A carol service with a difference will be celebrated in the grounds of Godalming College on Christmas Eve thanks to the ingenuity of the parishioners of Busbridge and Hambledon.

The drive-in service (one family per car, windows up and radios tuned in) will enable parishioners to sing along to carols led by the Rev Simon Taylor and a live band.

Rev Tayor will address the flock from a flatbed lorry in the car park, while the band, made up of musicians leading the carols on keyboards, guitar and cajon ( a type of drum) - as Rev Taylor quite rightly asserts, "You can't get an organ out there" - will play from the back of a second lorry.

The idea follows a successful open-air service held in a field in Busbridge in the summer - parishioners started planning for Christmas just in case Covid forced the cancellation of indoor services.

One thing that's different is the flatbed lorries.The summer event was a bit of an ordeal for Rev Taylor, who had to face his fears in order to lead the service.

"I was raised in a cage on the front of a JCB digger, and I am terrified of heights, so it wasn't much fun," he says. "This time I am closer to the ground."

The trickiest part this time round was obtaining a (fairly expensive) Ofcom licence to broadcast to the car radios.

"It's not cheap, but this is an important thing to do for people," said Rev Taylor. "We just want to make sure everyone stays safe."

The half-hour-long service, which will run twice - once at 4.30pm and then at 6pm - will feature four carols, and families are encouraged to sing along in the safety of their vehicles.

Tickets to the free event were snapped up quickly when they were made available in November, and there is a waiting list, but Rev Taylor points out that some people may have to cancel if they are now living under Tier Four regulations, so it is worth keeping an eye on the website.

The main Nativity characters will be represented as best as social distancing allows: in the first performance Mary and Joseph are real-life husband and wife, but in the second the pair who were going to play them aren't from the same household, so that idea had to be abandoned.

"It's a Nativity with no Mary, no Joseph, one King, one shepherd and one angel," says Rev Taylor.

Children will also be able to take part in the Dashboard Nativity, with a goodie bag for each child - isolated for several days before being handed out - with items to set out on the dashboard to enable them to join in the performance and create their own Nativity scene.

The service is being streamed live on YouTube, so if you haven't been able to get a ticket, you can watch it at 6pm here.

If you prefer to watch the 4.30 service, click the link, then the bhc church logo and it will take you to the main Youtube page. The 4.30 info is there and you can just choose that one instead. Click 'refresh' on your brower at the start time on Christmas Eve if the stream does not come on automatically.