Report by Brother William Gallagher Province 27 East Anglia, Annual Pilgrimage in honour of Our Lady of Boulogne.   The Saturday of August Bank holiday weekend found a number of pilgrims from as far apart as Birmingham /Leeds/Newcastle upon Tyne/St Albans /Wandsworth/ Welling and Whitehaven assembled at Dover. Where they joined the pilgrims from Knights of St Columba Province 27 East Anglia on their annual pilgrimage in honour of Our Lady of Boulogne.   A happy relationship exists between the church in Boulogne and Walsingham /Lowestoft dating back to the pilgrimage of the crosses in 1948 after WW 11.   With a statue of Our Lady of Boulogne in the church of Our Lady Star of the Sea, Lowestoft and a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham permantly installed in the Cathedral in Boulogne. See the published history of Our Lady’s Shrines at Walsingham and Boulogue by Christopher Brooks. The book is lavishly illustrated and chronicles the development of this unique “twinning arrangement” On this occasion the Supreme Knight John Doran and his wife Margaret from Whitehaven joined us.   Saturday afternoon we experienced light showers. After our evening meal we gathered at Quay Gambetta to greet the arrival of the statue of Our Lady. That was when the serious rain started, not put too fine a point on it we were soaked.   As twilight approached, the statue of Our Lady arrived in Boulogne harbour on a flower bedecked fishing boat, escorted by a flotilla of little boats.   The theme of the devotion to Our Lady of Boulonge is the sea and fishing based. For example the statue is drawn through the town on a boat by the local fishermen dressed in their work a day clothes, escorted by the ladies dressed in their traditional black dresses and white bonnets.   Where His Eminence Cardinal Panafieu Archbishop of Marseille received the statue, supported by Mgr Jaeger Bishop of Arras –Boulogne - St Omar, [the local bishop] and Mgr Jacques Noyer retired Bishop of Amiens.   The English pilgrims were as usual given pride of place, immediately behind the clergy in the procession to the church of St Nicolas for the Mass; the ceremonies on Saturday are youth orientated. Sunday morning after breakfast we had a whistle stop coach tour of the town, including The Grande Armee Column, erected on the orders of Napoleon as a victory Monument, to commemorate his conquering of Great Britain. One is grateful that is as close as he got in his ambition, the erection of a very premature monument!   Close to the column is a Commonwealth Graves Commission cemetery. This I have earmarked for a proper visit on another occasion. There are also a number of wonderful topiary arrangements throughout the town that I plan to record with my camera.   This was followed by our enjoyable excursion to Le Touquet, another town that deserves a longer visit. After lunch we assembled in the Rue du Viviers, for the Grande Procession of Notre Dame De Boulogne. Our group from East Anglia is ranked eleventh in the procession, but we were allocated the first rows of seats for the Mass in the precincts of the Cathedral.   In the procession we walked behind the Walsingham National Shrine Banner carrying the Statue of Our Lady of Walsingham, the same statue that has a permanent home in the Cathedral in Boulogne. After the Mass celebrated in brilliant sunshine with a refreshing breeze, and returning the statue to its plinth in the Cathedral, we adjourned to various restaurants in the old town for our evening meal. On Monday morning we repeated last years unexpected treat.   On the coast road between Boulogne and Calais there are at least six parish churches, they look as if they have been there for a thousand years. Apart from one, the parish church at Audinghen, which is a new building [1950s] and having a most unusual design. The Royal Air Force built it; it replaces the church they bombed by mistake during the war. In what is now called friendly fire. It is built in the shape of an aircraft.   Last year for the first time we had Mass on our return journey on the Monday in this church. This year we again had our Monday morning Mass in the church in Audinghen, offered by Revd Eric Woodhead PP Lowestoft.   Followed by a brief stop at Cap Blanc Nez, where we gazed at the English coastline and enjoyed the fresh air, and my goodness is there a lot of fresh air about. Those of us with a farming background also admired the fertile farmland, farmed right up to the shoreline.   The final act of our pilgrimage was the obligatory visit to a shopping centre on this occasion Cite Europe.   The ferry and home, we were in London at 18.20 and Lowestoft at 19.45.A long but most enjoyable weekend. Chris Brooks deserves our sincere thanks for the painstaking and efficient organisation of the event. His real talent is that you are unaware of the organisation being deployed.   Despite the language barrier or maybe even because of it, it is obvious that the clergy and people of Boulogne are delighted to see the English pilgrims.   During the five French sermons we heard over the weekend, several friendly references were made regarding the English visitors.