The English tradition of Mothering Sunday was shaped by a lady called Constance Smith, who in 1913 looked back into the church´s traditions from pre-Reformation times, and discovered that, on Laetare Sunday, the middle Sunday of Lent, people were allowed a small break from the austerity of Lent, which is the reason why it is also known as ‘Refreshment Sunday’.

And so, in 1920, the pre-reformation tradition, where people would return to their home for a day in the middle of Lent, was revived, and became associated with another tradition on this day, of baking a simnel cake - a light fruit cake with a layer of marzipan in the middle and another on top.

Many youngsters worked away from home, as apprentices or domestic servants, and were given the day off to visit their mother. As they walked along the country lanes, they would pick wild flowers to take to church or to give to their mum, just as we do to this day.

Pope John Paul 1st, the Pope who lasted for only 33 days, said this: “God is our father, yet even more so, God is our mother”. For those qualities of motherhood that we remember on this day – care, warmth, responsibility, comfort, fairness, love, healing - are there aplenty in our God.