The Oxford Chapter on Pilgrimage

 Clare of the Oxford Chapter writes: It was a somewhat chilly morning on Monday 27th February, when 3 members of the Oxford Chapter of the Guild of St. Clare met on the platform of Oxford Parkway Railway Station. This was the start of our Pilgrimage to the Church of Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane in London, via a number of sewing related retail establishments.

We spent the hour of the journey into London discussing our hopes and aspirations for the day - and, of course, doing some sewing. We arrived at Marylebone Station and walked the short distance to our first port of call; Joel and Son. This is a veritable cornucopia of rolls of fabric, reaching from the floor to the ceiling. Nothing leapt out at us, demanding to be purchased, so we moved on to the next establishment on our itinerary.

After a somewhat circuitous route, we found ourselves at V. V. Rouleaux - another cornucopia, this time of braids, ribbons, trims and other bits and bobs. It was getting towards lunchtime, so we MacCulloch and Wallis our last stop of the morning. We dramatically reduced their stock of needles, thread, marking pencils and calico, among other things, after which we had a well earned cup of tea and a sandwich.

Liberty’s was just a short walk from the café, with its large collection of cotton prints and sewing accessories, made in some of their more popular prints. A number of items in the latter category were delightedly purchased. While investigating the sales items, we came upon a rather spectacular model of the shop in LEGO!

Our final retail establishment was Watts and Co, where we were shown their extensive range of glorious liturgical fabrics, and came away with some samples for matching various projects.

Two further Pilgrims then joined us at the Clermont Hotel, Charing Cross for afternoon tea. We spent a very pleasant hour or so chatting and enjoying the tea, sandwiches and cakes.

After tea, we made our way to our final destination and the purpose of our Pilgrimage; Sung Mass at the beautiful Church of Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane, to pray for the special intention of the Liberty of the traditional Mass.

We have been commissioned to make covers for the kneelers for Corpus Christi, for use at Pontifical Masses, and took this opportunity to check the measurements. We are looking forward to beginning these as part of our contribution to the Lenten Vestment Challenge.