St Nicholas's Day brings patronal gifts to Somerset church.

St Nicholas's in Somerset received a patronal grant to support choral evensong and community activities, and the festival service drew about 95 people with a celebratory meal afterwards.

A small Somerset parish marked St Nicholas's Day with support from a national patronal grant scheme that awarded 80 churches. The programme offers either £500 to help churches without resident choirs invite visiting choirs and host receptions, or £250 to assist churches with their own choirs. The initiative is intended to celebrate choral evensong and encourage community engagement. St Nicholas's was recognised for an exceptional degree of community and children's involvement. Key facts: - The scheme awarded grants to 80 churches to support patronal-festival or patronal-festivities events. - St Nicholas's invited an eight-voice student choir from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and formed a 25-strong community choir to learn specially composed music. - The primary-school choir sang the psalm, the bells rang, and local radio carried coverage of the service. - The church normally sees about ten people on a good day; on Sunday 7 December it counted 95 people in the building and later reported over 150 attendees across the weekend events, followed by a celebratory hot meal. Summary: The awards aim to enrich worship and local cultural life, and the programme will be repeated in 2026 with churches able to apply until 2 February. St Nicholas's plans to hold choral events each month for the benefice following the positive response to the festival weekend.