60th anniversary of School's first Lourdes trip

This week’s visit of St Bernadette’s relics to Worth Abbey coincides with the 60th anniversary of the first-ever Worth School pilgrimage to Lourdes. Clive Bayne G’65 recalls that in 1962 he was 14 years old and one of a group of 8 volunteers who set off to Lourdes under the leadership of Dom Dominic Gaisford, Head Master at the time, and teacher Andrew Bertie. He remembers Mr Bertie telling his parents on Prize Day that year that the entire cost of travel, board and lodging for a week for each boy was £21.

They didn’t take any sick pilgrims with them that year, but offered their services instead to the Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes as brancardiers during the one week stay. They lodged at the famous Abri de St Michel for male volunteers, and their time was spent pulling sick pilgrims in their voitures to the various events and services during the day.

Those days were still very much pre-Vatican 2, and Clive recalls,  "the senior (mostly French) members of the Hospitality reminded us that if a brancardier were not conversant with the native language of the sick pilgrim he was transporting, the expectation would be that he would recite the Rosary in Latin while transporting the pilgrim from one place to the next!".

After that maiden trip, Clive continued to go on pilgrimage to Lourdes a further 18 times up until 1981, and from 1974-1981 had the privilege of serving as the Chef de Brancardiers with the Arundel & Brighton Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes.

As Clive now lives in Mexico City, he is unfortunately not able to join the large number of other Worthians who have a shared a connection with Lourdes, and who will hopefully be joining the Worth Community when the relics visit this weekend from Sunday 23rd October at 3pm until 6pm on Monday 24 October. If you haven’t already, do book your place HERE.