94. A Christmas Service with Lessons, Readings and Carols, Central Criminal Court, 13 December 2023

 

“Defend the children of the poor and punish the wrongdoer” - the words over the original front entrance of the Old Bailey. A building looking more like a prison with the blind figure of Justice on its dome, the Central Criminal Court is a frightening place for many, not just those who face trial, but their families and friends.  But inside this austere building is a heart: the courts do not work in isolation but also serve and are sensitive to the situations of victims, witnesses and offenders. Prisoners and their families are a shared responsibility of us all.  Preventing further offending is a way we can do right for the victims of crime and their families.

The collection at the Christmas service for staff and friends of the Central Criminal Court is one of many functions in the Old Bailey to raise funds for the Sheriffs’ and Recorder’s Fund, helping ex-prisoners into work and a new life since 1808. For further details please see https://sr-fund.org/.

The Grand Hall is a super location for a carol service: with its marble pillars and alcoves it is more like a classical cathedral with similar acoustics.  The Hall was packed with members of the Corporation of London, Livery Masters and other guests for a service led by Her Honour the Revd Sarah Whitehouse KC, whom I had met at a lunch there only a few weeks before.  The organ was played with gusto by Duncan Atkinson KC, formerly Treasury Counsel at the Court.  The readings were given by a cross-section of people who work for or are associated with the Court. They included a moving reading of the poem “Shadows” by D. H. Lawrence, given by Fiona Alder, the Honorary Secondary of the City of London.

……….

And if, in the changing phases of man's life

I fall in sickness and in misery

my wrists seem broken and my heart seems dead

and strength is gone, and my life

is only the leavings of a life:

and still, among it all, snatches of lovely oblivion, and snatches of renewal

odd, wintry flowers upon the withered stem, yet new, strange flowers

such as my life has not brought forth before, new blossoms of me,

then I must know that still

I am in the hands of the unknown God,

he is breaking me down to his own oblivion

to send me forth on a new morning, a new man.

It was a most enjoyable, must do, event which supported the team at the Old Bailey and a very deserving cause.