We celebrated a beautiful Festal Eucharist in St Mary’s Church, Banbury on the Sunday nearest to 8^th September (on which day the birth of the Virgin Mary is marked).  This was the first time in many years that we celebrated our Patronal Festival.  The live-streamed service included a special sermon by Revd Serena on the Virgin Mary, as well as choral offerings by St Mary’s Festival Singers who were taking part in a service for the first time since lockdown, with careful social distancing up in the gallery.

After the service, the first group of pilgrims set off from Banbury to walk to St Mary’s Broughton, where we listened to a short reflection and ate a picnic lunch in the churchyard, and then a larger group of pilgrims walked on across the fields to St Mary’s Bloxham.  There was another chance to sit down and hear a further reflection from Revd Louise and to offer some more prayers before some pilgrims completed the triangular walk back to Banbury, while others re-traced their footsteps to cars parked at Broughton.

The group varied in size from four to twenty at different points along the way, and the most energetic pilgrims walked a total of over 9 miles.  It was a moving occasion, especially as we spotted the distant spires of the churches which encouraged us to quicken our pace, and also the pilgrimage provided a wonderful opportunity to have safe conversations with each other in the open air and to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation on a sunny day.