Stert Street late-night shopping event with Carols and Choirs

On Tuesday 9 December we're having a late-night shopping event at Mostly Books - and to make it even more special we're welcoming composer and Andrew Gant, author of 'Christmas Carols : From Village Green to Church Choir'. He'll be signing copies of his book - and he'll be backed by a choir on the night!

Everyone loves a Christmas carol - in the end, even Scrooge. They have the power to summon up a special kind of midwinter mood, like the aroma of mince pies and mulled wine and the twinkle of lights on a tree. It's a kind of magic.

But how did they get that magic? In 'Christmas Carols' Andrew Gant tells the story of some twenty carols, each accompanied by lyrics and music, unravelling a captivating - and often surprising - tale of great musicians and thinkers, saints and pagans, shepherd boys, choirboys, monks and drunks. We delve into the history of such favourites as 'Good King Wenceslas', 'Away in a Manger' and 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', discovering along the way how 'Hark, the Herald angels sing' came to replace 'Hark, how all the welkin ring' and how Ralph Vaughan Williams bolted the tune of an English folk song about a dead ox to a poem by a nineteenth-century American pilgrim to make 'O little town of Bethlehem'. Christmas Carols brims with anecdote, expert knowledge and Christmas spirit.

The event starts at 6.30pm - the choir is courtesy of ACCord, the Abingdon Community Choir from Abingdon Music Centre - learn more about them here.

There will be shops all along Stert Street open until 8pm, including:

Wine tasting at Added Ingredients

A special Christmas market at Mod 31

New shop on the block Dapper Street will also be open, showing off their range of contemporary streetwear.

Other shops will be open too - so why not come along?