BBC News
By Chris Bockman
image captionTwenty cameras follow the services at the sanctuary
In normal times around 15,000 Christian pilgrims a day would be visiting the Sanctuary of Lourdes at this time of year. But Lourdes, as everywhere, has had to change with the times.
The most visited site is the
grotte, or cave, where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in front of a young girl collecting firewood in 1858. Many are attracted by that story - and very ill pilgrims are drawn by the miraculous healings that are said to have occurred there.
Nowadays as few as 30 people kneel for afternoon prayers in front of a statue of a Virgin Mary at the cave entrance. This would once have been unthinkable, but the pandemic and restrictions imposed last year have brought pilgrimages to a dramatic halt.
A LOCAL social housing company has donated boxes full of food and other items to several North Wales foodbanks in its Reverse Advent scheme. ClwydAlyn Housing s Reverse Advent Calendar sees staff members and residents in supported living facilities donate an item each day throughout November ready to deliver to a local food bank in early December. This means food banks will have time to make up food parcels and distribute the contents before Christmas. This year s scheme has been a huge success, with enough items collected to benefit nine North Wales foodbanks. The company collected the items at each of its supported living facilities in North Wales, and to allow staff that have been working from home the chance to donate, the company set up a PayPal donation page - which raised over £70.