The Society of Our Lady of Egmanton welcomes you

The Principal Celebrant & Preacher at the November Requiem was Fr Alan Thompson who also gave Benediction in the afternoon.
The AGM was held in the afternoon before Benediction.

October Pilgrimage 2009

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The October Pilgrimage was held on October 3rd with over 60 pilgrims present. The Rt Revd John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham, was the Principal Celebrant & Preacher at the Mass.
The weather was kind to us as we processed in the village in the afternoon prior to Benediction.
Our Chairman, John Barnett, was present following an amputation of a leg early in August.

Assumptiontide Pilgrimage 2009

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The Assumptiontide Pilgrimage was held on August 22nd with over 50 pilgrims present. Fr. Stephen Jones of St. Augustine of Hippo, Grimsby was the Principal Celebrant & Preacher at the Mass and also gave Benediction in the afternoon.
The weather was kind to us as we processed in the village.
Our prayers were for our Chairman, John Barnett, recovering in hospital from an amputation of a leg 10 days earlier

Youth Pilgrimage 2009

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Due to a clash of several events, this year's Egmanton Youth Pilgrimage took place in July instead of the usual Saturday in May. We were delighted to have Fr Mervyn Thompson from St Hilda's and St Helen's at Thurnscoe to lead our worship and to once again have Mike and Fiona Heppleston to provide the music for the mass for us.
The children had a choice of several activities including drama and arts and crafts. We made Peace Malas and Rosaries and a frontal for the altar. Just before our picnic lunch we all walked up the hillside to the wood where Mary appeared many years ago and Fr Mervyn led us in a short act of worship there.
After lunch we had our mass in the beautiful church, beginning with the moving hymn 'We come to Your feast' during which a group of children laid the altar and led in Fr Mervyn. Another group of children read the lessons and the prayers.
We had a lovely day and would very much like to thank everyone who helped in any way, especially Fr Mervyn and Mike and Fiona.
Next year we will be back to our usual Saturday in May - 8th.
For more information please contact Sheila Dilks [email protected]

Summer Pilgrimage 2009

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Fr. Alan Buik, Guild of All Souls Chantry Priest at Walsingham, was our guest celebrant and preacher at the Summer pilgrimage this year (27^th June) He was ably assisted as concelebrants by Father Alan Townsend and Father Reg Stretton. The weather turned out to be quite reasonable, and the congregation compared quite favourably with others of recent times.

In his sermon Father Buik pointed out to us that whilst it might be thought to be strange that he had come from Walsingham on pilgrimage to Egmanton, yet Fr Hope Patten had done exactly that in 1930, indeed he had brought with him a banner, not only that but he had left the banner at Egmanton which is there in the chancel for all to see.

Fr Alan moved on to comment on other pilgrimages from Walsingham, last year he had gone on pilgrimage to Lourdes and, very recently at the National Pilgrimage in Walsingham, The Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes had been a Walsingham Pilgrim and both images had been carried in the procession.

Wherever we enter a shrine of Our Lady, declared Fr Alan, we are at home. He further encouraged us to think generally of experiences one can have in worship and he referred to a shrine as being �an enchanted environment for the experience of reality�

He concluded his sermon by referring to �the Joys of Heaven, for which we all hope and pray.�

The weather held up well for the outdoor Procession of Our Lady and as usual the proceedings concluded with Benediction.

202008 Pilgrimages

The first event was
"The Next Generation Youth Pilgrimage"
held on Saturday 10th May. The organizers write:

The weather was lovely, the attendance was 128 and once again, back by popular request.

Fr Craig Fullard led our acts of worship. We began with a choice of workshops - Dance, Drama, Crafts, Artwork and Cake decorating! As it was the day before Pentecost Sunday, the theme for the day was 'Happy Birthday to the Church' - hence the cake decorating!

One of the craft activities was to help make an enormous Rosary from logs and bamboo. Everyone was invited to attach their own prayers to the rosary, and then after an hour or so of activities, we all took it in turns to help carry the rosary up the hillside to where Mary appeared many years ago. We also took tubs of bubbles with us to blow, so we would be seen easily, and everyone would know why we were there.

After a short service up the hill, we came back to the church hall and had lunch. Our mass began at 2.30 and contained everything that we had worked at during our morning sessions. It was a truly wonderful mass, with lovely hymns and the music was again provided by Mike Heppleston and Simon Corner (well done to you both!).

Fr Craig provided a Powerpoint setting for the mass and at the end we sang 'Happy Birthday' to the Church and cut the cake. Many thanks to Fr Craig for such an uplifting mass, and thank you for saying yes to next year's Youth Pilgrimage, which will be on Saturday 9th May 2009.

Feel free to contact me for further information. Sheila Dilks. E-mail: [email protected]

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with Fr Peter Huckle of St Edward's House Westminster was a wonderful, not to say moving experience for those privileged to be there. Fr Peter addressed us in the native language of his home country of New Zealand and then gave us an inspired address of encouragement. He is very well qualified Ana lecturer on Liturgy in countries around the world, and as an integral member of ROOT, the association of traditionalist monastics as well as on the council of Forward in Faith. He works at the heart of the nation and living in Central London is aware of the perilous times in which we live and worship. He gave us a beautifully celebrated Mass and the afternoon Benediction was also a reminder of the beauty of holiness.

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This was a new venture; Evensong with prayers for Healing and the laying on of hands by Fr Ken Bale. He has been associated with the Ministry of Healing of the Church, after a serious road accident in 1969, which crippled him, and indeed is himself a product of this very special ministry.

There was a goodly crowd and such was the desire for the ministry, that the laying-on of hands took over thirty minutes, which meant that there was plenty of time for everyone to pray. In his notices John paid tribute to Fr Ken and to the quiet time for prayer, which had been so helpful to those there with problems to talk to God about and the feeling of peace which surrounded all those who attended.

The Assumptiontide Pilgrimage led by Fr Alan Townsend was very well attended although it was the Bank Holiday weekend - there were 48 people present. The service was beautifully conducted and the address was uplifting and as we should expect of our council member, theologically sound. The sense of us all being pilgrims together was very real and as he weather was beautiful as well, we felt truly blessed by Our Lady.

The service was attended 39 pilgrims this year but the wonderful sight of six concelebrating priests with Bishop Tony was a welcome reminder of days gone by. His address to us as uplifting and the whole event was in the now established tradition of a good way to meet with God, Our Lady and fellow Pilgrims.

This was a most moving service beautifully taken by Fr Andy. His simple but deeply thought out sermon even touched the heart of our beloved chairman. Fr Andy used an Ikon called The Deposition, which normally resides on his kitchen window and helps to ease the view, which is of the graveyard at his church, giving it deeper meaning. He asked us to consider that, in the picture shown below, Our Lady's face is touching the cheek of her dead Son, aligning her with all who have lost loved ones. 39 Pilgrims were upheld by that thought!

At the end of the Service after thanks had been rendered by John to Fr Andy, he informed the pilgrims that Fr Ken would be stepping down from office in the Society, having completed what he promised to do, on grounds of age and health. John wished him well.