CHILDREN and adults harnessed the magic of Christmas to transform normal household products into nativity scenes for a Christmas Crib Festival in Chippenham.

The competition, which was organised by and held at St Andrew’s Church, required people to create the iconic scene of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in a manger using whatever materials they liked.

The 47 nativity scenes, which were made out of everything from wine bottles to icing sugar, were judged on Friday (December 2) before being left on display in the church over the weekend.

“I was hopeful that we might get 20 so we were well above our expectations,” said Reverend Rod Key, parish priest at St Andrew’s Church.

“We had one made out of flower pots, wine bottles, icing sugar, one out of stockings and another out of Lego.”

A number of awards were handed out, including visual impact, most unusual materials and the “R” Factor, with a number of the entries still available to view at St Andrew’s Church.

“Absolutely we will try to do it again, it was all a bit of a rush as we decided to do it mid-October but we had schools and local shops taking part,” added Rev Key.

“Next year we will get the idea across in the summer but we’re really pleased how this year went and we had about 300 people come in over the weekend.”

St Andrew’s Church will also be holding a free Christmas rap nativity play for children from 4-5pm on Christmas Eve, with youngsters encouraged to come dressed in nativity themed costumes.