Friends of Walsingham
Occasional Paper 12
Friends of Walsingham Occasional Paper Number 12 March 1961
Letter from the Revd The Administrator
My dear Friends
I hope this is going to be a very exciting year for the Shrine and that we shall have more
pilgrims than ever before.
It should also mark the climax of the Campaign of Giving which will, it is hoped, make it possible for us to
expand the work in all sorts of ways, but will also provide us with a far more close knit body of supporters
who have demonstrated their affection and loyalty to the Shrine.
[description of Fr Stephenson's visit to Rome ...]
There are many more things I should like to write about my visit to Rome, and I hope that perhaps there
may be room to do so in future numbers of this paper. Meanwhile we are trying to get the Shrine cleaned
up and ready for the pilgrimage season, and it will not be long before we shall have the pleasure of
welcoming many of you here. Till then I send you blessings from this Holy Place.
Colin Stephenson
Hubert Adderley, Lord Norton
The rise and growth of the restored devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham was something which Hubert
Adderley, Lord Norton, had seen practically from the beginning; and to him it meant a very great deal. In
the early years, when he was living in Norfolk, he often visited Walsingham; and he early became a
Guardian. He continued to have a great and deepening appreciation of what Walsingham means. It formed
a very important part of his life. He has himself related (in the Occasional Paper of October 1959) the
story of the pilgrimage he made at a time when it appeared more than possible that Lady Norton might
lose her sight, and how there was a complete cure.
He came latterly each year with the Birmingham pilgrimage as well as that of St John’s, Coventry (and
nearly always paid a visit to the Boys’ Home); he practically never failed to attend meetings as a
Guardian, and was always ready to speak or preside at meetings to promote devotion to Our Lady. He also
enjoyed being able sometimes to come for a few days quietly and just be at peace there.
But what manner of man was he? What lay behind that quiet and courteous exterior? He was a man of
strong character, who would hold firmly to what he believed to be right. He had a particular sense of the
value of the sacrament of penance, and of devotion to Our Lady as safeguarding the truth of the
Incarnation. He held most tenaciously to what he called “my half hour” (of meditation) without which he
said the day was all wrong; and came to have a great love of the psalms. He particularly disliked fuss and
ostentation and loved simplicity.
May he rest in peace!
E.H.W.C.
[This edition was filled with a long article about the proposed Campaign of Giving, and another article by
Hedley Hope-Nicholson about the history of the Shrine. If anyone would like copies of these, contact the
honorary archivist]