The final two photographs taken by Les Clark at the Lourdes 2008 pilgrimage have been posted at gallery.mac.com/middlesbroughdiocese#100441

This year’s Diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes was a wonderful experience in this special year - 150 years since Our Lady appeared to Bernadette.

It is 50 years since I first went to Lourdes as a young woman with my mother. At that time, Middlesbrough and Leeds pilgrims travelled together by train. The first parish priest of Our Lady’s Church in York, Fr Edward Ward, had a great devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes and he began a savings scheme about 18 months before the pilgrimage was due to take place in May 1958. The train journey, as you can imagine, was quite long in those days and we sat up in our seats all through the night on the French train, trying to fall asleep. However, it was interesting seeing the countryside, especially as we drew closer to Lourdes.