Parish Pilgrimage to Walsingham

A group from St James & St Paul went on pilgrimage to Walsingham from Friday 8th June to Sunday 10th June.

The emphasis of the weekend was that of pilgrimage and the place and example of Our Lady in our lives and our Salvation. 

There were a couple of opportunities for fellowship over the odd half of Norfolk ale….

If you would like to know more about Walsingham and the work of the Shrine visit their website or make contact with Fr John.

An Account of our 2006 Parish Pilgrimage

On the 10th February, a group of us from St James’ went on pilgrimage to the Shrine of our Lady of Walsingham for the weekend. We drove there in four carloads, stopping only for essential sustenance (or chips anyway!), and arrived in time for dinner.

The accommodation was really nice, very cosy rooms in a rambling building; everyone bumped their heads at least once! The whole place had a lovely homely feel to it, there were rooms where you could relax and watch TV, read a book or just chat. We had our first visit to the Holy House after dinner, (which was lovely, the food was excellent all weekend).

The Holy House has this really peaceful atmosphere and you can light candles there. After that, we adjourned to the local pub, which was really good fun as there were games like Kerr-Plunk and Buckaroo to play as you drank!

Enjoying a drink in The Bull

The next morning we all awoke bright and breezy for mass at 9:30 in the Holy House. After this we had Stations of the Cross around the grounds, luckily the weather was perfect until Sunday. We then had lunch and had some time to ourselves.

The great thing about Walsingham is there’s loads of time and space just to do nothing, or think, or pray, which is quite rare in a lot of people’s lives. Later in the afternoon we walked to the Roman Catholic Slipper Chapel, which is about 2 miles away. Apparently, pilgrims used to walk the two miles in bare feet. We decided against that though!

The Slipper Chapel

It was a really pretty walk, with lots of fields and streams, with large numbers of excitable sheep. After some prayers and lighting candles we walked back to the Shrine, and looked at some of the shops in Walsingham, which sell all sorts of things like icons and crucifixes and some delicious fudge! That evening we had benediction in the Holy House and then more fun in the pub.

On the Sunday morning we joined the other pilgrims for Mass in the parish church, and then we had benediction, sprinkling at the well and our final visit to the Holy House after lunch.

The Holy House

The whole Walsingham experience is really amazing, it wasn’t nearly as full on and structured as I'd imagined. You have lots of free time to spend with friends or take some time alone. I think we all felt spiritually refreshed as we travelled home, and I would recommend this amazing experience to anyone and encourage you to participate in the next parish pilgrimage.

Clare Walker

The National Pilgrimage

This takes place on the second Bank Holiday Monday of May every year. This is a good day out, an opportunity to visit the Shrine, join in the Mass, take part in the procession around the streets of the village and catch up with old friends.

The Procession of the statue of OLW

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