Families tuck in to ‘big lunch’ with King Charles impressionist
Dozens of families attended a sunny coronation celebration in Fratton as St Mary’s Church hosted a ‘big lunch’.
As part of the nationwide Eden Project Communities ‘Big Lunch’ scheme, the church grounds were open for people to eat picnics, with some refreshments on sale. Entertainment on offer included a brass band, ukulele music from the Pompey Pluckers, and local actor Dan McCrohan who delighted attendees by performing as a royal footman and as King Charles himself.
Mr McCrohan said: ‘It’s absolutely wonderful. I did it at QA (Hospital) a couple of days ago and it was very rewarding. It gives you that licence to go around and talk to all sorts of different people of all ages. It’s very lovely to do that and to play a very small part in a historical occasion.’
Bell-ringer David Mattingly came to celebrate with his wife Jenny, son Ben, three, and daughter Rebecca, four. David and Rebecca rang bells at the cathedral on the day of the coronation.
‘We’ ve got about six learners who are all very keen to ring and yesterday we had a very good opportunity to do so. Today was a bit more of a social aspect to integrate them into the church and the local community. We rang for the coronation, we saw the service on the big screen in the cathedral.’
Eric Wilson, who is from Scotland but has lived in Portsmouth for more than 30 years, attended with his wife, step-son and grandchildren. Eric said: ‘We knew there was a thing going on at the church so we came on down with the kids to play around. It’s very nice. It could have done with some more people being here but it’s been really good. The music has been really, really good.’
St Mary’s canon Father Bob White, who helped to organise the event, said: ‘It’s great to see the community coming together, from all sorts of different ages, background sand interests .’
The church also screened the ceremony itself on a large screen on Saturday, and following the Big Lunch held a service of thanksgiving to mark the end of the weekend’s festivities.
Liz Latcham, one of the Pompey Pluckers who performed, said: ‘It’s absolutely brilliant. We do lots of events. We had one yesterday, we had one the day before and we’re going to another one now – to a street party. Our two charities are the Solent Diabetes Association and The Moving on Project. Every penny we get goes towards the charities. We just love playing the ukulele.’