Thanks for visiting the HCPTGroup 35 fundraising page. Please dig deep and sponsor Group 35 for HCPT - The Pilgrimage Trust! This is amost efficient way for us to raise money and every single penny really helps.

Arrangements for our Easter Week 2010 pilgrimage are now well in hand. For travel in 2010  we are reverting to  train travel  by taking Eurostar to Paris Gare du Nord then switching platforms at the same station in Paris to take an HCPT chartered  overnight train to Lourdes. Thankfully the  fare is considerably cheaper than in 2009 when we travelled from Gatwick,  but at  £450 each  for helpers many of whom are  young students  and rather more for each of the 7 disabled child pilgrims in the group (the pilgrimage is entirely free of cost for the disabled)    donations are  still hugely needed and appreciated.

The story of Lourdes all started with a teenage girl in the 19th Century. She would not be browbeaten by the adult church authorities of the time, into withdrawing the amazing description of her visions of Mary the Mother of Jesus. Eventually her courage, spirit and simple honesty won through so that she just had to be believed. Millions of pilgrims have over the years since then, visited the cave, now called "the grotto", where the teenaged Bernadette saw the apparitions of "the beautiful lady". The pilgrims are old and young, rich and poor, women and men, well and unwell, Catholic and Protestant; Muslim and Jew; Hindu and Sikh or no religion at all and come from all parts of the world. No one but God can see into the heart of another but perhaps our shared experience at this holy place, is that our prayer, whatever that means to us each individually, is valid

HCPT Group 35 has for the past forty  five years or so been part of the annual HCPT Easter pilgrimage to Lourdes. In 2010 we will number  23 pilgrims comprising a doctor and nurse and 14 other helpers travelling with 7 disabled  child pilgrims. The Group Leader is based in Wimbledon London but many come from elsewhere. We stay as a family group in a hotel in Lourdes, sick and able bodied group members alike.

In addition to fares  medicines and and hotel bills; some  donations will be spent on simple things that children the world over enjoy like ice cream and sticky cakes in Lourdes cafes!

Please give as much as you can to encourage our efforts!

If you are a UK taxpayer your donation will be increased by almost a third at no cost to you.

Many thanks for your support.