Don't laugh ... but in my days as an altar boy .. which are long over I might add. I do recall that everyone involved loved doing a christening, a wedding or even a funeral.
After the event we nearly always had a visit to the vestry from at least one member of the congregation. 'He' as a rule would usually stuff a wad of notes into the priests hand.. ''a little something for you and the boys Father''. The priest would then have a divvy up and the altar boys would go away minted.
So you lot talking about tenners make me think I must have seen the best days. Allowing for inflation, those wads would have been hundreds in today's money .. Me and my mate Nailit were thinking of joining up again. But nah, not for tenners !
Andy .. the priests I knew would lay their newspapers over the large set of drawers that held their garments. They then highlighted their horses for the day and put the lot on whatever they fancied.
Having often worked for priests up until recently, I can assure you their is a certain element who are still doing exactly the same today, only they now have a laptop and no longer send the altar boys to the bookies !