Every year, the Sacred Heart Conference SVP in Castlebar bring residents, patients and service uses from the Sacred Heart Hospital to Knock Shrine. Numbers vary from year to year but generally the average is between 50 and 60. All must receive medical clearance before they embark on the journey.
The members of the Conference are assisted each year by nurses, nursing aids and staff from the Sacred Heart Hospital and the Day Care Unit. Further assistance is provided by the Irish Wheelchair Association staff and volunteers from St Johns Ambulance organization. The pilgrimage would not be possible without such wonderful support.
The format of the pilgrimage follows a certain pattern or routine developed by our President Anne Leonard and executed by her SVP team and additional volunteers.
The members of the Sacred Heart Conference feel privileged to be allowed carry out this annual activity. In particular they wish to express sincere thanks to the Director of Nursing and her staff and all the volunteers for their unstinted cooperation and service over so many years.
Also, the members are thankful to their predecessors in the conference for initiating and organizing the pilgrimage day in the past and proving above all that ‘our work never springs from ourselves alone’.