Five things to do with the family this Christmas at Portsmouth Cathedral
With so much happening this Christmas it’s sometimes hard to decide what to do with all the family. Throughout December Portsmouth Cathedral is hosting a number of uplifting festive services and events, as well as being surrounded by independent shopping, food and drink in the heart of Old Portsmouth.
With so much to choose from we put together five things you can do with the whole family this Christmas at Portsmouth Cathedral.
Christmas Carols at the Cathedral are now fully booked
Carols on the Green
After the success of last year’s first ever event, we welcome families to join us again outside on the cathedral green. It’s your chance to come and sing festive carols and hymns with a traditional brass band under one of Portsmouth’s iconic landmarks.
Entry to this service is free and booking is not required. Join us from 5:45pm this Saturday (18 December)
Explore family friendly tours on your phone
The Portsmouth Cathedral online app is full to the brim with insightful history and interactive experiences. As well as our cathedral highlights tour you’ll find family friendly tours such as the bite-to-eat tour and our brand-new virtual reality experience showing you what the cathedral might have looked like with a different design. As well as this, check back throughout the Christmas holidays for more family friendly tours you can do for free when visiting the cathedral. You’ll also find our 12 Days of Christmas series published here first from the 25 December.
Find the online app free portcath.app
Celebrate Christingle at #PompeySundays
#PompeySundays is our café-church style service for young people and families and will be celebrating Christingle, where families and communities come together to share the light of Jesus and spread a message of hope. This service will also be supporting The Children’s Society, a national charity working to transform the hopes and happiness of young people facing abuse, exploitation, and neglect. #PompeySundays is a great service to come along to if you haven’t visited us before and have young children, every Sunday at 9:30am.
Grab coffee and a cake when you next visit
Portsmouth Cathedral is lucky enough to be situated amongst independent shopping, food and drink, as well as cultural organisations and artists in the heart of Old Portsmouth. Although you won’t find a cafe in the cathedral, you can support local independent businesses this Christmas and pick up a coffee at one of the many fantastic cafés, including The Canteen, who are offering a free mince pie with your first coffee as part of A Very Old Portsmouth Christmas, featuring offers and incentives from around Old Portsmouth.
Stream Christmas Carols with the family live from home
If you were unable to book a space for one of our Christmas Carol services, then why not settle down with your family and join us from home for this traditional festive service. Orders of service will be available on our website for you to join in with hymns and prayers from your living room. It’s a wonderful alternative to your usual TV programming this Christmas!
We hope that everyone has a safe and very Merry Christmas, don’t forget you can still stream our Christmas carol service online on the 22 December if you can’t join us in person. The Cathedral shop is open right up until Christmas Eve so it’s the perfect place to stop off and grab a last-minute gift for anyone you may have forgotten this Christmas (including yourself). Portsmouth Cathedral continues to be open throughout the festive period, we welcome all to come and explore the cathedral or join us for a service.