In the Beginning

In 2003, Kate and Tim (Now Mr and Mrs Rowlandson!) travelled to Lourdes for the first time with the PDMH group of HCPT (Group 201) then based in Wickham, near Fareham.

As PDMH specialise in taking young helpers and training them, they only allow young helpers to travel with them once, and so Kate, who then lived in Petersfield, found another group to travel with, Group 14, based in South West London. She went with them for the first time in 2004, and was so enthusiastic about it that her friends Nick and Charlie, despite living in Southampton, decided to join her group and they all went to Lourdes in 2005 and 2006 with Group 14. 

As you know, enthusiasm is infectious, and their friends Richard and Roxy also decided to join Group 14 and travelled for the first time in 2007.

Plans for Southampton

Kate and Tim were unable to travel on this occasion as Kate was expecting their first baby, but by this time there were four people regularly travelling up to London six or seven times a year, and this seemed like a huge waste of man power, especially when we knew of many deserving children in Southampton who would benefit from a pilgrimage with HCPT.

Richard and Roxy thoroughly enjoyed their experience in Lourdes, and as Nick already had a role as group doctor and Charlie as group nurse, they decided to propose to HQ that we set up a Southampton HCPT group, with Roxy and Richard as group leaders.

Laying Foundations

So began the process of setting up a new group, with a plan to travel for the first time in 2009. Richard and Roxy attended group leader training, and at the same time Nick and Charlie were doing group leader training for Group 14, as the current leaders were also expecting a baby and needed a back up plan in case they were unable to travel.

They also began applying to the local region, Met Deep South, for approval to start a new Easter group in the area. Plans also began for raising the considerable funds needed to pay for the children’s fares, help with helper fares, trips out in Lourdes and group clothing.

Our Star is Born

On 14th January 2008, Richard and Roxy nervously took our proposal to the Met Deep South regional meeting, and were very well received. We found out the following day that our proposal had been accepted by the region and had to wait to hear what HQ would say!

On the 24th January we had official notification from HQ that our group could travel for the first time in 2009, and that our group number would be 170. It was time to start putting our plans into action…