With a little bit of help from a full-sized puppet camel and a real donkey, with a visit to the local inn and a creatively made stable - there you have it - a Live Nativity!
On Saturday 4 December St Mary's Church, Haverhill, with help from Churches Together, held its first nativity live! A play, telling the story of the nativity was told in various locations across the town.
The nativity play started at the Methodist Church indoors and then ventured outside to various stops on the way, with a real donkey helping Mary and Joseph.
As there was no room at the inn (the local Wetherspoons!) so the nativity ended in the church with a puppet camel borrowed from a local theatre company.
The nativity was organised by the Revd Wendy Norris and licenced evangelist Tracy Sevenoaks and Wendy said “This was a wonderful project to organise, it has been so much fun. We are delighted that so many people joined us on our trail across the town”.
The final stop included a full size nativity display of the stable – a 'peep-through' style photo board and the visitors enjoyed having their photographs taken in the various roles of the play.
The church organised gifts for the children, which were supplied by the National Literacy Trust's #GetSuffolkReading campaign, as well as a range of refreshments afterwards.
The Revd Max Drinkwater said, “We are delighted that our first Live Nativity! has been such a great success. We wanted to reach out to the local community in an engaging and fun way to share the Christmas story. I would like to thank the help we have received from our supporters and volunteers in helping to make this play come alive! We really hope this will become an annual event in the town!