The weekend was filled with a balanced mixture of fun social activities, such as playing rounders (for which you should never let Alf Benson umpire, he cheats!haha) and football, and activities to help prepare for the spiritual side of the Pilgrimage, such as group discussions and night prayers. It was great to be around other young people and to be able to talk and about God's love and faith in God openly. I feel that i was given some strength over the weekend, espechially after being given a copy of God's 'love letter' it really emphasised to me how strong Gods love is. One of the activities we did involved building the tallest tower we could from newspaper in small groups, however one person from the group was 'confined' to a chair, and one was blindfolded, the exercise showed how those in wheel chairs and those who are blind are often forgotten and feel isolated and the we all have to aware of how we can make individuals in those circumstances feel. The preperation weekend was really useful, it was great to meet some of the other people that will be going to Lourdes, and has made me realise that the pilgrimage doesnt start when we set off for Lourdes it starts long before then both socially and spriitually

Writen by Sarah Lennon