Fund appeal
A fundraising message from our President, Ed Hills
I am writing to you about the Wimbledon College Lourdes Fund. This is, I am sorry to say, an appeal for financial help. But, before I ask for your donations, I thought it would be appropriate to give you some background information.
In 1923, Wimbledon College first sent to Lourdes a group of fourteen schoolboys, accompanied by the chaplain, Fr John Manning SJ. Since then, the College has sent a party to Lourdes to help the sick in nearly every subsequent year except for the years of World War II and its aftermath.
To celebrate the centenary of the first working party, we decided that we would have a special centenary pilgrimage in addition to the usual working party. In the end, there were nine members of the working party and nineteen members of the pilgrimage group. I reported at more length on the pilgrimage in the centenary newsletter. Suffice it to say that it was an unqualified success.
This success was attributable to the inspiring leadership of Fr Michael Holman SJ assisted by Fr Peter Griffiths SJ, and, also, to the lively interaction between the disparate age groups. These ranged from the effervescent seven-year-old Lourdes to the sprightly octogenarians, Gerry and Bob.
Of course, the real reason why the pilgrimage was such a triumph was the presence of Our Lady and the overwhelming spiritual power of Lourdes. In this connection I was impressed by the impact made by Lourdes on two young men, Jeremy and Kavi. Jeremy left the College in 2023 and Kavi the year before. Their accounts are set out in full in the centenary newsletter, but I will quote a few extracts now from Jeremy’s.
Jeremy had never previously visited Lourdes. He explained that, initially, he was very apprehensive about his ability to help the sick. However, his anxieties fell away as he became part of a team whose sole purpose was to serve the sick. He writes of Lourdes that “no other place on earth is more focussed on the sick”. Jeremy intends to return and says: “The spirit of Lourdes will continue to spread its ripple of love far beyond the Grotto”.
The principal aim of the Wimbledon College Lourdes Fund is to provide financial help to enable current and former pupils of the College to go to Lourdes. The fund was established several years ago and is now almost exhausted. So far as I know, there has been no previous appeal for funds for several decades, so I would ask you please to be generous in your giving. I have quoted from Jeremy’s reminisces on his first visit to Lourdes in the hope that it might strike a chord in the memory of those who have visited Lourdes, perhaps many years ago!
Gifts can be made by bank transfer or posted cheque. For the details of either method, please email wimbledonlourdes100@gmail.com. We can also provide a receipt of your donation on request; please quote your name as reference on the bank transfer.
Thank you. Your generosity will help enable future students of the College to experience, like Jeremy and Kavi, the transforming action of Lourdes in their lives.
Edmund Hills
President, Wimbledon College Lourdes Hospitalité