Things Without Which It Wouldn’t Be Christmas….

Cliff’s ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ on shop speakers. The sudden appearance of fancy cheese selection baskets (now with port!) in every supermarket chill counter. An increase in men wearing ties, if only of the flashing ‘novelty’ type.

And progressives spooking like horses at the sudden revelation that *gasp* there might be Christianity involved in this:

A school choir was forced to pull out of a Christmas event because their carols were deemed 'too religious' by organisers.

Strange sort of ‘Christmas event’, then. But wait:

Children at Arthur Bugler County Junior School in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, practiced for weeks in preparation for the singing event at the Corringham Winter Festival.

But the 60 pupils were forced to pull out at the last minute when organisers decided that their traditional Christmas carols did not 'dovetail' with the festival's theme.

Ahh, a ‘Winter’ Festival. Held in December. Nothing to do with Christmas then. Except, according to the council’s own website, it’s when they will be dedicating the Christmas tree….

Oops!

An angry parent said: 'The school was advised by the organisers the carols they had chosen were not suitable because they were deemed to have a religious theme. The kids were really disappointed.

'I can't see how the Christmas carols they were going to sing would have been offensive to anyone,' the parent said.

Best not to sing them, though, just in case.

The winter festival went ahead last week without the youngsters singing and instead non-religious music was performed by entertainers along with displays from an Irish school of dancing and performing arts students.

Traditional! (In Ireland, anyway…).

Sue Morris, headteacher at the junior school which has 230 pupils between the ages of seven and 11, said: 'It would appear there was a communications mix-up between the school and the organisations.

'Initially the school was invited to attend and sing but after a great deal of rehearsal we were informed the songs we were rehearsing would not have dovetailed into the event's theme.

'There was no time to reorganise the choir's planned programme and we thought it best that we did not take part.'

Nice diplomatic answer…

Tony Benson, chairman of Corringham town festival committee, which is made up of school keepers and residents, helped organise the event.

He said he was unaware of the situation until it was too late.

'I have promised the headmistress we will give them a lot more notice in the future.

'I can assure you their parents' disappointment was matched by mine.'

If I was the headmistress, you wouldn’t need to bother – I’d find a more welcoming venue for the kids, one not run by progressives. An old folks home, or a hospice, would welcome some traditional carols.

Not that the Church themselves are above a little ostentatious political grandstanding at this time of year:

A vicar has banned Christmas carol O Little Town Of Bethlehem after he witnessed the strife-torn state of Jesus's birthplace.

Reverend Stephen Coulter has decided the words 'How still we see thee lie' are too far removed from the reality of Bethlehem today.

Oh, good grief! Doesn’t he have 51 other weeks in which to spout off about whatever political cause he feels able to shoehorn into a sermon? Is it expecting too much to stifle the urge to be progressive and give the congregation what they want at Christmas?

I guess ‘Once In Royal David’s City’ is out too, since that ‘lowly cattle shed’ probably isn’t standing any more? And as for ‘Deck The Halls’, well, it’s really no longer the ‘season to be jolly’, is it?

Certainly not with people like Tony Benson and the Reverend Stephen Coulter around, that’s for sure…