Last week, Holy Trinity in Malvern hosted a special festive ‘Messy Vintage’ service, with people coming to sing carols, create a Christmas card and enjoy refreshments together.
LLM Eileen Tomlin has been leading Messy Vintage in Malvern since Christmas 2021, initially in St Matthias and now in Holy Trinity. The service always follows the same format with a craft interspersed with well known hymns or carols and a simple Christian Message. The whole service lasts around an hour, with the toddler group which meets in the hall next door joining in for a song at the end. Everyone then stays for tea and cake.
Eileen said: “We have a number of regular people who come, the oldest being over 100! They come from different churches and some travel quite a way to be with us. Many of our congregation have dementia or other health issues and we make sure it’s a very relaxed atmosphere.”
Messy Vintage takes place about four times a year and follows the liturgical seasons. Windsor Court Luxury Care Home brings some of their residents in a minibus and other people are brought by friends or family.
Michelle is the Hospitality Manager at Windsor Court. She said: “It is a lovely opportunity to get residents out of the home to a place where they can meet others. It is not too far from us and people really enjoy coming and having a general chat.”
The Mayor of Malvern Town, Marilyn Banks was invited to the Christmas service. She said: “I used to take my Grandson to Messy Church and when I heard about Messy Vintage, I thought it was a great idea. The format of the afternoon offers a chance to be creative and helps get the conversation going, but there’s also no pressure to talk because everyone is busy creating!”
Retired Mayor, Graham Myatt was also at the service last week. He said: “I have enjoyed today, it was great to see people coming together and praying – people from across the community praising God!”
Messy Vintage is part of Elieen’s work as an Anna Chaplain to older people. She is also supported by a good team.
Vicar of Holy Trinity and St James, Becky Elliot, said: “Messy Vintage is a lovely thing for us to have at Holy Trinity and it is great to welcome this group of people into our space. It is also a joy to see the toddler group and some of the older members of our community coming together. Eileen does a great job.”
Find out more about Messy Vintage https://www.messychurch.brf.org.uk/latest/projects/messy-vintage/
or Anna Chaplaincy https://www.annachaplaincy.org.uk/
