The Christmas edition of the organist entertains comes to you this evening at 8pm via our YouTube channel the link and player can be found above
As always please say hello in the live chat function 👋 and tell us where you’re tuning in from 🌍
We have some favourite carols and a specially requested piece of music
Please note that this evening’s episode is not what was originally planned. The organ has developed a bit of a fault during December and the recording was cut short due to this. You may be able to hear some peculiar sounds, this is the fault.
As always we appreciate your participation in joining in these organ videos. Please if you feel able to donate to our church. There is a donate button on our home page http://www.bellshillcentral.church
This Friday at 7pm, we’re pleased to be showing Peter Pan (1924) on the big screen. Juice and popcorn included. Aaron Hawthorn will accompany on our mighty church organ. Tickets/entry £10/£5. All welcome for this fantastic movie.
Biography
Aaron is a freelance musician based in Lanarkshire, Scotland (UK) and has a Master of Arts (with Honours) degree from the University of Glasgow. Aaron frequently performs recitals, concerts and silent film accompaniments across the UK as well as in mainland Europe and the USA.
After starting his career as an organist in Motherwell Cathedral, Aaron went on to be the principal organist at St Bride’s Roman Catholic Church, Cambuslang for five years and after a family trip to the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool in his early teens, discovered his love for theatre/cinema organs.
Following his 2019 performance at the American Theatre Organ Society’s annual convention in Rochester, New York, Aaron received the ‘ultimate honour’ for a young organist by winning the international Young Theatre Organist competition, having won the UK title two years before. Only a few months later, Aaron was awarded the Ian Sutherland Award by the Cinema Organ Society, an award given “directly to a player who displays outstanding talent and promise as a theatre organist.” Aaron has been active as a committee member for the Cinema Organ Society and the Scottish Cinema Organ Trust.
Also acclaimed as a choral conductor, Aaron has conducted various ensembles, including a three-year reign with the University of Glasgow Chamber Choir. He spends a large proportion of his week working as an arts facilitator and practitioner for North Lanarkshire Arts, a role in which he works with community groups, including youth and adult choirs, dementia-friendly sessions and all-ability arts projects.
Throughout the Autumn of 2021, Aaron joined a soprano on a UK tour featuring their semi-improvised accompaniment to the 1925 silent horror, The Phantom of the Opera. Their performances have been critically acclaimed and the shows successfully engaged new audiences with the worlds of silent film and pipe organs. He is embarking on another silent film tour in Autumn of 2022 with Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922).
Aaron is a house organist at Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow, where he plays for the daily organ recital series, and makes regular appearances playing the Compton Cinema Organ at Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, Coatbridge and the 3/21 Wurlitzer organ of Pollokshaws Burgh Hall, Glasgow.
On Friday 2nd December we held our annual Time to Remember service at Bellshill Central Parish Church
This year was our first collaboration with Potts Funeral Directors, working with Fraser, Fiona and the rest of their team.
If you didn’t manage along on the evening itself, please use this video as if you were there. Please have a candle to light when you are invited to do so.
If you would like to speak with someone if you are affected by grief and loss, please do let us know and we can arrange for someone to talk with you. Any contact is treated with the utmost respect and privacy.
Contact in the first instance Rev Kevin de Beer via 01698 841176 or kdebeer@churchofscotland.org.uk
Last year, 2020, no Christmas tree adorned our lovely Church due to COVID and services being suspended. It is with great delight we were able to have our Christmas Tree reinstated for the Christmas Season in 2021. Thanks go to our gang of Elves who faithfully decorate the church, including the tree, each year.
On this the 1st Sunday after Christmas we thought we’d share some pictures of this years tree and some anecdotal information about some items we might see on a Christmas Tree.
Martin Luther also started the tradition for decorating trees after he put candles on the tree he took, to make it look like stars were shining through. In 1895, Ralph Morris developed electric lights as easier (and safer!) alternative.
The Christmas Bauble
Christmas baubles first originated in Germany after ‘trees of paradise’ were decorated with red apples for the miracle plays which took place outside the church on Christmas Eve. These soon became the baubles we know and use today.
The Tree Topper
Originally, the infant Jesus adorned the top of Christmas trees. However, this trend later evolved to a star or an angel, which are both significant Christian symbols in the Nativity of Jesus.
The Star of Bethlehem
The Star of Bethlehem, also referred to as the ‘Christmas Star,’ guided the wise men, or Magi, to the birthplace of Jesus in the Christian story of Jesus of Nazareth’s birth.
The Star of Bethlehem, a five-pointed star, is unique in that it is only referenced in the Gospel of Matthew’s nativity story. The star signifies the birth of Christ (or Messiah).
Astrology also factored heavily into the Bible. Stars, moons, comets and galaxies were considered heavenly bodies interpreted as signs from God.
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