Sharing our Christmas meal at the Trinity Rooms

Woodpeckers told me about a group who are using the Trinity Rooms, the church hall of Trinity Church which is adjacent to our small local hospital. every Friday it is a warm hub where local people can gather to keep  warm and eat a free meal if they so wished. Then through her work she heard that the Trinity Rooms would open on Christmas Day for people to share a big meal

Woodpeckers offered to help with preparations for the meal on Christmas Day morning and I would go to share the meal. Before that I was invited to visit Camilla and Sridhar for a drink which was delightful. When I eventually arrived at the hub at 1pm Helena suggested I also help with serving out the food to the queues of people which was fun, and I bumped into several people I knew through my market stall.

The meal was a great success with plenty to go round. I was pleased to sit next to a man named George with whom I got on well, and we found we had several areas of our past lives in common. Hopefully we shall meet again, possibly to walk in the local landscapes with our cameras.

As I prepared to leave Helena mentioned that a special guest was arriving, and minutes later in walked Tweedy, the locally famous clown. He is a key member of Giffords Circus, as well as having his own show at the Cheltenham Theatre, and sometimes he appears on the High Street doing a busking show..

Of course within minutes the whole room was in fits of laughter and squeals of delight from the little children all of whom love Tweedy. The light outside was darkening as dusk approached and not much better inside. I couldn’t get very close to his performing space so grabbed a couple of pictures and they will be a fine reminder to me of an unusual and fun Christmas. I hope yours was equally good.

I’ve added an ‘Extra’ of him doing part of his knockabout routine, where everything goes horribly wrong, most of the time. It was very good of hime to add his Christmas gift to everyone’s day. I wondered what some of the refugees who were sharing the meal would have made of this classic type of British comedy routine. I feel sure they will have loved it too.

News Update:
Tweedy was awarded a British Empire Medal in the 2023 King's New Year Honours list. Charles may well have known of Tweedy since he lived at Highgrove, only about eight miles from Stroud, and may have visited Giffords Circus which often perform in villages near here.