Hi there and thanks for visting the Group 142's 2010 fund-raising page.

Thank you to all of you who kindly donated towards the 2009 Pilgrimage.  We had an excellent  time in Lourdes.  The weather was excellent and the children all came back with happy, smiling faces.  The helpers came back exhausted so it must have been a successful week.

I am now well into preparing for the 2010 trip at Easter and need your help again to take another group of special children to Lourdes.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with our work, let me tell you a bit about what we do.

Group 142 is one of about 210 groups that takes children with special needs on holiday to Lourdes in the south of France.  The trust (HCPT) is over 50 years old now and has taken tens of thousands of children from all sorts of different backgrounds to Lourdes.  The trust also takes adults to Lourdes during the summer months to stay at our purpose built accommodation.  Many of them started going with HCPT and are still able to enjoy the benefits offered by the trust.

My Group is 24 years old and I have an excellent team of helpers.  Some new to the group and others who have come for many years.  They all have one thing in common.  They have all decided to give up their time to look after a child in Lourdes for a week giving them 100% care during the week of our trip.  This is a huge commitment.  Not only do they help me to fundraise, but they also have to pay their own fare.

Please help us to raise the money to take our special children on holiday.  They all gain something from the week in their own way.  Some have never been away before.  Others do not have the care that they deserve when they are at home.  Some have been bullied or mistreated and enjoy the opportunity to feel safe and secure and to have some fun.

Please dig deep and help our worthy cause.

On behalf of myself and the children of HCPT, thank you in advance for your kind donation.

Simon O'Farrell

Group Leader