Silchester residents welcome back Palm Sunday walk

Dozens of villagers – and Alfie the donkey – made good use of the fine weather by turning out for the annual Silchester Palm Sunday walk.

The walk, which takes place on the Sunday before Easter, celebrates Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem on a donkey in the days before the Last Supper.

The walk started at the village hill, where minister Rob Young replicated Jesus sending his disciples for the donkey by hiding Alfie around the corner from the hall, and then sending children to go fetch him.

The group of around 50 then made their way up Whistlers Lane and Bramley Road to St Mary the Virgin Mission Church, and then towards the village’s Roman ruins – stopping in the centre near where there was potentially a Christian church to finish the Palm Sunday story.

The walk – which has been going for more than 30 years – then finished at St Mary the Virgin Church on the east side of the ruins.

The acting vicar Rob Young said the event had gone “really well” and had been welcomed back by the community after it had to be cancelled the last two years due to the pandemic.

He said: “It’s embraced by the community every year, it’s something they want to do.

“People said they really missed it the last couple of years – it was virtual last year and we made a film.”

The group also sang hymns and had hot cross buns and coffee at the final church to celebrate the beginning of Easter.