Parishioners had put out enough chairs in the grounds of Christ Church in Armley, Leeds, to seat about 80 people for their Coronation Big Lunch – but it was starting to become clear they may have underestimated.
Helped by sunny weather on Sunday, numbers were nearly twice as high, and it was not long before pews were being brought outside to seat the diverse gathering, one of more than 67,000 Big Lunches being held across the bank holiday weekend as part of the official coronation celebrations.
Tables with union flag tablecloths were clustered around the soot-blackened Victorian building, which was adorned with bunting and balloons. Christ Church was built in 1872 by a coal merchant and funded in large part by local people – a community spirit that has continued through to the present day.
“So many people have chipped in,” said the organiser, Rachel Arnold, sporting a curly red, white and blue wig recycled from the Queen’s jubilee. “I’m so pleased.”
Members of the royal family got involved on Sunday, with the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh attending a Big Lunch at Cranleigh in Surrey, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence visiting a community street party in Swindon, and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie heading to one in Windsor.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, hosted one at Canterbury Cathedral and Rishi Sunak held a Big Lunch outside the door of No 10, at which he was joined by the US first lady, Jill Biden.
The prime minister and his family sat down with guests at two long tables covered in white linen, with vases of tulips and King Charles III mugs. The family dog, Nova, sported a union flag bandanna.
Downing Street guests enjoyed dishes including coronation quiches, coronation chicken, sausage rolls and smoked salmon, sourced from around the UK, including beef from Gloucestershire, which was served in yorkshire puddings, Scottish Loch Duart salmon, Northern Irish soda bread and ice-cream from Wales.
In Leeds, the menu was slightly more international. Families spoke to each other in a variety of accents and laughed as they tucked into burgers, Iranian chicken, pasta, cakes, Nigerian jollof rice, pizza and salad.
That was not before the crowd took a short break from their buzzy chatter to listen to a prayer from Arnold’s husband, Phil, the vicar at Christ Church, which included a thank-you to the king.
The music and the seductive smell of the barbecue were enough to tempt people from redbrick back-to-back homes nearby, who were welcomed and encouraged by members of the church.
Armley is one of the most deprived wards in Leeds, where times have been gruelling under austerity. That is why everything from the food to the face painting at Christ Church on Sunday was “pay as you feel”.
Earlier in the week, a woman had wanted to bring her children, but admitted she only had 13p to spare, Arnold recalled. “I said, ‘Come along, everyone’s welcome.’ It’s important to us that we serve the local community. It’s a blessing that we can invite people to be part of that.”
Alesya Moiseenko, who came to the UK as a refugee from Belarus 20 years ago, gestured around at the children wearing paper crowns and with red, white and blue painted faces.
“Today is beautiful. You look around in the church grounds and see children running. It’s amazing,” she said. “You might be surprised how people in this area come together.”
Was she a fan of the royal family? “Of course! There’s a lot to like about them. I could start listing everything and keep going for days. The main thing is that they can pull the country together.”
June Cockburn, a curate at the church, was more hesitant. “I wouldn’t say I’m a royalist, but I believe in live and let live.”
She said in areas such as Armley, anything that lifted the mood was worth celebrating. “Put it this way: we wouldn’t be having this if it wasn’t for the coronation.”
Guests at the lunch were grateful for the opportunity. “Armley is a melting pot of different people,” said Robert Spence, who was back home from London for the bank holiday visiting his family. “It’s a place where you can still see the community is valued by people. It takes a lot of work.”
There had been concerns that such a generous volume of food brought by members of the community might go to waste, but the queues put paid to that notion.
As the food dwindled, Spence was eyeing up the remnants. He said: “The paella is delicious; I’m going back for seconds.”
