Fr Schofield joins the Chesterton Walking Pilgrimage June 14th - London

Right, we're off! Well at least Fr Nicholas Schofield and myself are. After last year's Annual GK Chesterton Pilgrimage, some idiot (yes it was me) announced that next year we will be walking to Beaconsfield from Campden Hill, Kensington, London (where GKC was born & Baptised). Now I've looked it up, only 23 miles in a straight line! Training got underway one day in January, and ended the same day.

Some people have, rather rudely, laughed at the idea of me walking 25 ish miles in a day! Ha! If we round-down my age to the nearest twenty-something, I'm only 29! Ok, I'll be 45 in October. "Wait", for what? Oh, 'weight', I jumped on the scales., well that is a bit over 12 stone, but not too bad. Then my Wife said, "put both feet on the scales". Wow! Who would have thought that my other foot would weigh five stone!

At the moment, The Good Counsel Network has no money, so I will do this as a sponsored walk. Good Counsel is having trouble supporting a number of Mothers who have chosen to keep their babies and not to abort them. You can post donations, payable to; The Giuld of Our Lady of Good Counsel, P.O. Box 46679, London, England, NW9 8ZT or donate online.

Uxbridge parish seems to be about half way between Kensington and Beaconsfield. Fr Nicholas Schofield is quite happy to have an Old Rite Mass in his parish at 1pm on the day for those of us who have walked from Kensington that morning, but all are more than welcome to join us for the Mass. If we find one or two people who can sing it will be a Missa Cantata. The Church is Our Lady of Lourdes and St Michael, Osborn Rd, Uxbridge, UB8 1UE. After Mass, and a quick cup of tea, Fr Nicholas Schofield will then walk on to Beaconsfield with us, I say with "us" but no-one has confirmed that they are coming yet. Please do confirm this.

Upon arrival in Beaconsfield, we will go to G.K. Chesterton's graveside and recite the prayer for his beatification. We will then walk on to St Teresa's Catholic Church, 40 Warwick Road Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire HP9 2PL where we will have a low Old Rite Mass at 7.30pm, to which you are all cordially invited.

Trains to Beaconsfield run regularly from Marylebone Station, so if you are unable to join us for the walk, please join us for Mass.

The day will of course start at about 8am (when Stuart wakes up and realises he has slept through the alarm again - Wife) at St George's Church of England Church, Aubrey Walk, London, W8 7JG, where GK Chesterton was baptised. Here we will read the first paragraph of Chesterton's Autobiography, say the Chesterton Prayer and then march (stroll slowly) off in the direction of Uxbridge looking for a cafe where we can stop for breakfast.

For regular updates on the day see my Twitter account @Stuart1927 . If you are planning to attend, please leave a comment with your email address and/or telephone number, below.

(Statue of Our Lady, given by GKC to the Parish in Beaconfield)