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To the Quay! …on Tuesday evening for the annual Quayside Carol Service. The short walk down to the water provided the festive scene of Christmas lights radiating against the recycling bags left out for the morning after. Fairy lights and half a dozen empty bottles of liebfraumilch – it’s the traditional Wivenhoe Christmas scene.

I love these occasions when it seems that half the town has a mass exodus down to the front. Just like the Fireworks Display and, um, Crabbing by the Quay, from the Co-op down and there was a buzz (steady) with Ding Dong Merrily men, women and kids, all anticipating the al fresco service.

Quite a scene had assembled Quayside. A Wivenhoe All Stars Band of sorts had set up in front of The Nottage. Under the expert musical guidance of Graham Wadley, any All Stars Band can’t go wrong if it features a squeezebox. Boasting fourteen local musicians from primary school to pension age, the musicians were well rehearsed. A bit like… the singers.

Ah yes, the singers: the Ding Dongers stretched back from The Nottage to chilly banks of the Colne, and out towards the Ferry shelter and opposite across to the Rose and Crown. You could get a sense of the social strata of Wivenhoe life, judged by the strategic positioning and the surrounds. The loudest Ding Dongs came from the Rose and Crown crowd.

And so shortly after 8pm, and with the Christmas lights turned on around the tuba, a couple of microphones were dangled down from The Nottage balcony, like fishermen casting their bait for the catch.

The service was paced perfectly. With co-operation from all denominations under the Churches Together banner, readings punctuated the carols, telling both the religious and historical story behind the songs. Staunch believers and those that might have been little lapse on a Sunday morning of late were all catered for.

The highlight was the South Yorkshire rendition of While Shepherds, accompanied to the tune of On Ilkla Moor Baht’at [ACE version on the new Kate Rusby album...]

“Let’s wake up Rowhedge!” came the rallying cry from the good Rev.

Um, good luck with that…

But it wasn’t all about Ding Donging with a squeezebox. Buckets were generously filled, with money being split between the ever-deserving Wivenhoe Helping Hands, and a children’s charity in Kenya with very close Wivenhoe connections.

Mince pies were very kindly supplied come the close by the Rose and Crown. The Legion had a rare Tuesday opening for those in need of thawing out. You try holding a microphone with your raw hands for forty minutes on a sharp Christmas Quayside evening.

The crowds then slowly snaked back up the foot of the High Street and back towards the boozers. Congregating and boozing – it’s something that Wivenhoe does rather well.

Chin chin.