Students from Trinity Catholic School walked in the footsteps of Catherine of Aragon and Augustus Pugin… among others… in a day-long pilgrimage to the Thames Valley on Friday, 6 July.  

The Shrine of Our Lady of Caversham, famously visited by Henry VIII’s first wife in the 1530s was the first stop.  The students then took a tour through Catholic history, hearing a talk from the Parish Priest of the Pugin-designed St James Church and lunching in the newly re-opened ruins of Reading Abbey. 

The site of Oscar Wilde’s incarceration was next stop before a stop in the shade under Jane Austen’s first classroom. 

Trinity Principal Chris Gabbett, who led the pilgrimage, said, ‘Following a pilgrimage to Walsingham, a number of students said they wanted to visit as many of the Marian Shrines in England as they could before year 11.  It is a wonderful opportunity for us to get out of school, reflect and laugh together and focus on our own emotional and spiritual development.  Often these days come with ice-cream too which is welcome’. 

The school is currently planning a trip next year to the Chapel of the Miraculous Medal in Paris.