On Saturday, September 26, a group of pilgrims from Mayfield Salisbury enjoyed a very special day in Glasgow. It meant an early start for many as the coach left at 9.00am, but we were all aboard in good time, armed with an excellent pack of leaflets prepared by Lorna Souter, including a small booklet of prayers and reflections for use throughout the day. Lorna also led us in prayer before we left using some beautiful words of St Patrick, very apt as we were heading for Glasgow Cathedral: the 
church of St Mungo.On arrival at the Cathedral we were met by Revd Dr Laurence Whitley, the minster, who gave us a most informative tour of both the Upper and Lower Church, during which he detailed the spiritual history of the Cathedral from its beginnings as the burial place of St Kentigern (St Mungo) in the 7th Century, through the earliest documented buildings in the 12th century to those of the present day. The Cathedral has thus
been a place of pilgrimage for many hundreds of years and still receives visitors from around the world. Many who come, however, often from the adjacent Royal Infirmary, come in need of a peaceful space. The box for prayer requests in the chapel of prayer is well used.Our morning ended with a service of Holy Communion led by Scott in the East chapel of the Upper Church, a wonderful experience. Amidst
so much history, the prayers of all those who had gone before were almost tangible. In the afternoon we had such a great choice of activities it was difficult to decide what to do first! Some remained in the Cathedral for a time and explored it further, but others walked across to the
nearby Museum of Religious Life and Art. Completed in the 1990s, this stands on the site of the original Bishop’s Castle. Here there are fascinating exhibits of artefacts and explanations covering all the major world religions, as well as a café where we could have lunch.Across the road from the museum is Provand’s Lordship. It dates from 1471 and is the last survivor of around 40 ecclesiastical
buildings which in the past surrounded the Cathedral. It is thus the oldest house in Glasgow still standing and is now a museum detailing its history. At its rear is a beautiful cloistered physic garden: the St Nicholas garden. This was a particularly peaceful spot where those of us who had chosen to have a picnic lunch could sit.Another choice was a walk through the Glasgow Necropolis, the vast Victorian burial ground covering the hill which overlooks the cathedral. It opened in 1832 and houses a magnificent array of Victorian monuments to the ‘great and the good’ of a city proud of its industrial heritage and place in the then British Empire. The suggested trail route led passed many of the most decorative and interesting memorials.
Our day of pilgrimage ended with a short talk by Scott on the life and ministry of Revd George Matheson, the well known Victorian minister, who is buried with other members of his family in the Necropolis. George Matheson was blind from his late teens but became a renowned preacher and author of many books. He is best known today for his hymn ‘O Love that wilt not let me go’, which we sang together at the close.
Many of us then walked up the hill to the Matheson family grave where Scott laid some flowers.
Our journey home was trouble free and we arrived back shortly after 6.00pm, tired but full of joy at having experienced so much in each other’s company. Friendships had deepened or new ones had begun, new places had been visited or familiar ones had provided new insights, sentiments echoed by the words from our pilgrimage pamphlet: ‘Pilgrimage is a spiritual journey to a sacred site. The travelling and the destination are inseparable ... It is in the action of travelling, of encountering the new and the unfamiliar, of allowing ourselves time and space away from the routine of everyday life that we receive insights and spiritual growth.’ (Oxford Diocese Pilgrimage Leaflet)Further photographs of the Pilgrimager to Glasgow can be found in the Gallery
