The interesting life

In our latest customer story, we find out more about the interesting life of lay minister Les Lewis and discover why he was recently presented with money from The King.

I grew up in Ferryhill and I started going to church when I was young. I was in the choir for a long time and then when I was in my 20s, the vicar at the time asked me if I would be interested in going on a selection course to be a Reader, which is now known as a licensed lay minister.

After three years training, I was licensed in 1978 and have been preaching, teaching and taking services in the church ever since.

I do lots of things in the community, including Remembrance Sunday services and I am also licenced to preside at funerals, of which I have done over 250 in my time.

During my working life I started off as a Joiner working for Stephenson’s in Bishop Auckland and I remember having to get the bus from Ferryhill to go to Spennymoor and then onto Bishop as we would get picked up at 7.30am to go to our jobs.

I went on to work for other organisations, including the council. I had trouble with my heart, so I started driving a minibus which pick up and drop off young people who were not in mainstream education and attended a training centre in Ferryhill.

I ended my career working for Bishop Auckland College where I trained young joiners and even now, I still run into people I trained when they were was young.

Early this year, I received a letter from Buckingham Palace asking me if I would accept Maundy Money from the King at Durham Cathedral before Easter Sunday. This is a special service in which the King expresses his gratitude to those who serve and volunteer in their communities and the ceremony dates back centuries when the sovereign would distribute alms to the poor.

I thought it was a joke at first and I still have no idea who nominated me but when I realised it was genuine, I obviously I said yes and that I would be honoured to go. I went to the service with my son.

The number of people chosen always matches the age of the Monarch so this year there were 76 men and 76 women. The King presented me two purses: one red and one white. The red purse contained ordinary money, which include a £5 coin representing the Queen Mother, and the white purse contained the actual Maundy coins, which are silver and worth the same number of pence as the monarch’s age. The coins are legal tender produced by the Royal Mint and came in one, two, three and four pence pieces.

It was wonderful meeting The King and Queen and to be able to share the occasion with my son Jonathan and daughter Rebecca, it was a real honour.

One of my hobbies is making walking sticks, so I sent one to The King at Buckingham Palace and got a lovely letter saying he had received it and that was already being used at Balmoral.