St Clement Danes

For a child-friendly atmosphere in the heart of London, head along to St Clement Danes’ - especially in the run-up to Easter when they hold their famous Oranges and Lemons service. The first line of the English nursery rhyme is ‘ “Oranges and lemons”, say the bells of St Clement’s’ and the bells of this church on the Strand have indeed been known to ring out the tune. St Clement Eastcheap must also have some claim to being the church featured in the rhyme but the children don’t seem bothered by mere technicalities. Their special Easter service – a bit like the Christingle service at Christmas - typifies their emphasis on providing good old-fashioned spiritual fun for kids. At Easter, children are given an orange and a lemon on their way out of church, a tradition dating back to 1920 when the Danish community of the time made a donation of the fruits to celebrate the bells ringing out for the first time since 1913. St Clement Danes was almost destroyed in the Blitz but was restored in 1957 as the central church of the RAF.