Goodwill and togetherness

Carollers gather for a song of praise.  A horse and wagon trundle past, and there's the tring-tring of a bell, as a young cyclist peddles through the slush.  People are enticed by the warm glow of the Imperial Electric Theatre, and all the other inviting lights that line the path of Queen Street.  A little further up the town, the Globe Hotel throws open its doors to winter travellers, whilst flower ladies sell holly and mistletoe on the kerb.  Austins, the drapers, is busy with customers admiring the finery, and all through the air is the smell of coal and wood fires from the nearby houses.  It is a quarter past five in the afternoon, but the edge is taken off the bitter temperatures by the lovely, iconic ringing of the bells emanating from the very centre of the town, St Leonard's Tower.  It's Christmas in Newton Abbot.

Much has changed since the Victorian inspiration behind these paintings, yet so many of the details in the above description still hold true in our little market town. The air of togetherness, the goodwill and feeling of community, which binds us so strongly at this time of year, are overwhelmingly evident in these paintings, and is a message that we can all take into the festive period, in amongst all the shopping and the rushing.  I wish every reader of this blog a happy, merry, peaceful and meaningful Christmas.

Queen Street - detail from an original painting by Annie Meakin, on a card sold in aid of Dame Hannah Rogers Trust

The Clock Tower - detail from an original painting by Annie Meakin, on a card sold in aid of Dame Hannah Rogers Trust