Burnley church group heads across County border with Yorkshire for fund-raising walk to monastery
Twelve people from a Burnley church set off to walk over 30 miles at the weekend, crossing the county boundary into West Yorkshire, to raise much-needed funds and enable more good work to take place in their local community. The walk is called ‘St Matthew’s to the Monastery’ as the final destination is the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, home to a number of Benedictine monks.
The journey is both a pilgrimage and a sponsored walk. The group, from St Matthew’s Church in Burnley, slept overnight on Sunday night in St Mary’s Church, Todmorden and tonight (Monday) they will be sleeping in Halifax Minster.
In the churches, and on the road, they will pause to pray and reflect. The group is also aiming to raise £3000 for St Matthew’s in order to fund the ongoing efforts of the church to share the love of God in South West Burnley and beyond. By Monday morning they had already secured more than £1100.
Those on the walk range in age from teenagers to people in their 70s. Some of them have hiking experience but most have never attempted a long distance walk over consecutive days.
They will be joined by others for parts of the trip and will be encouraged by associated events such as an online quiz.
The route for the first day of the walk was planned by Rev. Kat Gregory-Witham, Associate Priest at St Matthew’s and walk co-ordinator. From Todmorden onwards however the group will join the Paulinus Way, a pilgrimage route following in the footsteps of a monk who shared the Christian faith in northern England in the 7th century.
Excitement about this unusual expedition has been growing over the last few weeks. Leon, one of the youngest walkers says he’s looking forward to ‘sleeping in different churches’.
Another participant, Hannah, when asked if she thought they would manage the distance said: “We’re gonna smash it!”.
The group would love you to sponsor them and you can do so online at www.justgiving.com/page/stmatthewstothemonastery
Meanwhile, photos and updates of the journey will be shared on the St Matthew’s Church Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/stmatthewsburnley/