Activities in 2009

What a wonderful week! So many Highs..... pirates at hosanna house, making new friends with the west indies group, christmas parties and talent shows, a fabulous new hotel, rap stars, pom pom girls and pleny of sunshine. Even the delays on the way home didn't dampen group 73's spirits. Our little bird and Frogs in blenders can have a rest for year as we recover voices and catch up on our sleep.

Thank you to all the Children and helpers who made up our group 73 family, to group 737 who gave us such wonderful celebrations and all those who helped to get us to Lourdes. Here are some of the things the group enjoyed during our 2009 pilgrimage.

On our first day in Lourdes we Visited the Domaine and grotto, the Boly Mill, where Bernadette was born and the Cachot, where she lived at the time of the apparitions. In true HCPT style we sang our way around town and in 73 style hunted for Bolys in the mill!

On Tuesday, Group 73 turned into pirates and princesses, complete with talking parots and plenty of swords with which to battle. We caught a bus to hosanna house singing pirate songs en-route. In true Carribean style, we joined with the west indies HCPT group for mass before enjoying a picnic, outdoor games and a treasure hunt.

On tuesday evening we donned angel wings before joining the rest of the trust for the nightly torchlight procession. This was the night when HCPT led the procession and we were rightly proud of the music provided by our friends in group 737.

For wednesday's celebration we joined together with all the other groups in from Wales We all did our best to show how great our group is by singing and dancing, and it was good to meet up with people from back home, who sometimes don’t live to far away from us.

After the Mass we had a special photo taken of all the welsh groups

On wednesday we arranged for a professional photographer to take a photo of the whole group in front of the main basilica, all decked out in our finest complete with cowboy hats! Every group member then had a copy of this photo to take home as a memento of their holiday and all the friends they made

On wednesday afternoon we caught the little train, a small train that drives on the road and takes us all over Lourdes.

We saw the places that Bernadette grew up, the town of Lourdes, and we went right up to the top of the hill, which would be much too far to walk!! We sang all the way round, again joined by group 737.!

On wednesday night the girls and boys dressed in their best before hitting the town. The girls looked beautiful with hair and makeup done and the boys didn't scrub up too badly either - there was even a full DJ in evidence. After Pizza and ice-cream sundaes we met up together again before night prayers back at the hotel

This is the highlight of the week for many people! All 5000 or so pilgrims who have come to Lourdes with HCPT gathered in the underground Basilica for a service like no other: it felt more like a party, or even a pop concert! The theme this year was 'We are one'

We all wore our group clothes, some of us had our faces painted, and there was general joy in the air. It was fantastic to see how the work of all those back in wales resulted in a an amazing celebration - with a very special welsh feel!

On Friday we caught a coach to the Gavarnie, a small village in the pyranees. The views are always spectacular and this year we were lucky with the weather, the sun shone whilst there was snow on the ground. We had a snowball fight, built snow men ( well snow telly tubbies!) , had an outdoor mass and went horse-riding.

On our last evening we had a chistmas party complete with pass the parcel and a quiz. Following this we had 'group 73 have talent' taking it in turns to dazzle each other with our amazing talents! A play directed and performed by the chidren, rapping, dancing, singing, football skills and cheerleading.It was an excellent chance to celebrate what we are all best at, making people smile!!

We were blessed with beautiful weather for most of the week, enabling us to use the meadow opposite the grotto on several occasions. We enjoyed parachute games, football, frisby games and even got in a bit of a water fight on our last morning.

Cafe stops are a huge part of our week. We joined with other groups over a coke or coffee to sing all our favourites. Many, like Yogi bear and Rise and shines, are sung year after year. This year we learnt new songs incuding the banana song, the frog song and we were taught 'bungalow' by father martin.