DESPITE everything going on in the world at the moment, Sunday evening saw the community in northern Torfaen come together, virtually, for the annual Carols Under the Arch service.

The event usually sees around 1,000 people gather at the arch in Abersychan for a festive evening full of live performances and a service from Pastor John Funnell from Noddfa Church.

Needless to say that wasn't possible this year - but the event went ahead anyway, albeit virtually.

As well as lifting everyone’s spirits, the night also raised money for the Daniel Jones Fund at Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent Mind.

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“It went really well,” said Pastor John. “So far, it’s had more than 14,000 views – over 10,000 watched it on Sunday night, and we had about 6,000 watching it live.”

This year, Noddfa Church partnered with Victory Church in Blaenavon to organise the event.

“I’d like to thank Pastor Nick for all the support as it wouldn’t have happened without him,” said Pastor John. “I look forward to continuing this partnership in future years, making this an event for the whole south east valleys, not just Abersychan.

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Pastor John and Pastor Nick recording Carols Under the Arch online. Picture: Noddfa Church.

“Every expression of God’s love is found through community and as a church we seek to build community for this reason, whether in person or online.

“I’d like to thank Garnteg, Cwmffrwdoer and Blaenavon Heritage schools – the children were all amazing. I’d also like to thank Garnsychan Partnership and Circulate, as well as Versatool. Also (Torfaen MP) Nick Thomas-Symonds and Cllr Giles Davies, and all those who watched and shared the video and helped make the event so successful.

“Our intention was to bring hope into homes this Covid Christmas, I hope we were able to do that.”

South Wales Argus:

Recording Carols Under the Arch online. Picture: Noddfa Church.

Preparations for this year's event were slightly different to usual due to the pandemic and the ban on gatherings.

“Usually we just set up on the day and people come and perform and that would be it, but this year we had to pre-record everything in the weeks leading up to it,” said Pastor John. “We had a recording session under the arch about two weeks ago, and then we filmed at the church with Noddfa band and Nick Thomas-Symonds. The schools recorded their performances in school and sent it to us.

South Wales Argus:

Pastor John recording Carols Under the Arch online. Picture: Noddfa Church.

“We have about 120 people coming to Noddfa every Sunday, and we usually have around 1,000 people at the arch, so I’m used to speaking in front of people and feeding off them, so it was a bit different speaking without that interaction with them, knowing no-one would be hearing it for a couple of weeks.”

You can watch the full service back on the Noddfa Church Facebook page, and if you would like to donate to the Daniel Jones Fund at Torfaen and Blaenau Gwent Mind, you can at peoplesfundraising.com/donation/daniel-jones-memorial-fund