Fifty Years of Helping Pilgrims

To mark the 50th Anniversary, HCPT South West Region will be holding a ‘Bumper Funday’ at St Brendan’s Catholic College, Broomhill Road, Brislington, Bristol on Sunday 16 July. The event kick-of at 12.00 pm and continues until 4.30 pm.

All present, past helpers, friends, children and their families are invited to attend. There will be many attractions including face painting, magic show, Cookie the clown, mini Olympics, treasure hunt, balloon modelling and much more. Please bring a packed lunch. Tea’s, coffee, soft drinks will be available. The day will end with the celebration of Mass at 3.30 pm

Up to 6,000 people will attend the Easter 2006 Pilgrimage to Lourdes from the UK, Republic of Ireland West Indies, Slovakia, USA and other parts of the world. Amongst them will be some 200 people from the Clifton Diocese. They will experience the fantastic experience of a week in the special town of Lourdes.

HCPT - The Pilgrimage Trust was formed in 1956 when Michael Strode, a young doctor at the time, took four children with disabilities to Lourdes. From the outset he insisted that the children should be treated just like other pilgrims, and should be accommodated in hotels rather than the institutional hospices as they had been before.

Fifty years on HCPT take around 2,000 children with disabilities, or social needs, on a Pilgrimage holiday each Easter. The children come from all walks of life and may belong to any religious background or none at all. The children and helpers travel in small family groups from all over the UK and Ireland as well as groups from Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, USA and the West Indies. It is the largest Pilgrimage to travel from the UK.

The Pilgrimage holiday features visits to the Lourdes Grotto and religious devotions, outings to local attractions, or cafés and villages high up amidst the spectacular scenery of the French Pyrenees. Some groups travel to the beautiful costal towns on the Bay of Biscay.

The whole aim of the week is to give the children a safe, exciting and enjoyable holiday infused with the warmth and affection of caring friends surrounded by the constant love of Our Lady of Lourdes.

In 1967 Sister Frances Dolores, an Irish Sister of Charity based in Bath, started the first Clifton based group. Today, ten family groups from Cheltenham, Swindon, Bath, Stroud, Bridgwater, Devizes and Bristol, plus a group of sixth form pupils from St Peter’s High School in Gloucester, will take part in the 50th Anniversary Pilgrimage. They will also be joined by the ‘golden oldies group’, a group of past helpers who have not travelled for some years, but wish to join in the 50th Celebrations. Some 120 children from the diocese will experience the wonderful joy of Lourdes. They will be helped to do this by an army of volunteer helpers, nurses, doctors and chaplains.

If you would like information of how a child with social, special needs of any faith or none, can join a HCPT Easter Pilgrimage, or would if you would like to accompany a group as a voluntary helper, please contact Father Tom Finnegan (HCPT South West Chair) or visit the HCPT website.

Helpers fundraise throughout the year to pay for the children’s fares. If you would like to make a donation towards helping a child travel to Lourdes then please request a bequest form from Father Tom Finnegan, St. Teresa’s Presbytery, 71 Gloucester Road North, Filton, Bristol BS34 7PL or email tom.finnegan@cliftondiocese.com.
Useful URL : http://www.hcpt.org.uk