AYLSHAM Parish Church, in Norfolk, continued its tradition of providing a Christmas Day lunch in 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 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 the most dreadful of years in which nothing felt normal, nothing made sense, and we needed to do something different.

“We also recognised that we weren’t alone, that there were so many other people who also needed to embrace Christmas in a new way. To make it a day in which we come together as a community of care seems to me to be the perfect way to celebrate Christmas; for surely that is the reason for the season.”

Sixty-five people sat 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 in advance.

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 having company on Christmas Day had been wonderful for a variety of people, both guests and volunteers. “Some come who are homeless and were in temporary accommodation. Others come who are elderly and isolated. Some have mental -health problems, or are estranged from their families,” he said.

“We also welcome people who have very good jobs and loving families, but, due to broken marriages or relationships, find they are going to be alone for this one day and want to redeem it by volunteering. And then there are others who want their children to learn how to give from a place of plenty — so they choose not to just indulge them at home, but bring them to come to serve others.

“Together, the most wonderful, spirited community is formed.”