Join us!
What is volunteering in Lourdes like?
We spend our week of service in Lourdes volunteering as part of the Hospitalité Notre-Dame de Lourdes (HNDL), an organisation of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, who come to Lourdes from all over the world. The HNDL provides services on which every pilgrim and pilgrimage in Lourdes depends. We also lodge in the HNDL’s accommodation and eat in its refectories.
In your first four years of service in Lourdes, you’ll be assigned to a team of volunteers that rotates across different services, each led by an experienced volunteer. A typical day will consist of three or four services; services include at the grotto, baths, services/processions, and station. Each service is different, and different teams within a service fulfil different functions, so no two days are ever the same! During your week of service, you will also receive technical training (e.g. how to move and park wheelchairs safely) and formation, which explores the history and spirituality of Lourdes.
Volunteers in later years of service typically stay in one service for the whole week, rather than rotate around different services. As well as the aforementioned services, our members have been known to volunteer as trainers; at the airport; in pilgrim accommodation; in the HNDL’s offices; and as conseillers, serving in the HNDL’s organisational boards.
Who can join us?
We welcome anyone with any affiliation to Wimbledon College to join us. Our members include old boys, former teachers, families of old boys, and many international friends we’ve made in Lourdes over the years.
Mailing list
The best way to keep in contact with us is through our mailing list. As well as dates and information for our summer pilgrimage, subscribers receive invites to reunions and other events.
2025 dates
Working party: Thursday 21 August to Friday 29 August
Non-working party: Friday 22 to Tuesday 26 August 2025
Our flagship working party serves in Lourdes for a week every summer, usually the last week of August. While we coordinate the dates of the working party, individual members are usually responsible for reserving their stage, accommodation, and travel. We can offer help and advice, and we especially try to coordinate our travel arrangements.
Current students: Boys in Rhetoric are warmly invited to join our annual working party. Younger boys will need to be accompanied by their parents or guardians. To express interest, please get in touch at wimbledonlourdes100@gmail.com.
Non-working party: We are planning, if there’s sufficient interest, to run a non-working pilgrimage alongside the working party, for those who would like to experience Lourdes as pilgrims. We hope to run a full programme of pilgrimage activities over the weekend. The party is open to anyone with a connection with the College. To express interest, please get in touch at wimbledonlourdes100@gmail.com.
