ST PAUL’S PARISH WALK FOR HCPT

 

About 50 parishioners of St Paul’s Catholic Church, Haywards Heath and 8 dogs gathered at midday at Worth Abbey on Saturday 8^th March 2003 to walk the eight miles through the countryside back to Haywards Heath to raise money to send handicapped children to Lourdes after Easter with Group 71. 

 

After a short prayer by the chaplain of the group Fr Paul Turner (son of Brian & Ann), we were on our way through the grounds of the Abbey including walking through the ‘quiet’ area with beautiful still ponds and rocks.  We continued through lovely countryside, although it was rather muddy. After a couple of hours we eventually reached Ardingly Reservoir where we stopped for a short break.  We continued on our way after the break and the going became more difficult as the boggy conditions deteriorated and the mud caked our boots and trousers.  About four hours later we finally reached the long, steep road up to St Paul’s Church where on arrival we were greeted by the new leader of Group 71, Andrew Harvey.

 

Haywards Heath has a long tradition with HCPT.  It was there that the idea was born way back in 1957 when a Dr Strode took a small group of handicapped children together with helpers and a couple of Priests on a pilgrimage to Lourdes.  Today some 2,000 children with disabilities and over 3,000 helpers travel to Lourdes each Easter with one aim which is to give each child in their care the holiday of a lifetime.   The Parish has been walking for HCPT for about eight years with varying distances, routes and difficulties.

 

This year two children from St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Haywards Heath will be travelling with the group to Lourdes together with other handicapped children from the area.

 

It costs £456 for the airfare and accommodation for one child and our Parish sponsored walk will go a long way towards the costs. We hope to have raised over £3,000 this year when all the money has been collected.