Carol Service in Shankill Parish Church

From 7.15pm there will be the customary community carol singing as the school choirs and congregation gather in the church.

The Mayor of Craigavon Borough Council, together with the Aldermen and Councillors, will be welcomed at the Church by Salvation Army Major Graham Wood just before the service starts at 7.30pm.

Taking part this year will be the choirs from Dickson, Kings Park and Model Primary Schools, along with Shankill Parish Church Choir and the Lurgan Salvation Army Band.

This very popular event has been held annually in Lurgan for over forty years, raising funds for various charities.

Proceeds this year are going to one of the Mayor’s nominated charities, A21, which works towards abolishing slavery and human trafficking.

Human Trafficking is a serious problem in the Craigavon area. Children, women and men are being brought here and forced to work as slave labour in the sex industry, domestic servitude, street crime and in the production of drugs. They are mentally and physically abused, deprived of their basic human rights and allowed little or no contact with the outside world.