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The Pilgrims Way When Doris and David Bonnick came to talk about the Pilgrims Way I think many people in the audience thought it would be about Canterbury, but this was about the Pilgrims Way starting in the Pyrenees and going across to the west coast of Spain and finishing at Santiago, which is close to the place where St James first landed. The route, which often looked like a cart track, was 500 miles long and over hilly terrain, plains and woods and was located by the sign of the shell. Around 25,000 pilgrims of all ages and nationalities make this journey throughout the year and there are refuges all along the route providing the most basic accommodation. These cost less than £10 for two for the night, sometimes food was available and sometimes provisions had to be bought from local shops. These refuges were only for the use of pilgrims and everyone had to have a 'pilgrim passport' which had to be handed in and stamped at each stopping place to prove they were genuine pilgrims. The refuges were approximately 10 miles apart, but on their first day Doris and David had to walk 17 miles to get to their first stopping place. Luckily someone had warned them to take provisions for that day as on that part of the route there were no villages with shops. Later they met someone who had not been so lucky and had gone all day without food or drink. Crossing Spain the route took them past some beautiful cathedrals and small village churches and we noticed from the slides that church towers seemed to be a very popular place for storks to nest and they looked most ungainly sitting on their high perches. At one point they passed a spot where Charlesmayne had placed a cross in the ground before going into battle and many little crosses had been put there by pilgrims. Doris and David placed two crosses which they had brought from their church, the Church of the Ascension in Portsmouth. They made their pilgrimage around Easter time and saw many fiestas taking place in villages and towns on the route and we saw slides of children dancing in the national Spanish costume. Unfortunately the weather was not kind and out of the 35 days it took to walk the route they only had a few warm and sunny days. Quite often they reached their next refuge soaked to the skin. Just before they reached Santiago they saw a tall iron cross about 20 feet tall and at the base of it was a large cairn where many pilgrims over the years had brought a stone with them to place there. Doris and David had brought a small stone with them, bearing in mind it had to be carried all the way in their rucksack. Once they got to Santiago they saw the beautiful cathedral there which has the largest censer, or incense burner, in the world; it is so heavy it takes two men to hold it. They showed their 'refuge passport' to prove they had completed the journey and they received a compostella, a kind of certificate, in recognition of this. They had met people of all ages and nationalities and made many new friends and at the journey's end felt a tremendous sense of achievement. Interesting people I have Met We were pleased to welcome Miss Allen as our speaker again, this time talking about interesting people she has met. When Miss Allen became England's first woman prison governor of a mens' prison, Portsmouth's Kingston Prison, she found she became quite a celebrity and was invited to many social functions and banquets and met many interesting and well known people. She was invited to go to the BBC on Woman's Hour which was at that time presented by Sue McGregor, as guest of the week. She had not told anyone at the prison of this and was amazed when one of the prisoners wished her a nice day at the BBC - he had found her name in the Radio Times. She was invited to the Woman of the Year Luncheon in London where she met Margaret Rule, who was instrumental in raising the Mary Rose, judges, airline pilots and ladies from show business such as the Beverley Sisters and Maureen Lipman. At that time the luncheon cost £70 and she was also expected to raise money for charity, the charity being for the blind. She asked the prisoners at Kingston Prison to do a fun run in the grounds of the prison and get relatives and friends to sponsor them. This raised £590 which she took to the luncheon with her and she got some strange looks when she told them how it had been raised - they thought the prisoners had been released out of prison to do the fun run. One of the biggest surprises she had was when her secretary told her someone was on the telephone from Buckingham Palace. She was asked if she would be free to attend a private luncheon at Buckingham Palace on a certain date and of course she said she was. She was advised a formal invitation would be sent through the post and it was not until she received this she really believed she would be going - at the back of her mind she had wondered if someone was playing a practical joke. The only person she had told of the invitation was her mother as she did not want the press to learn of it. The next problem was what to wear for the occasion, so she took a friend with her to help her choose something suitable. There were several dresses she liked but dithered over the choice until her friend in exasperation said "Anyone would think you were going to Buckingham Palace with all the fuss you are making about choosing a dress." Of course she had to let her friend into the secret. The important day came round and being a non-driver she had decided to hire a chauffeur driven Daimler for the day. She found the luncheon was for a small gathering of eight and she was the only lady guest. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh came in followed by their corgis and the Queen chatted to each guest in turn. Miss Allen noticed when she wished to move on to the next guest she moved her handbag from one arm to the other to indicate to the equerry she was ready to be introduced to the next person. Miss Allen was on the right hand of the Duke and as she had expected he asked her a lot of questions about the prison service. It was an unhurried lunch and finally finished about 4.pm. When she drove through the Palace gates she felt like royalty, as being June there were lots of tourists with cameras taking photographs, and she just could not resist giving a royal wave.
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page last updated 1 DECEMBER 2000 |
