Snowball fight breaks out at Christmas Day church service in Melton

The congregation at St Mary’s Church, in Melton, were armed with more than 300 white pom-poms - aided by two snow machines - for the showdown in the historic building.

It followed the annual Christmas Day All-Age Celebration Service and saw the return of a festive tradition not seen at the church for four years.

Philip Balding, who manages the church’s website, said: “There was a good turnout for the popular service.

“Rev Ashby asked people to show some of their Christmas presents before revealing some of his - which included a brussels sprout hat; Mistletoe on-the-go, which had mistletoe on an extendable stick, and a pair of reindeer antlers which moved up and down and lit up.”

For his sermon, Jelly Babies were handed out and people asked to lick off the flower to reveal their colour, each representing a different aspect or message from the Christmas story.

Mr Balding said: “Rev Ashby then produced a giant Jelly Baby which he had been given, concluding that the best baby anyone could be given at Christmas is the baby Jesus.”

He added: “When the service finished, came the return after four years of the St Mary’s snowball fight.

“Five minutes of madness followed, with Rev Ashby being attacked most with the pom-pom snowballs.”

For a video taken at the snowball fight see link: https://youtu.be/hkq7A8swY98