BOOKING NOW OPEN FOR STUDENT CROSS 2012

Update 1 December 2011 - It is now time to book your place on Student Cross 2012. All the legs of Student Cross are now accepting booking for the Easter 2012 pilgrimage. But, don't delay. Places will fill up quickly. Go to our leg pages and explore the options there to decide which route you wish to walk.

Find out more about how to join the 2012 pilgrimage

RECORD NUMBERS IN WALSINGHAM AT EASTER 2011

On Good Friday 2011, 22 April, a record number of pilgrims walked into Walsingham from Student Cross to spend the Easter weekend together. Almost 290 pilgrims gathered, drawn from as far as America and New Zealand. The ten legs, or groups, arrived tired, tanned and happy having enjoyed beautiful weather, fellowship and walking.

The 2011 National Director, Chantal Noppen, enjoyed the opportunity to meet each group during the week and spend some time with each of them: "It was fascinating spending time with each leg and seeing that Student Cross really is a group of 'same but different' people, united with a common goal but with a unique sense of community and identity within each leg yet unmistakeably part of a greater whole that is Student Cross. It really is something special."

At the AGM a new leg was approved. From 2012, Wensum Leg will launch as a youth leg, open to 11-17 year olds with parents or guardians, to help bridge the gap between family legs and the 120-mile adult legs.

The AGM elected teacher Ali Hodrien to serve as National Director in 2012.

STUDENT CROSSERS TAKE A LONG WALK HOME

While most pilgrims took the bus home on Easter Sunday, two Student Cross regulars set out from Walsingham on a rather more circular route back from Norfolk.

Having already walked Kettering Leg of Student Cross 2010, Alison Gelder and Ian Smith are
spending the next 4 months walking 1600 miles from Walsingham to Santiago de Compostella, north west Spain, via Vezelay in Burgundy, France.

They are calling their extra long pilgrimage the Cross and the Shell - connecting the Cross of
Student Cross with the 'Pilgrim Cross' peace march at the end of WW2 which ended up in Vezelay and the Shell of the Camino, the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostella.

Ian and Alison will be walking in solidarity with the homeless and badly housed, reflecting on
hospitality and raising funds for the charity Housing Justice.

Follow their journey on The Cross and Shell blog  and Facebook group

SAY WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF EASTER 2010 LITURGIES

The Student Cross 2010 music and liturgy survey is now online. It’s very quick and easy to complete. Please take a couple of minutes to fill it in and provide your views to help the liturgy group with their planning for Student Cross 2011. Take part in the survey

STUDENT CROSS 2010 IS A GREAT SUCCESS

Around 275 pilgrims walked into Walsingham on Good Friday, 2 April, to celebrate Easter after journeying up to 130 miles during Holy Week. That is an increase of about 20 walkers from 2009. Ten groups or legs completed Student Cross 2010 and celebrated Easter together in glorious spring weather.

Dave Stanley, national director of Student Cross 2010, said: "Pilgrimage is an intense and rewarding experience. It is more relevant today than it has ever been for those prepared to face its challenges. Going on pilgrimage is a fantastic way to strip back to the basics, examine the fundamental questions in life and consider what is really important."

The pilgrimage embraced the microblogging age, as a number of legs and pilgrims tweeted their experiences of the week. To find out more, visit twitter.com and search using the tag #sx2010

There was also a flurry of media interest from both local and international media. Student Cross featured in media outlets as varied as the Daily Telegraph, the Vatican daily newspaper and the Eastern Daily Press. Several pilgrims were interviewed by BBC radio stations across the east of England.

The Student Cross AGM on Easter Saturday elected youth worker Chantal Noppen to be its national director for 2011.

The AGM approved steps for pilgrims' reunions to have an outreach element that makes more efforts to bring a Student Cross experience to university chaplaincies and parishes. There was also a proposal to consider setting up a teenagers leg as a stepping stone between the 2 family legs and the other longer student legs.
 

WE NOW HAVE A FACEBOOK FAN PAGE
Student Cross 2010 event also live

For all you Facebookers, Student Cross now has two new places where you can show your support for everyone's favourite Easter pilgrimage. There is a fan page, where people can find out about Student Cross and encourage others to take part. There is also a 2010 Event, where you can sign up and tell everyone that you'll be coming to Walsingham this Easter.

Long time pilgrims and supporters should note there is still an older Student Cross Facebook Group. This is the place to go for chat, reunions and keeping in touch with friends you made on the road to Walsingham.

Join the Student Cross fan page
Join the Student Cross 2010 Event

STUDENT CROSS CD NOW OUT
Sing and Rejoice: A Collection of Easter Hymns

Find out more and order a copy

PILGRIMS CELEBRATE EASTER 2009
Pilgrims from Student Cross celebrate Easter 2009 in Walsingham.

Hard to believe, but Student Cross 2009 has now come and gone. More than 250 pilgrims from 10 different legs arrived in Walsingham on Good Friday 10 April to celebrate Easter at the Norfolk shrine. Thanks were offered to Fliss Cairns for all her hard work as General Organising Director 2009 and to Gwen Oliver for organising the music. Dave Stanley was elected as the new General Organising Director for 2010, while Joe Slade will organise the music.

Join us on Student Cross 2010. The 7-day-walking legs start on 27 March. The whole pilgrimage will be in Walsingham 2-4 April 2010.

FOLLOW STUDENT CROSS 2009 ON TWITTER
Follow Student Cross 2009 on Twitter - twitter.com/studentcross (general feed, particularly during Easter weekend 10-12 April) or twitter.com/northernpilgrim (Northern Leg feed, particularly during Holy Week 3-10 April).

STUDENT CROSS MARKS 60TH JUBILEE
Student Cross celebrated in fine style the diamond jubilee of its first Easter cross-carrying pilgrimage. About 200 past and present pilgrims took part in fantastic day of celebration for 60 years of Student Cross on 13 September 2008 in Sheffield.

Read CAFOD Director Chris Bain's address
Student Cross 1998-2008 - a special supplement by John Brydon (PDF, 150kb)

ELY LEG MISSION TO SCOTLAND 2007
Members of Ely Leg took Student Cross 'out on the road' and north of the border for a unique mission week at a Scottish parish in the summer of 2007.

Read the special report by Chris Hughes and Catherine Duce about the highly successful mission week.