A DETERMINED group of schoolgirls are raising money to bring disabled and disadvantaged children to Lourdes at Easter.
Year 12 students at Coloma Convent Girls' School are preparing for their Easter Trip to Lourdes with the Handicap Children's Pilgrimage Trust (HCPT).
For nearly 60 years the trust has brought disabled and disadvantaged children and adults to Lourdes to share a holiday and pilgrimage to the world famous shrine.
But to continue its work the charity needs helpers and volunteers to enable the pilgrims to take part.
A group of 31 students from Coloma are taking part in the fundraising and trip this year, and will join the long line of Coloma girls who have done the same thing over the last 27 years.
They will be helped by teacher Pat Horsman, who has been involved since the start.
Although the snow stopped the girls from washing cars at parents' evening to raise money, they still plan to hold pancake sales and bake sales and work as bag packers to raise the crucial funds.
Emily Kennedy, Rocio Crispin, Kelly Ramos and Harriet Maddison are among the students ready to get started. They said: "We are really looking forward to helping on the trip and helping the pilgrims.
"It's a real shame the weather stopped the car wash service at the parents' evening but we will think of something else to raise the funds this would have made – a bit of snow won't stop us."
