CadburyHelen Cadbury’s Forever, Now charts the lives of extraordinary, ordinary humans, including the poet herself; but also those she has lived among, worked with, observed on buses and trains or discovered in the archives. Sometimes those true beginnings spiral into fiction, sometimes they remain autobiographical, as they tell moving and universal stories of love and loss, grief and new beginnings.

Emily Dickinson wrote that ‘forever is composed of nows’. This collection will affirm the sense that ‘now’ is the only thing we truly have – and reveal it as something to be celebrated and acknowledged, not least in this remarkable book, which offers Helen’s devoted readership a chance to discover the full breadth of her compassion for characters, and talent for telling their stories.

“Helen Cadbury’s uniquely feisty, tender, courageous voice comes across loud and clear in this outstanding collection. I loved it; from the ‘heaven’ of the British Library to that closing image of the poet dancing in her kitchen.” — Carole Bromley

To book tickets please click here.

For further information please call York Explore Library on (01904) 552828 or email york@exploreyork.org.uk