Since the 1890s, members of Mansfield Old Meeting House Unitarian Church have distributed hot cross buns in Mansfield on Good Friday.

The tradition follows the wishes of Mary Mallatratt, whose Will left money for the distribution of buns on that day to the poor children of the town.

Usually the distribution has taken place from the Old Meeting House and in the surrounding streets of Mansfield town centre.

Last year, however, the charitable event was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic so this year the Old Meeting House committee decided that to slightly change the arrangement, but still maintain the spirit of Mary Mallatratt’s legacy.  

They agreed to donate hot cross buns to a local foodbank and sought to partner with local supermarkets to add further buns to the donation. 

 Morrisons supermarket in Mansfield Woodhouse donated eight dozen buns and during Easter week Paul Frost, chairperson of the Old Meeting House committee, collected them from Morrisons community champion Amanda Hamilton (top) and delivered them to the Sherwood Forest Foodbank (below), run by Trussell Trust, at Turner Hall, Mansfield Woodhouse. 

Paul said: “We are very happy that we could continue the charitable tradition of offering hot cross buns at Easter in the current difficult circumstances.

We would like to thank Morrisons at Mansfield Woodhouse for their generosity and also thank the Trussell Trust for all the valuable work that it does.”