Two kings and a Pearly Queen

To the Age Concern Healthy Living Centre in Southwark Park Road for their annual Christmas dinner and party.

Pictured are the Pearly Queen of Bermondsey, invited along with the clergy to join in today's festvities, and Simone (on the right), the dynamic ever unflappable and cheerful manager of the centre who makes it the vibrant community centre for retired people that it is.

We had a fabulous slap up meal and it was good to hear stories of former times: the days when young girls in the Hartley's jam factory wore clogs to work, and when a lorry took eleven hours to drive from Bermondsey to Warrington, taking cement north, and bringing back south a cargo of wire for making Brillo pads.

Before all of that it was the St James School end of term service in the church. Paul arranged a Christmas quiz of the whole school divided into two teams, the Shepherds led by Mr Myles, assistant head, and the Angels led by Miss Mailey, deputy head.

Excitement reached fever pitch when the teams tied, and we needed a tie-breaker (which was actually going to introduce the point of the talk): 'how many kings are there in the Christmas story?'

The shepherds said 5. The angels said 4. But Paul said 2:the wise men weren't kings and that just leaves Jesus and Herod. And, as Paul said, Herod was only a temporary king.

Unlike Jesus.