Swimsuit and Cassock

Anglia Television documentary about catering for the spiritual needs of summer holiday-makers.

Every summer, East Anglia is greeted by an influx of holiday-makers, whose every material need is catered for by town centres, fairgrounds and piers; but what of their spiritual needs? The Reverend A. R. Freeman sets out to investigate whether the church is adaptable and alive enough to meet the needs of this annual invasion of holiday-makers. In Clacton-on-Sea, he meets Canon Tom Pugh, who oversees the work of chaplains stationed at Butlin's Holiday Camps across the country, conducting services and providing pastoral care to campers and staff. On the Norfolk Broads on the first Sunday of August, many holiday-makers gather at the ruins of St Benet's Abbey to hear Launcelot Fleming, Bishop of Norwich deliver a special sermon. Meanwhile, teenagers help to clear a neglected churchyard in Essex, and special services are held for yachtsmen in Suffolk and actors and musicians in Great Yarmouth, where the Salvation Army is also out on the streets. Elsewhere in Norfolk, members of the Methodist Church run a youth holiday hostel in Mundesley, Christian holiday-makers visit the Church of St Helen in Ranworth, open-air services are held on Cromer Beach, and the Roman Catholic Church runs its catechism school for young children in Lowestoft.

Featured Buildings

Church of St Helen, Ranworth; Raxawa, Mundesley; St Benet's Abbey, Norfolk; St Mary's Convent School, Lowestoft

Keywords

Church; Holidays; Religion; Spirituality; Tourism

Other Places

Clacton-on-Sea, Norfolk; Cromer, Norfolk; Great Yarmouth, Norfolk; Lowestoft, Suffolk; Mistley, Essex; Mundesley, Norfolk; Norfolk Broads; Ranworth, Norfolk; Woodbridge, Suffolk