UK compared to USA (Part 2)

It was hot Saturday afternoon and we were strolling around Madison, Georgia, USA, admiring the antebellum houses. These are houses built before the Civil War (1861) and are something of a rarity in Georgia, thanks to the Union General Sherman burning his way from Atlanta to the sea.

We came to a beautiful white Methodist church where people were just leaving. We asked if there had been a wedding, as people seemed dressed as if for a wedding, but it turned out to have been a funeral. We were invited to visit the church, and admired the gorgeous flower arrangements.
We were then asked if we would like to join the wake, being held in the Church Hall next door! This was like no Church Hall we had ever come across in the UK: a two-storey Victorian mansion complete with antique furniture and chandeliers, the only evidence of its current use being that two of the downstairs rooms had been "knocked through" and the space fitted out for services or what the locals call "Sunday School" (not for children but for Bible Study by the adult congregation).
Would we like a drink, some lunch, wine? Our hostess even invited us to "Come and meet my mother". The whole experience was extraordinary.

Would the same thing ever happen in Tarvin? Would members of a funeral party coming out of St Andrew's Church invite total strangers, first into the church and then to the George and Dragon or the Red Lion for lunch or a drink? Unlikely – but just think what impression such hospitality would make on those strangers. It certainly made a big impact on us that Saturday afternoon in Georgia.