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Heralds

An important announcement

by Janice Ross

Suitable for Whole School (Pri)

Aims

To consider how important announcements are made.

Preparation and materials

  • You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Heralds) and the means to display them.
  • Have available the following YouTube videos (you only need the audio) and the means to play them during the assembly:

    - ‘London fanfare trumpets – fanfare for a dignified occasion’, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vZpb9wFPx0 (0.33 minutes long)
    - ‘Royal trumpet fanfare as the Queen and her family arrive at Westminster Hall for lunch’, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eBYUOKQOnE (1.38 minutes long)

Assembly

  1. Show Slide 1.

    Ask the children who they think these people are. Can they deduce anything from what they are wearing?

    Listen to a range of responses.

    Explain that these people are royal heralds.

  2. Show Slide 2.

    Tell the children that in 2019, at the age of 28, this man, whose name is Mark Scott, became the youngest royal herald. The average age of his colleagues was 57.

    Explain that a herald is an official who is employed to oversee important royal and state occasions. Historically, heralds made important announcements and carried official messages such as those for the king or queen, or between opposing armies. Nowadays, heralds are more involved in designing coats of arms and studying family trees.

    Optional: you may wish to look at some different coats of arms and discuss them with the children.

  3. Show Slide 3.

    This is the coat of arms for the United Kingdom.

  4. Explain that sometimes, heralds make an announcement using music.

    Play the YouTube video ‘London fanfare trumpets – fanfare for a dignified occasion’ (0.33 minutes long).

    Ask the children what instruments they think are playing.

    Play the YouTube video ‘Royal trumpet fanfare as the Queen and her family arrive at Westminster Hall for lunch’ (1.38 minutes long).

    Explain that this fanfare uses several instruments. It is announcing the arrival of the Queen and her family.

  5. Explain that soon, we will be listening once again to the Christmas story. Heralds featured in this story too, but they were called angels.

    In the Christmas story, the first person to be visited by a herald angel was Mary. The angel told Mary that she was going to have a baby. He would be God’s son and she was to name him Jesus.

    The second person to be visited by a herald angel was Joseph, Mary’s fiancé. The angel explained to Joseph that Mary’s baby was a very special child, God’s son, and that God wanted Joseph to care for Jesus as his earthly father.

    The third time herald angels featured in the Christmas story was when a whole host of them visited some shepherds in the fields.

  6. Show Slide 4.

    Ask the children what they think this painting shows.

    Explain that it is called Angels Appearing before the Shepherds, and it was painted by the American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner in around 1910.

    Show Slide 5.

  7. Ask the children whether they think that the announcement of the angels to the shepherds might have sounded like the fanfare we heard earlier that welcomed the Queen.

  8. Point out that the angels brought great news! When the shepherds heard the good news, they immediately hurried to Bethlehem to see the baby.

  9. Tell the children that, in some ways, we too celebrate the great announcement of Jesus’ birth with a fanfare. Church bells ring out on Christmas Day, Christmas carols are played by bands and we have parties to celebrate with music and laughter.

Time for reflection

Explain that it can be easy to become so involved in the excitement of Christmas that we forget the reason why it happens: to celebrate the birth of Jesus. This Christmas, let’s remember that important announcement: that God had sent his son, Jesus, to be our saviour and friend.

Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the fun and excitement of Christmas.
Thank you that people around the world will be celebrating the birth of Jesus.
Please help us all to remember the real meaning of Christmas.
Amen.

Song/music

‘Hark the herald angels sing’, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqooC4ZG75Y (2.48 minutes long)

Publication date: December 2021   (Vol.23 No.12)    Published by SPCK, London, UK.
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