About the Group
This page will tell you about the history and work of HCPT - The Pilgrimage Trust, and also where Group 171 fits into it all.
Group 171
Group 171 is one of the 'family groups' that takes children to Lourdes on the HCPT Pilgrimage each easter. Group 171 is the HCPT group for Skelmersdale and West Lancashire, and we take children aged 7-18 with disabilities or other needs. The group usually takes between eight and ten children in any one year, and we like to take a different group of children each year, in order to give more kids the opportunity to visit the wonderful place that is Lourdes.
Each family group that travels to Lourdes with HCPT is led by a Group Leader who is supported by a deputy leader and a number of helpers, who each pay their own fare, in order to go to Lourdes and look after the children during the week.
The group travels to Lourdes by aeroplane on Holy Saturday, returning the following Saturday. While in Lourdes, we stay in a comfortable hotel, in a quiet location, yet within easy walking distance of the town centre. The hotel is where we eat all our meals (except picnics!), have the occasional party, and of course, sleep. As a group we have loads of fun, going on Easter egg hunts, having parties, competing in our very own ‘sports day’, visiting the town château, and taking excursions to either Gavarnie in the mountains or the beach town of St. Jean-de-Luz. Also, for the first time in 2008, we went on a day out to the zoo. However, we don't do all our activities on our own - we often meet up with other HCPT groups, particularly our good friends in Group 26 and Group 40. On the 2008 Pilgrimage, we met up with these two groups for a scavenger hunt across Lourdes - loads of fun as well as helping us find out about the town while making new friends.
On top of all this, we take part in the big HCPT masses that go on during the week. Firstly, there is the Merseyside regional Mass, where we celebrate with other groups from the Lancashire/Merseyside region. On the Thursday of the Pilgrimage, it's time for the biggie. the HCPT Trust Mass, with all 5000+ people on pilgrimage under one roof; those from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the USA, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the West Indies, and increasingly other countries meet up to celebrate and thank God, HCPT’s benefactors, and each other for the great time we've had during the week.
A week with HCPT Group 171 is full of fun, love and friendship. It is truly an experience you will never forget.
Want to help us continue our work? Find out how you can contribute.
Before, during and after the Pilgrimage, HCPT Group 171 conforms to all relevant safety regulations, and risk assesses all activities beforehand, in line with Trust policy.
--------
HCPT history
this text was originally taken from the HCPT website.
HCPT - The Pilgrimage Trust was founded in 1956 after a young doctor, Michael Strode, first took four children with disabilities on a Pilgrimage holiday to Lourdes and at the same time revolutionized the way children with disabilities could experience a trip to this famous international shrine in the foothills of the French Pyrenees. Not content with letting the children stay in the usual hospitals and hospices, Dr. Michael wanted them to stay in hotels as honoured guests and to get as much out of their holiday as other children - trips to cafés, a donkey ride in the mountains and the warmth and affection of a holiday amongst caring friends. Now, HCPT takes to Lourdes almost 2000 children from the UK, Ireland and increasingly from other countries. The children have a wide range of physical and mental disabilities, or are physically and emotionally deprived or neglected. Cared for by voluntary helpers, including doctors, nurses and chaplains, most of whom pay for themselves, the total size of the Easter Pilgrimage is now about 5000; the largest pilgrimage from the UK and Ireland, and probably the largest children's Pilgrimage from any country. The holiday Pilgrimage is naturally centred around the international shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes and gives children, aged 7-18, with many types of disability or special needs, the opportunity to experience a really stimulating and highly enjoyable group holiday. From HCPT grew the Hosanna House Trust, which was the response to a request from young adults for an opportunity to experience a similar holiday to that of the children. Today, Hosanna House, the Trust's residential centre just outside Lourdes in Bartres, takes nearly 2,000 pilgrims in groups of 40 to 50, many of whom have disabilities or special needs. These guests stay for a week between Easter and November. The HCPT and Hosanna House group method is increasingly viewed as the way forward and, using the HCPT organization as a model, the Lourdes authorities are currently re-organizing their facilities for all pilgrims.