The Reverend Simon Winn, Vicar at St Alfege Church .
Take us through your Christmas Day…
Christmas really ‘begins’ in the weeks before when we are busy with special carol services and community events. On Christmas Eve a team of us prepare for our services, including the 5pm Christingle service and the 11.30pm Midnight Mass, which is preceded by our choir singing carols from 10.45pm. On Christmas morning we have a Holy Communion service at 11am with well-known carols. At each service we take a collection for a specific charity working in our community or further afield. Nothing happens without our large team of volunteers who enable the ministry and worship of St Alfege Church.
Hopefully you get to put your feet up somewhere after being on duty! How will you be spending the rest of the day?
I’ve been ordained 24 years, so our family is used to me being ‘on duty’ at this time of year. I’ll get home and have a quick snooze before helping with our Christmas Day meal – shared with friends from around the world who are currently based in London. We might open some presents later on and enjoy a glass or two of our favourite New Zealand wine.
What’s special about doing your job at this time of year?
You never know who you will cross paths with at Christmas time, including on our Greenwich Advent Windows trail. There are all sorts of opportunities to support and bless other people at this time of year, whether that’s taking communion to the housebound, praying with and helping someone in great need, supporting families from St Alfege School or leading a seasonal service in one of our local almshouses. As a newbie to Greenwich, I’m grateful that we are celebrating the first ‘non socially-distanced’ Christmas in my time here.
What do you love about Greenwich at this time of year?
Stretching my legs beside the river, around town or in the park on clear, cold wintery days and enjoying a pint with friends in a local pub. It’s a very different Christmas to our years in Wellington, New Zealand, where Christmas signalled the start of the summer holidays and people headed off to the beach.
Kim Powell, Community Outreach Manager at Catford Soup Kitchen
Take us through your Christmas Day…
This is the busiest day of the year for us. We have a team of volunteers that go to local supermarkets and work with us to collect all the unsold food which would go to waste. We work throughout the night turning the fresh food into a delicious Christmas dinner. We also have a team of volunteers making the collection area welcoming by putting up decorations and wrapping up gifts. We also get a donation of books from Acorn Book Club which the children are delighted with.
What does the run up to Christmas look like for you?
Around 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted by the UK food industry each year. At Catford Soup Kitchen, we want to make sure that we use food that would normally go to waste and use that food to make good, tasty, nutritious meals. To do this we work with local supermarkets such as Waitrose, The Co-op, Tesco, and The Felix Project. In Lewisham, we have people who are suffering from the cost of living crisis including those who are working. We make sure there are hot, tasty meals, and signpost them to places where they can get additional support and stay warm.
What will you be doing to relax afterwards? Hopefully you get to put your feet up somewhere!
I have not spent a Christmas at home for about five years, which is a similar story for all the family volunteers who work on Christmas Day. This is the first time we will be home for Christmas as our Christmas lunch is taking place on Christmas eve. I usually relax by putting my feet up and spending time with my family and our dog, Milo, then enjoying a late lunch on Boxing Day.
Why do you choose to volunteer at Christmas?
I am the manager of the soup kitchen, but on Saturdays I am a volunteer and it is my pleasure. I have seen how families and people have suffered due to the cost of living crisis, and it is important to me to do as much as I can to help.
What’s your favourite thing about Catford at Christmas?
One of the things I love to do is go to Le Delice café in Hither Green (winner of A Mayor of Lewisham Business Award). It is such a wonderful place to have something to eat and relax with friends. Also one of my favourite parks is Forrester Park, which is an exciting place to relax, have fun with the children, exercise, and also walk your dog.
Greenwich Market stall owner Sue Jenkins
What does the run up to Christmas look like for you?
The run up to Christmas is like being on a treadmill that’s being kranked up faster and faster. I usually start building up my stock of alpaca or woolly sweaters, hats and booties in July and I have a cut-off date mid-November for accepting commissions. I often have a pile of Christmas cards on my hall stand waiting to be posted on Christmas Eve.
Tell us about your business. What do you sell?
My main business, Handmade by Sue Jenkins, is knitwear and crochet design. I started designing patterns as a teenager and then at art college focusing mainly on adults, but now my work at Greenwich Market is selling handmade children’s clothes in natural yarns – cotton, alpaca, merino, bamboo – and knitting patterns. I also design patterns for magazines and take on commissions for all sorts of things.
Have you spotted any trends? Which of your items have been selling particularly well?
People are desperate for woolly socks and jumpers! I only use natural yarns and British wool in my knitwear, and my baby booties are great for keeping little toes warm. But there has been an increase in the number of people asking for socks for much bigger people too – those hoping to keep warm while putting off firing up their central heating.
Speaking of, Greenwich Market is covered but it’s not warm in winter!
How do you prevent yourself getting a chill when you’re behind your stall all day?
There’s a lot of layering going on! I think eight layers is the top-half record and three on the bottom. Fleecy inserts in boots help, as does carpeting the inside of your stall with cardboard boxes. It’s amazing how brilliant an insulator cardboard is. The Coach & Horses does a very good mulled wine and Ideal Coffee stall does excellent coffee and hot chocolate to keep me going.
How will you be spending Christmas Day?
I usually get flung off the treadmill on Christmas Eve and spend three days with my family. We’ve always spent Christmas at home in Greenwich, and even though my kids are now in their twenties, they still like to wake up in their own home with their Santa sacks. After Boxing Day it’s back to the market again.
What do you love about Greenwich at this time of year?
My usual Christmas break is spent running round neighbours’ and friends’ houses delivering cards on Christmas Eve. I love going for a walk around the streets and up to the park looking at the lights and decorations, especially if we manage to walk past a cosy looking pub on the way home – and Greenwich has plenty of those! Our Christmas day traditions involve a manic treasure hunt around the house, catching up with local friends for drinks and presents, and, usually, a walk in Greenwich Park or along the riverside. Then snoozing in front of the telly.
Santa Claus, lodging at the Old Royal Naval College
How has the lead up to Christmas been for you?
As always, I’ve been very, very busy! The reindeer and elves keep me pretty organised, but there are always one or two last-minute present requests to keep me on my toes. This year I’ve been stationed at the Old Royal Naval College, giving storytelling sessions in the Nelson Room. What an amazing place! I love all the paintings of Kings and Queens and Greek myths. I was wondering, however, why nobody painted me up there?
Finally, a day off! How will you be spending it? Hopefully putting your feet up somewhere?
Oh, ho-ho. A day off is a rare thing. By the time I’ve finished circling the world delivering presents, I’d have eaten hundreds of mince pies. You’d think I wouldn’t have room for more, but I do! A nice sit by the fire with my roast dinner and pudding sounds just right to me. No amount of Christmas eve treats would put me off my roast potatoes and parsnips… and Brussels sprouts. It won’t take long before I start thinking about Christmas 2023 though!
What’s your favourite thing about Christmas in Greenwich?
It’s just so very jolly! As you know, I love to eat, so whenever I come to Greenwich, I buy some food from every stall in the market. So delicious! My reindeer and I do like to share some cakes too, and we’re never short of yummy goodies in Greenwich. Food aside, Greenwich has always been a special place to me, as it helps me to get everywhere on time. Without the Observatory to help me tell the time and to show me how to use the stars to navigate, I’d surely get lost! I especially love coming during the Christmas period, as the lights are on, and I can hear some beautiful Carol singing coming from the Chapel of St Peter and St Paul at the Old Royal Naval College. But this year is truly special, as The Museum of the Moon in the Painted Hall is here to keep us all company.