Maundy Thursday Nominees get their coins in the post

But our 4 dedicated servants of the Church in this Diocese who were nominated for their service have instead received special letters from HM The Queen, enclosing the special silver pennies.

Traditionally, from across the country, the same number of men and women as the Monarch's age, which is 94 this year, are invited to attend a ceremony at St George's Chapel in Windsor.

The Maundy Money consists of silver pennies amounting to 94p this year, and £5.50, which in the past was an allowance for clothing and provisions. This year, the allowance includes a £5.00 coin commemorating the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Wordsworth.

Our Nominees this year are:

Val Hunt (pictured), who lives opposite St Giles’ church in Chideock and has served as churchwarden there for many years. She is a loyal servant of the Church and the local community, having also been a Foundation Governor at Symondsbury CE VA Primary School.

Val was the principal ‘mover and shaker’ behind a recent project to install a lavatory in St Giles’ church.

Derick Eadon, who came to Wiltshire from Coventry where he went through the Blitz. His parents had founded the United Reformed Church in Coventry but Derick became an Anglican in order to marry his late wife.

He has lived for most of his long life in Calston where he managed a farm on the Landsdowne/Bowood Estate and now lives in retirement in an estate cottage. He was churchwarden for over 30 years, Chair of the Deanery Synod and pillar of the Church in Calston.

Mary Fishlock has lived for all her life in Mildenhall (pronounced ‘my-nall’), a village outside Marlborough. Although a Methodist, when she learned that St John the Baptist church was in need of a churchwarden, she felt called to respond and has served the Church of England in that capacity and as a deanery synod representative as well as still being connected to the Methodist Church in Marlborough.

She is described as a pillar of the local community with a heart of gold.

Brian Gregory has been the verger at St James in the heart of the Old Town in Poole for the last 6 years. He took on the role at the age of 74 and works tirelessly to help other elderly people in the community by, for example, giving them lifts.

He cleans out the drains and acts as caretaker beyond the call of duty, and does it all for love.