The Ted McCormack Group

(HCPT  Group 543)

The history of the group follows closely that of Hosanna House itself, beginning with the group in 1975 under the then leadership of Pat Haley. Pat’s love of high places – a keen mountaineer, he was my Venture Scout leader back in the ‘70’s and a civil engineer to boot – led to his seconding to Nepal by HM Government on a 2 year road building project which meant my uncle Ted landed the job, one which he held on to until 1990, including a stint from 1983 to 1993 as a governor.

We’ve been blessed similarly with a few illustrious chaplains, starting with Fr (later Bishop) Howard Tripp, then Fr Richard Harvey, Fr Casey, Fr John McCormack (yes, another relation!) and, more recently, Fr Simon Peat.

Like any successful organisation, we’ve had a number of stalwarts who’ve supported the group and worked hard for the disabled in Lourdes for decades. To mention two or three only might seem invidious, but we received excellent medical support for years from Sheila Daniel, our District Nurse in Mortlake now retired in Barbados, then Catherine Dean, whose parents were group ‘regulars’. Much support and active encouragement also came from the late Janet Carsell, a long term group member and also a governor of the Trust.

Despite one year ‘off’ when I was abroad in 2003, the group has continued its annual pilgrimage in late season to the Shrine of Our Lady every year for the last 30 years. We are a national group – regular contingents used to come from Bookham, Surrey and South Wales and others from as far afield as Manchester and Newcastle. Why not join us this year?