Holy Week and Easter Across the Deanery

Palm Sunday

Procession by St Michael and All Angels, Barnes

Donkey Tales from Barnes

Cheryl Cole who runs the office at St Mary’s in Barnes says that one of her most unusual tasks every year is hiring a donkey for the Palm Sunday Service. The donkey comes courtesy of the marvellously named company Dashing Donkeys.

We hear that this year Cheryl was expecting a donkey called Tubby Tabitha to do the honours but at the eleventh hour Tabitha was substituted with Stubborn Penny. The responsibility of looking after Stubborn Penny fell to parishioner Cate Summers who is an experienced horsewoman. Cate says that Penny was a lovely donkey but that her nickname was well deserved as nothing would entice her to enter the church. Nevertheless, she was a huge hit with younger members of the congregation with donkey rides around the churchyard being a hot ticket.

Unfortunately, the horse box due to transport Stubborn Penny home broke down leaving her temporarily stranded at St Mary’s, a disappointment which she took in her stride as she was happy to remain in the churchyard, providing gardening services (grass trimming and fertilisation) free of charge.

Over at St Michael and All Angels, Barnes, where their Palm Sunday service featured a stablemate of Stubborn Penny, handy churchyard grazing wasn’t available, so a garden in Elm Bank Gardens was co-opted as a temporary home for Penny’s companion Miss Zenna, who, by all accounts, was a beautifully behaved animal.

from the Barnes Village Bugle April 2024 Newsletter