A one-minute film on the true meaning of Christmas, made by the young people of St Augustine’s Church, Gillingham, reached the final of a national competition.

“What it costs”, the St Augustine’s film, was the brainchild of Rosie Paterson, 17, who had the idea of filming a family Christmas scene but inserting captions making the point about the cost of it all.

“It echoes some of the adverts that you see around Christmas time,” she said; “we wanted a film that stays cheerful and upbeat, pokes a little gentle fun at the commercial world and points to the true meaning of Christmas in a way that will bring a smile both to Christians and non-Christians.”

Organised by ‘Truemeaning’ and sponsored by the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, the competition challenged young people to sum up the true meaning of Christmas in a film lasting under a minute. Over eighty entries were received and ten made it to the final.

The priest in Charge of St Augustine’s, the Revd Jonathan Jennings, said that entering the competition had provided real food for thought:

“It was a great thing to do,” he said, “they had some really deep discussions about what Christmas really means and how to get people thinking about it and came up with this. They didn’t want to get uptight about the commercial side of it, but it’s important to make the point that there’s a reason why we celebrate at that time of year and people shouldn’t lose sight of that.”

Taking part in the film were Rosie Paterson, Byron Blounts, Tazzy Cadman and Charlotte White.

You can see the video on our YouTube Channel.

The result of the competition was announced in an awards ceremony at Old Trafford in Manchester on November 21st.