A PENSIONER who received maundy money from the Queen today spoke of his everyday life collecting 20p pieces from town centre shoppers.

Richard Walsh, 73, is more used to selling copies of the Salvation Army's weekly newspaper The War Cry outside Marks and Spencer on Friday and Saturday mornings.

But he travelled to London to be presented with silver coins from the head of the Church of England on Maundy Thursday, at Westminster Abbey -- a date in the Easter calendar signifying the humble act of Jesus when he washed his disciples' feet.

During the service, The Queen approaches recipients and hands them the coins in a purse. A letter sent to Mr Walsh instructed him to reply merely "Thank you, Your Majesty" or "Thank you, Ma'am," unless spoken to personally by the Queen.

Mr Walsh, of Gorse Road, Blackburn, who attended the service with his wife Stella, said: "It is a unique occasion. It is a privilege for any organisation to be chosen and from a personal point of view it is a privilege to be chosen by the Salvation Army to represent it.

"There are only one or two occasions when the monarch comes to the people -- even if you are being knighted you go to the Queen." The task of encouraging people to buy The War Cry on the streets has been entrusted to Mr Walsh, a member of the Salvation Army for 22 years, since he retired five years ago. He sells about 90 copies a week and anyone who has not seen one lately would probably be surprised at its content -- two weeks ago the front page was devoted to the EastEnders' cliffhanger about the shooting of Phil Mitchell.

"When I was working I used to go round the public houses selling The War Cry every Friday night," he said. "But things have changed over the years. They have bingo and concerts and they don't want to be bothered with you. If you want to sell the War Cry they have to stop playing bingo.

"In the early days the pub was the only social centre for the working population. Now I sell it in the street because there is a tendency for the public to stop and talk to you."

In some Christian churches the Maundy Thursday ceremony is marked by the symbolic or actual washing of people's feet.

It is in commemoration of the Last Supper, when Jesus washed his disciples' feet before his arrest and crucifixion. Nationally, the day is marked by the British sovereign distributing maundy money.

Each recipient is given two purses: a red one containing "an allowance of £3 for clothing," "£1.50 in lieu of provisions" and "£1 for redemption of the Sovereign's gown" and a white purse which contains specially minted silver coins in penny, twopence, threepence and fourpence pieces -- "as many pence as the Sovereign is of age."

The Maundy money tradition started with an updated issue of hammered coinage attributed to Charles II in 1662. The first full set was issued in 1670. Salvation Army Factfile The Salvation Army is a registered charity working in 107 countries worldwide.

It has 890 local church centres and 93 social service centres which include 50 centres for single homeless people, 20 centres for the elderly, six substance misuse centres and a clothing recycling centre.

The church and social service centres have 5,531 employees including Salvation Army officers (ministers).

It operates prison visiting services and a family tracing service handling 5,000 cases annually, with a success rate of 83 per cent.