Hi everyone,

http://www.rcdow.org.uk/mediacentre/default.asp?mediaType=video&vidID=22

Spot Fr Mike! (2:32 seconds in) The whole thing is worth watching actually – It has quite alot of our cardinal!

This is the fourth and final letter in preparation for our pilgrimage to Lourdes.  In other words, we’re in the final stages now and we’ll soon be on our way!  This letter will give you some important last pieces of information.
Final coach meeting

Our last coach meeting is next Sunday, 15^th July, at St. Teresa’s Parish Centre, Queensway, Penwortham, from 2pm until 4pm.  A map of how to get there is enclosed with this letter.  I hope to see as many of you there as possible. 
Passports and EHIC cards

Please bring these to Sunday’s meeting.  If you can’t attend the meeting, then make sure you bring them on the day of departure.  There is no way we can take you to Lourdes if you don’t have them! If you don’t have one, you can get one from this website, but it will take 7 days to arrive, so you must apply straight away!!!

Departure Details

We are setting off from St. Joseph’s Parish Centre, Harpers Lane, Chorley on Friday 20^th July.  You need to arrive by 7.30am to load up the coach.  We are then going to have Mass together at 8am in the church and set off at approximately 8.30am.  Please make sure your parents and families know they are invited to the Mass.

Returning home

We return to St. Joseph’s, Chorley on Saturday 28^th July during the afternoon.  It’s normally by 4pm but it can be a bit later as we all remember from last year!
Parents’ Meeting

A big thank you to the parents who attended the recent meeting. 

Bedrooms

I have received the list of rooms from the hotelier.  We will sort out the bedrooms on Sunday’s meeting so have a think about who you want to share with.  Most of the rooms are 2s but there are some 3s and just one has four beds. 
Coach seating plan

I have been asked by Fr. Stephen, Pilgrimage Director, to ensure that there is a coach seating plan.  This is part of the risk assessment.  Last year it wasn’t as well organized as it should have been and a couple of young people weren’t able to sit next to their friends until we stopped at Birmingham and re-arranged people.  We will sort out the seating plan next Sunday.  Remember: males and females cannot sit next to each other overnight.
Medical forms

Thanks very much to those of you who have got your medical forms back to me.  I need forms in from the rest of you.  Please bring them on Sunday. 

Pirates of Penance

Don’t forget to sort out your pirate costume for our coach theme night.  My Mum’s going to be sorting mine out this week although she doesn’t know it yet.  She’s 70 so it’ll be lovely for her to be given something to do.  I’ve heard what some of the other coaches are doing for their theme nights and I have to say, ours is the best!

Lourdes Polo shirts

As you know, we get given two very fetching golden polo shirts as our uniform in Lourdes. Normally we give them out when we arrive in Lourdes.  However, this year I’ve had a very forceful request from someone that we give them out next Sunday.  This, apparently, is because her Mum has brought her up to “wash before you wear”!  We will, therefore, give them out next Sunday.  If you’re not there but want your polo shirts in advance then make sure someone collects them for you.  My only reservation is that people forget to pack them in their suitcase.  We have no spares!!

Musical instruments

I haven’t been told how many musicians we’ve got on the coach this year.  If you are a musician will you see Steve next Sunday.  Try to bring your instrument to Lourdes.  My triangle is already packed.

Family Prayer Booklet

Richard Charnock and I have been working on a Family Prayer Booklet for the families of both Coaches 5 and 8.  They are designed to enable families to feel part of the pilgrimage by supporting us in prayer.  Each day tells your family what duties we are doing and includes some scripture and prayers. We will give these out either next Sunday or on the day of departure.
Coach entertainment

With a single-deck coach there are far more possibilities for coach entertainment.  We have had some ideas but would welcome suggestions from you. 

Groups and Group leaders

There will be six small groups.  After much consideration, I have decided to make the over 18s, who have been to Lourdes before, the group leaders.  This is because the over 18s will not have the same hospital duties they have had in previous years.  On Sunday you will meet in your groups for the first time to think about Night Prayers. The aims of the group system are to:

• Prepare and lead Night Prayers
• Prepare and present one of the Stations of the cross
• Assist the staff team with head counting
• Get to know and work with a variety of different people

GROUP    NIGHT PRAYERS

Group 1  Saturday

Group 2  Sunday

Group 3  Monday

Group 4  Tuesday

Group 5  Wednesday

Group 6  Thursday

‘What to take to Lourdes’ checklist

Sarah will circulate, and talk through, a list of what to pack for Lourdes on Sunday.  If you’re not at the meeting we will send one out to you.  Try to remember:

• Knee length shorts and skirts for the domaine
• A waterproof because it can rain heavily and we’re short of ponchos
• Towels and swimwear (trunks for the lads not shorts L)
• Suntan cream and after-sun
• Food for the journey (24 hours)
• Money in sterling and Euros
• Things to entertain you on the journey (mp3 players, books, magazines)
• Any prescribed medicine and inhalers etc
• Pillow for the journey

Emergency contact

Anita, our nurse from last year, will be our emergency contact while we’re in Lourdes.  This means that if your parents want to get a message to us they can phone Anita and her Mum (Joan) on 01257 415242.  I will phone Anita each day to collect any messages.  I know you all have mobile phones and can get messages that way, but it’s still worth us having a contact in England while we’re away.  The hotelier has limited English, and he’s busy anyway, so we ask that parents don’t ring the hotel directly unless it’s a real emergency. 

Hotel

The name and address of the hotel is:

Hotel L’Atrium Mondial

9 Rue des Pelerins

65100 Lourdes

Tel: 0033 5 62 94 27 28

Fax: 0033 5 62 94 70 92

Paul Grady

We will introduce Paul Grady, our eighth member of staff, at Sunday’s meeting.  Paul has just completed his first year training for the priesthood at Ushaw College, Durham.  Please make him feel especially welcome. 
Contacting me

From previous experience I know that things can often come up in the last week and people need to get in touch with me.  Please note that I am away at Castlerigg with Year 10 from Monday 16^th July to Thursday 19^th July.  If you, or your parents, need to get in touch with me then you will need to ring my mobile – 07944 762923. 
All the members of the staff team are looking forward to seeing you next Sunday. 
Take care,
Ben McMullen

Coach Leader

Hi everyone,
I hope this letter finds you well. We’re moving into the last stages of our preparation for Lourdes and there are quite a few things that I need to tell you about in this letter.
Third preparation meeting

Our third meeting is this Sunday, 10^th June, at Holy Cross Catholic High School, Burgh Lane, Chorley. I am enclosing a map with this letter. This is a joint meeting with Coach 8 so the school will be an ideal venue to accommodate a large group of people. This meeting will be a good opportunity to meet the people on Coach 8, so please do your best to attend. There are quite a few things that we want to get through in the meeting so we have extended the meeting by 30 minutes so that it will run from 1.30pm – 4.00pm. Please, please try to be punctual for this meeting, as we will be starting promptly at 1.30pm. Aileen and Jenny, leaders of the Lourdes music group, will be coming along to teach us some of the hymns that are being used during the pilgrimage so bring your best singing voice!

Attendance at meetings

I have been asked once again to remind you that attendance at meetings is essential. It is part of the commitment that you agreed to when you applied for a place on the pilgrimage. I appreciate that this forthcoming meeting is in the middle of the exam period, but we are only asking you to give up a couple of hours once a month. Fr. Stephen says that no-one should miss more than one preparation meeting because all members of the coach have the right to meet you and get to know you before the pilgrimage begins. If you have not been at the previous meetings then it is very important that you attend the next two. If you work on Sundays please try to re-arrange your shifts so that you can be there. Sorry if that sounds a bit strict and harsh but we do take pilgrimage preparation very seriously. The final coach preparation meeting will be on Sunday 15^th July at St. Teresa’s Parish Centre, Penwortham from 2pm – 4pm.

Final payment

Thanks for sending your final payment of £165. However, there are a handful of people who still owe this payment. If applies to you, please send a cheque, made payable to ‘Lourdes Coach 5‘, to my address.
Quiz sheets

At the last meeting we gave you 20 quiz sheets to sell with the option of photocopying them and selling more. This has been designed as a fundraiser for the coach and for you. We ask you to sell at least 20 for £1 each. We then ask you to give us half the money (£10) for our central funds and the other half you keep for your own personal fundraising. You should keep any additional money you raise. Please can you make sure that you collect the completed quiz sheets and bring them to Sunday’s meeting where they will be marked. Please can you also bring along the money you have raised. We really do need your full support with this fundraiser and obviously the more quizzes you sell, the more money you will raise for yourselves. If you were absent from the last meeting, and did not receive any quiz sheets, please ring me immediately and I will get some off in the post to you.

Catenian forms

We also gave out Catenian forms at the last meeting. It is well worth you applying for funding from this organization. If you did not get a form then see Richard Adamson on Sunday.

Liturgy meeting

This is quite short notice but there is a liturgy planning meeting this Thursday, 7^th June, at St. Mary’s, Lowe House, St Helens, between 7pm and 9pm. The meeting is to plan the two youth masses that take place in Lourdes. Representatives from Coaches 1-4 are planning the opening youth mass while coaches 5-8 will plan the final youth mass. I am looking for about 3 or 4 people from Coach 5 to attend this meeting. The youth masses in Lourdes have a vibrant and exciting liturgy so this is a great way for you to be involved in readings, music, drama etc. If you are interested please will you give me a ring straight away. Thanks.

Musicians meeting

There will be a meeting on Sunday 8^th July at St. Mary’s, Lowe House, St. Helens from 1pm to 4pm. If you play an instrument, or are a good singer, and would like to be part of the Lourdes music group then please go along to the practice. Could you also ring me to let me know that you are attending as I could do with knowing how many musicians we have on our coach.
Parents’ meeting

Please can you tell your parents that there will be a meeting on Wednesday 20^th June at 7.30pm at Holy Cross Catholic High School, Burgh Lane, Chorley. I am enclosing a letter for your parents with this letter.
Medical forms

Also enclosed with this letter is a medical form for you to complete. You can either hand these in on Sunday or put them back in the post to me. Please make sure you’ve got an E111 European medical insurance card. We plan to collect these cards, as well as passports, at the final preparation meeting in July.

‘LIFE AND SOUL’ – the summer festival

Preparations are well under way for this summer festival on Sunday 1^st July. It is for young people over the age of 15. I am enclosing a leaflet with this letter. I will have tickets to sell for this event at Sunday’s meeting. They are £5 each and I am hoping that there will be a great response from Coach 5. It does sound like a great day. Richard Charnock and I have decided to run a coach from the Lancashire area. We’ll let you know on Sunday how much the coach will cost but I am not expecting it to be too much though it will depend upon numbers. Please make a real effort to attend this festival. It’s a great way to get ready for Lourdes and I know a lot of work has gone into planning it. Maria and Luke from the Animate Youth Ministry Team are coming to Sunday’s meeting to say a few words about it. I do know that each coach needs to provide a 5-a-side football team. If you would like to be in the team please give me a ring.
Pilgrimage theme

In the next two meetings we will be reflecting upon this year’s pilgrimage theme: ‘Be reconciled with God’. Coach 5 has a tradition of having a fancy-dress theme night (loosely based on the pilgrimage theme!) and we have gone with Matthew’s suggestion of ‘Pirates of Penance’ for this year. What this means is you need to start making arrangements for your pirate costume.

Website

Don’t forget to log onto www.coach5.co.uk to see information on Lourdes, maps, discussions etc. If you have any items you would like included on the website please email them to me. Once again, thanks to Steve for his hard work in maintaining this.
I think that’s everything for now! I warned you that there was a lot! I look forward to seeing you at Sunday’s meeting.

Ben McMullen

Hi everyone,
I am writing to remind you all of a few things before our second meeting together on Sunday. This is the first time that I am not sending out a Lourdes letter by post. Steve and I think it’s time we sent letters out by email to save costs. I’m sure that everyone uses email daily now. When you speak to other members of the coach this week, please check with them that they have checked their email and received this letter!
Another reason for writing to you all is to thank you for the great attendance at our first meeting on 1^st April. We had one of the highest attendances at a first meeting and it really does make a difference when we all try to be there. I was also grateful to those who sent apologies in advance. So thanks to you all!

Next meeting

As just mentioned, our second meeting is this Sunday, 13^th May, between 2pm and 4pm at St. Joseph’s Parish Centre, Chorley. The theme of the second meeting is ‘The story of Lourdes’. If you are unable to attend, please let me know in advance.

Final payment

Thank you for getting your cheques to me for the second payment. I had to do considerably less chasing up than last year! The final payment of £165 is due to me by Sunday 27^th May. You can pay this at Sunday’s meeting or send it to me at the address above. Cheques should be made payable to Lourdes Coach 5.

Third meeting

Just to give you advance notice that our third preparation meeting is on Sunday 10^th June and will be a joint meeting with Coach 8. We will be having this meeting at St. Joseph’s, Chorley as usual. Why should we travel?!! Let them! We are hoping Aileen and Jenny, from the Lourdes music group, will come along to teach us the hymns and music they will be using this year.

Website

Steve has been very busy working on the coach website and it’s looking great. Log onto www.coach5.co.uk to see information on Lourdes, maps, discussions etc. If you have any items you would like included on the website please email them to me.

Parents’ meeting

We still haven’t finalised a date for this yet. We are having a staff meal on Friday night and we will agree a date then. I’ll let you know at Sunday’s meeting.

Fund-raising

I hope you have started to get fund-raising activities up and running. Feel free to talk to us about this on Sunday. We will be sorting out the quiz soon and will ask you to sell these as a whole coach fundraiser. We will also be giving you information on how to apply to the Catenians for funding for those of you who are over 17. More details will be given on Sunday.

Passports and E111 cards

Now is a good time to check that your passport has not expired and will be valid for July. You also need to have an E111 medical insurance card. This is vital because it will avoid you having to pay huge medical costs in Lourdes should you have any sort of illness, accident or injury.

‘LIFE AND SOUL’ – the summer festival

Fr. Stephen Pritchard and the Animate Team are organizing a summer festival on Sunday 1^st July for young people over the age of 15. It’s still very much in the planning stages but it sounds an excellent day. There will be a main stage with speakers, ice breakers, workshops on global issues, circus skills, bread making, drumming, music, drama, relationships, prayer etc. There will be an inter-coach 5-a-side, an open air mass at 6.30pm, a bbq, battle of the bands and disco in the evening, ending with night prayer at 10.30pm. I’ll let you know more details as soon as I have them. It would be great to have as many of you there as possible. We need to get our 5-a-side team together as well.

Youth Alive Mass

Coach 5 is not the best at attendance of these diocesan youth masses which is a shame because they’re very good. The liturgy is planned and delivered by young people and it gives a flavour of what Lourdes is like. After each mass there is usually a disco with an entrance fee of £2 and goes on until 10pm. The next one is on Sunday 3^rd June at St. Joseph’s, Leigh at 6.30pm.

Coach 5 theme night

For those of you who are coming to Lourdes for the first time, it has become a tradition on Coach 5 to have a fancy dress theme night in Lourdes. The theme is usually a kind of a twist on the main pilgrimage theme. The pilgrimage theme this year is ‘Reconciliation – Be reconciled with God’. On our discussion board there has been a great suggestion from Matthew Shepherd as to what our theme night could be this year! Go on to www.coach5.co.uk and follow the link to the discussion board.

Well that’s all I can think of for now. All the staff members are looking forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Ben

PS Malta (or maybe Switzerland) will win the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night. Remember who told you first!

A few years ago the liturgical theme in Lourdes was “A people of every nation”. We reflected on the fact that people from all over the world are called to Lourdes on pilgrimage, and that we all belong to the same Church.

Lourdes is always busy with groups of all sizes, from individuals, families, and parishes, to large groups representing an entire diocese.

While we are in Lourdes this year, groups from the following places will be there too:

Here is a map of Lourdes, with most of the important places marked on it (if I’ve missed any off let me know!).

If you haven’t been to Lourdes before, some of them may not mean very much to you, but I’m hoping to add some photos and background detail in the coming weeks.

While you’re looking at the map, check out Ben’s shortcut. I’m sure he’ll explain at the next meeting why this was the best way to go!

To complement the Flickr group for sharing our Lourdes photos (more about this soon), I’ve set up a group for this year’s Coach 5 members on Facebook. Everyone whose email address we have has just been sent an invite by email. If you haven’t received an email, post a reply to this message and we’ll get you sorted (if you can prove that you’re a Coach 5 member!)

Please join the group and get talking to each other.

(Don’t use it for cyberbullying and stuff otherwise we’ll have to ban you from the whole Internet!. We’ll do it!)

A quick reminder that the second payment of £85 was due on Sunday 1st April. Most people have paid on time, and we thank you for that!

The final payment of £165 is due on Sunday 27th May. Please make cheques payable to “Lourdes Coach 5″ and send them to Ben, or bring them to the next coach meeting.

The transition from a double-decker coach to two single-deckers is more than a little scary! In his recent pastoral letter, Ben did a very good job of explaining why it’s a good thing for the long term future, and how hard we’re going to work to make sure that everyone has the best possible time:

 The story so far…

As many of you will know, numbers of people wanting to come to Lourdes on Coach 5, the Lancashire coach, have been steadily increasing over the past few years. This has resulted in us taking a double-decker coach in 2005 and 2006. There was no double-decker available this year and applications have been so high that a decision has been made to run two coaches from the Lancashire area: Coach 5 and a new coach, Coach 8. Hence our great new logo at the top of this letter designed by Sarah Huddy. Initially it was felt that these coaches would cover two areas- Coach 5 would cover Penwortham and Chorley and Coach 8 would cover Leyland, Ormskirk and Skelmersdale. As this is the first year, there are overlaps from different areas and this is not a problem at all. This also means that Coach 8 is made up of a number of people who have been members of Coach 5 for the last couple of years. Three staff members from Coach 5 have moved to Coach 8: Richard Charnock is leading Coach 8 with Jayne Eccles and Kathy Charnock supporting him as staff members.

Both Richard and I believe that taking two coaches from Lancashire is the best way forward for everybody as it enables us to take more young people to Lourdes. because of the overlap with members and staff, and the fact that we come from the same area, we will be working closely with Coach 8 both in the preparation and whilst we are out in Lourdes. We intend one of the preparation meetings to be a joint one with Coach 8. A particular coach company is providing the two coaches and they will be travelling to Lourdes in convoy. Also the two hotels in Lourdes are very close to each other.