Claire Shanks wries,

Dear Friends and Family,

This year, the HCPT York Group 122 has decided to organise a special event and put on a Summer Ball. We are privileged to be able to hold this at Hilton Hotel in York with Michelle McManus (Pop Idol winner, You are what you eat) as guest speaker at the event.

The pilgrimage itinerary for 2008 can be downloaded in pdf form from here.

Details are also posted as separate items on this site.

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The Blessed Sacrament Procession, a Diocesan event, takes place at 5pm on the Prairie which is on the opposite bank of the River Gave to the Grotto.

The Charity Night organised by St Bernadette’s Lourdes Fund (Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough) was a great success socially and financially. The amount raised was a wonderful £3,900 which will help to send lots of worthy people to Lourdes.

Thanks to all who helped in any way.

Bernie O'Donnell

Last year the death of Fr Kevin Cronin was announced in the Voice. Kevin’s sisters, Julia and Mary, have generously donated £600 of his estate to the Knights of St Columba Lourdes sick fund. On behalf of the Knights I wish to express our deepest gratitude for this generous gesture. Kevin and I embarked on our first pilgrimage in 1973. It has often been said that this pilgrimage helped to confirm Kevin’s realisation that he was to become a priest.

George Metcalfe

Grand Knight (Council 29)

Lourdes was a very different place on Monday 11th February 2008 to the town it had been on the same day in 1858. On the Prairie opposite the Grotto, where Our Lady appeared for the first time to Bernadette, about 70,000 people descended for Mass. Over 800 priests and 25 bishops attended the Mass with pilgrims from all over the world. The day was cold, as you would expect for February, but the sun shone and people were just happy to be there.

Paul Griffiths will be arranging the first meetings for 2008 of all Brancardiers and anyone interested in our work very shortly.

Preparations for the next Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes are well under way. The dates for the 2008 pilgrimage are 23rd – 30th May. This will be a special year as it is the 150th Anniversary since Our Lady first appeared to Bernadette.

To be cared for by the medical and nursing team on the pilgrimage you must be a Registered Sick Pilgrim. (Or VIP as we like to say). Anyone who is not registered sick who becomes unwell in Lourdes would usually seek help via their tour operator who will arrange for them to be seen by a local French Doctor. This allows the pilgrimage doctors to give all their attention to the VIP’s in their care.

This year was not the first time I had taken part in the Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes: I had been previously as part of the Newlands group in 1998 and also with a group of college friends, taking part in the music group in 2000, so I thought I knew what to expect, but this year turned out to be very different.

photo of new St Therese School banner

Thanks to Christine Renshaw of St Thérèse of Lisieux Primary School, Ingleby Barwick for the photo of the new school banner.

It was the first time that their school banner had been taken to Lourdes.