Pupils Walking In Fancy Dress Add Thousands Of Miles To World-wide Challenge

Published on: 17 Jul, 2018
Updated on: 16 Jul, 2018

Pupils from St Peter’s Catholic School in Merrow wearing fancy dress joined thousands of others to help complete a 24,900-mile walk around the world in solidarity with refugees.

Some of the pupils who took part in the walk pictured at St Peter’s School with the Bishop of Arundel & Brighton, Richard Moth.

A total of 750 pupils took part in their eight-mile walk, along with 50 staff members and other volunteers on a very hot day (June 29) that involved a round trip via St Martha’s Hill and church. Some students chose to run the distance!

The school undertakes an annual walk around its feast day and decided this year to dedicate to the plight of refugees and migrants.

The school’s chaplain, Kevin Mendes, said: “Our school has a very influential young leaders programme and those choose to support all CAFOD [Catholic Agency for Overseas Development] campaigns this year.

“They wanted to show the importance of caring and giving kind consideration to thousands of people who are forced to flee through no fault of their own.”

The school adds that it is hoped that the overall walk will raise awareness before world leaders meet on September 19 at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to reach a new agreement on protecting refugees. And similarly, to reach consensus for the later UN Assembly conference in December on protecting migrants.

While, Pope Francis launched the Share the Journey campaign last year. Championed by international Catholic charities, the campaign hopes to encourage global leaders to act.

CAFOD has launched a petition to the Prime Minister to ensure the UK takes a prominent lead at the assembly.

CAFOD representative for the Arundel and Brighton Diocese, Martin Brown, said: “We want to say a massive thank you to St Peter’s School. They came together and showed local leaders that protecting refugees and migrants is an important issue to their communities.

Click here for more details of the Share the Journey campaign.