Age old question answered on Christmas morning in Shirenewton Church – it was the egg

 Shirenewton, 31st December 2008; Members of the congregation at Shirenewton Church on Christmas morning were on hand to witness the answer to an age old question – no not that one – it was the question of “which came first - the Chicken or the Egg?”.

A tradition on Christmas morning at Shirenewton Church involves the village children bring a present they have received to Church and being invited to the front to show everyone. This annual traditional was enhanced by the new Priest, Rev Dr William C Ingle-Gillis (also known as “Father Will”) who produced wind up racing Chicken and Egg toys from behind the pulpit. These were then wound up by the children and raced down the aisle to determine the answer to the age old mystery. It is reported that the egg won by a fair margin!

Kevin Bounds, the Church’s Treasurer, said: “Whilst we are no nearer resolving the mystery of Christmas, we have at least answered one of the other imponderable questions of our time”.

David Cornwell, The Church webmaster, said: “You can get your very own racing Chicken and Egg through our church shopping portal which features in excess of 200 shops”.

The Rev Dr William C Ingle-Gillis (“Father Will”) and his kids with the Chicken and Egg.

Full size picture

About Shirenewton Church

The Church of St. Thomas a’ Becket Shirenewton has existed since approximately 1220 and was constructed the fifth Humphrey de Bohun - the first Humphrey de Bohun,  having come over from Normandy with William the Conqueror, his cousin. The Church was dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket, the Arch Bishop of Canterbury who was murdered in his Cathedral in 1170.

The Church has a solid square tower, placed between the chancel and the nave; the practice at this time being to build churches with a two-fold purpose, as places of defence as well as of worship, and this is a good example of a Norman fortified church tower. It has a battlemented top with a turret at the N.E. corner and slits in the sides, originally for defence purposes, although today they are used to hold the four spindles which operate the hands of the clock.

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