New for 2026, the Lamplight Carollers are a friendly, low-rehearsal group who just enjoy a good sing at Christmas.

Martin Carter (pictured), the group's organiser, grew up singing carols in choirs and around his local village at Christmas. The green Oxford carols books the family sang from belonged to his father, the renowned choral composer Andrew Carter, who founded the hugely popular Carols by Candelight in York. And it's from these very copies, now here in Newent, which the Lamplight Carollers will sing today and keep that lovely tradition alive.

The ethos of the Carollers is minimum rehearsal effort for maximum fun, allowing confident and experienced carollers to get together to support and entertain the local community with some high-quality carolling at a couple of carefully selected events per year.

There's nothing complex, just traditional carols everyone enjoys - with any donations received supporting local good causes.

We're aiming to build a pool of a dozen or so good singers from which we can always assemble two people per part (8 in total) for a performance even if some people are away.

So if you always find yourself singing along to your own part when listening to Christmas carols, want to help the community, and think it sounds fun to carry a tune while carrying a lamp on a pole, we'd love to hear from you!