Real-life camels aren’t what you’d expect to see on the streets of west London on a cold winter’s evening, but St Etheldreda with St Clement ‘Camels and carols’ drew a large crowd this Christmas, with no one getting the hump.

Accompanied by steel drums and a brass band, around 5,000 people joined members of the church as they walked around the streets of Fulham, stopping to sing carols in the park and outside a local pub.

The event was the brainchild of Fr Ross Gunderson, who arrived at St Eth’s in 2018 with a plan to revitalise the small church congregation – and plant new worshipping communities from it. 

Inviting locals to join in with the ancient Christian tradition of procession was a way of bringing joy and the love of God to the streets of Fulham, said Rev Eva Webb Sheen. “There were lots of happy faces and big smiles seeing three camels walking the streets.”