AYLSHAM Parish Church, in Norfolk, continued its tradition of providing a Christmas Day lunch within the town hall for anyone who might otherwise have spent the day alone, or found it a difficult day. The initiative was that of the Team Rector, whose son had died before Christmas just a few years ago.
The Team Rector, Canon Julie Boyd, and her husband, Matthew, lost their 20-year-old son, Andrew, shortly before Christmas in 2017, when she was Team Rector of Gaywood, in King’s Lynn. Describing how that had affected the family’s approach to Christmas, she said: “For us, as a family, it was probably the most dreadful of years through which nothing felt normal, nothing made sense, and we would have liked to do something different.
“We also recognised that we weren’t alone, that there have been so many other individuals who also needed to embrace Christmas in a recent way. To make it a day through which we come together as a community of care seems to me to be the proper solution to have a good time Christmas; for surely that’s the explanation for the season.”
Sixty-five people sat all the way down to a three-course Christmas lunch, during which there was live music from a saxophonist, and the King’s broadcast was shown. The meal was sponsored by Aylsham Round Table and Waitrose; guests booked their free place prematurely.
A community Christmas lunch was also held at St Mary Magdalene’s, Gorleston, south of Great Yarmouth. The Vicar, the Revd Matthew Price, said that the experience of getting company on Christmas Day had been wonderful for quite a lot of people, each guests and volunteers. “Some come who’re homeless and were in temporary accommodation. Others come who’re elderly and isolated. Some have mental -health problems, or are estranged from their families,” he said.
“We also welcome individuals who have superb jobs and loving families, but, as a result of broken marriages or relationships, find they’re going to be alone for this at some point and wish to redeem it by volunteering. And then there are others who want their children to learn find out how to give from a spot of plenty — so that they select not to only indulge them at home, but bring them to come back to serve others.
“Together, probably the most wonderful, spirited community is formed.”
