Church of Clown

I’ve been to church twice recently and while both events were very different in location and style, they were similar in their blend of prayers and performance. In December I attended a Christmas Carol Service by the Friends of Columbia for Social Aid featuring a performance by Venezuelan pianist Clara Rodríguez and today I went to the Joseph Grimaldi annual memorial service featuring some clowning by Mattie, Sonny and Rainbow, Susie Oddball, Salvo, Franco et al. The former service took place in St Martins in the Fields with music by composer Ariel Ramirez. The latter took place in the tiny Church of the Holy Trinity in Dalston with kids sitting in the front pews laughing at the clowns’ antics during their short performance interludes. The congregational clowns appeared in Sunday hats that perhaps wouldn’t look out of place at Ascot. We then retired to the church hall for some fine clowning and generous posing by the clowns for the many photographers. Visit the clown gallery to see more pictures of Sonny and Rainbow, Susie Oddball, Mattie and others. The amazing 92 years young Garibaldi, the oldest member of Clowns International, features on the clown page of this website and Franco is the clown featured in this post.