Next week around 1,000 sick and disabled children will visit Lourdes on HCPT’s sixtieth anniversary trip. The trust has grown from small beginnings to an enterprise active in 12 countries

The final Mass has been celebrated, the helpers trained and the sponsors thanked so Chiswick HCPT (the Hosanna House and Children’s Pilgrimage Trust) is ready to set off for Lourdes with the 147 other groups on Easter Monday. It will be my eighteenth journey as a helper.

My first pilgrimage, in 1980, was life changing. Despite new experiences with nappies and wheelchairs, despite leading endless sing-songs, despite tiredness, it was an intense spiritual and uplifting experience. Unaware then of the Church’s social teaching and the option for the vulnerable, I learnt that in serving the children, the helpers were humbled and transformed. That first year we had children with leukaemia, brittle bones and blindness, but they taught us much about coping with adversity, valuing life and appreciating human dignity.