50th Anniversary celebrations


Pilgrimage of Light

 

2022 will be the year of the 50th anniversary of the LDWA. To celebrate this anniversary year the national committee are encouraging all local groups to organise some sort of event of their own choosing. 

So we have a plan for Northumbria group. We will combine two long-distance paths:

1) The Northern Saints Trails, Way of Light. This is a new trail, 45 miles long, from Durham Cathedral to Heavenfield, which transports us on a journey through Christianity's illustrious history in the North East.

 Way of Light

2) St Oswald's Way. This more established path, 97 miles long, from Heavenfield to The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, links a number of places associated with the King Saint, Oswald. 

St Oswald's Way

 

We'll do the nearly 145 mile, which is being named the Pilgrimage of Light, in 8 separate linear stages of approximately 20 miles each, as group social walks, over maybe 6-9 months. 

Durham Cathedral to Castleside

Castleside to Hexham

Hexham to Kirkwhelpington

KIrkwhelpington to Rothbury

Rothbury to Warkworth

Warkworth to Craster

Craster to Bamburgh

Bamburgh to Holy Island

 

Each stage will be advertised on the website in the normal way in future events. Because of the need to organise some transport with the walks being linear, we'll need people to book on the walks in advance, but that will be explained when the walks appear on the website. Walkers are free to do as many or as few of the stages as they like. Hopefully we can get a different leader for each stage. I would anticipate starting the first stage early in the year and arriving bare-footed across the sands of the Pilgrim's way to Lindisfarne by summer. 

That's the plan. It's a tad ambitious and organising the transport could be challenging. Members have already given me some leads for bus companies, but if anyone in the group owns a bus company or has any contacts I would be glad to know about it. If anyone has any queries or suggestions for improvement, please get in touch. 

Interestingly, the Lindisfarne Gospels themselves will be on display in the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, from 17th September 2022 until the 3rd December 2022, on loan from the British Library

 
Maybe we should ask if we can borrow them, so that we can carry them to Holy Island across the Pilgrim's Way. I'm sure it wouldn't be any trouble. 
 
 

Paul Nellist, walks secretary

walks.northumbria@ldwa.org.uk

07495929777

 

 

Pilgrimage of Light commemorative t-shirts

Now that we have completed the final stage of the Pilgrimage of Light it's time to organise the commemorative t-shirts. 

We've organised with a company called elite embroidery in Newcastle to produce the high-performance, wicking t-shirts with the Pilgrimage of Light logo on the left breast area:

t-shirt with logo

Alan Tiplady demonstrated the t-shirt on the final walk. The mint colour looked particularly good. There was also an ash colour, but to be honest that just looked like an off white. 

The links to the t-shirts with choices of colours and sizes are:

AWDis Just Cool T-Shirt - Elite Embroidery Ltd

AWDis Just Cool Girlie Cool T-Shirt - Elite Embroidery Ltd

Alan had the men's t-shirts which to be honest seemed to be fine for everyone, but there is now a female fit choice as well. As far as size is concerned I am normally either M or L, in this case the L fit me the best. In terms of colour you can choose anything from the catalogue on the links, but would be strongly advised to avoid dark colours as they obliterate most of the logo

 

So, we're going to charge £15 per t-shirt which involves the base t-shirt with the bespoke logo added. There will likely be a small profit which will just simply go into the club funds. 

To order t-shirts the process is as follows, which is where it gets a little complicated:

The club are going to get everyone's orders into us and then place a bulk order with elite embroidery which will benefit from a bulk discount. 

To pay electronically by BACS the Northumbria LDWA account details are:

Sort Code 401852
Acc No 81062050

Please make sure that you put your name as reference on the electronic payment so that we can keep a record of who has paid.

Can you then also email myself at walks.northumbria@ldwa.org.uk and state the colour and size of t-shirt that you want. I guess you also need to state either the men's or women's fit. 

Please do not try and place orders directly with elite embroidery.  

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

That's it!