Pilgrims’ arrive at Cathedral on way to Derbyshire church

The Pommie Pilgrims, named for the sound of the village band, are walking to all 42 Anglican Cathedrals to raise money for toilets, kitchen facilities and a warm space for their 12th-century church.

All Saints Church in the Peak District village of Youlgrave is a Grade One listed building and featured in Simon Jenkins’ book ‘England’s Thousand Best Churches’.

Although All Saints has undergone many alterations since its founding in 1155, it lacks some key amenities to ensure its sustainability and to make it more welcoming to all with warmth, kitchen facilities and loos.

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The arrival of the first group of 27 pilgrims at Derby Cathedral on March 26 marked the first milestone of the village pilgrimage with eight other cathedrals already reached including Worcester, Gloucester, Hereford, Chelmsford and Ely.

Manchester, Sheffield and Wakefield Cathedrals are next in their sights with fellow pilgrims Lisa Bingham and Saffron walking from Southwell to Lincoln later in the summer.

Youlgrave Church (Image: Pommie Pilgrage)

Lucy grew up in the Southwest and spent time as a child in Salisbury in recorder concerts and competitions and a number of trips to Exeter for school uniform. She and her husband Nick were both born in Yeovil Hospital and were married in Sherborne Abbey where they received a special blessing of their pilgrimage and marriage on Saturday morning.

Lucy was confirmed in Sherborne Abbey, played the organ and sang in many a concert their too. They also stayed overnight in Hardington Mandeville, visiting the church where Lucy was christened.

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Lucy Barnwell said: “We are visiting places that have played important parts in our lives and I am excited to share them with Nick. To be able to walk through this wonderful part of the country and enjoy so many memories, while making new ones, meeting new people and old friends, all for such a wonderful cause is so special.

"It is 12 years since we were married but also importantly 10 years since we started our love affair with long-distance walking, having completed the last 125 miles of the Camino de Santiago in 2014.

“Although I now live in Youlgrave, my connection with the city of Exeter gave me the inspiration to take on this leg of the pilgrimage linking our beautiful village with Salisbury and Exeter by our own footsteps and spreading the word about our ambitious village pilgrimage."

The Pommie Pilgrimage will create a unique network of footsteps linking Youlgrave with all forty-two Anglican Cathedrals in England.

The walkers plan to raise £42,000 towards All Saints’ renovations, the full cost of which is still being researched. Cathedral clergy are being invited to welcome pilgrims as they arrive and share in a service as well as making use of the facilities.

Kate Heath, a pilgrim and avid walker who has walked the whole of the English coast path over the last three years, said: "We really didn’t know where to start with the huge task of modernising our church, so we went for a walk and had a think."

Pilgrimage is traditionally defined as journeying with purpose, on foot, to a holy place. It is not peculiar to Christianity but is a significant part of most faith traditions.

To allow less intrepid villagers and visitors to the village to contribute to the pilgrimage, a labyrinth has been mowed into a local meadow and was opened on World Labyrinth Day.

Rev Canon Jane Clay, chair of the Pommie Pilgrimage organising group, said: “Our hope to connect Youlgrave with each Cathedral in the country via pilgrimage is a huge challenge and feels like an impossible task, but one step at a time, together, we’ll get there.

"We’re not expecting to raise this amount of money by being sponsored a penny a mile, but if you’re able to spend more than a penny for our loos, please do get in touch.”

More information, including how to donate can be found at justgiving.com/page.