A PRIEST from Burnley took a party of handicapped and sick people to Lourdes, France, for healing and came back with a limp!

Father Leo Heakin, of St John's RC Church, said: "Don't worry, it is nothing to do with Lourdes, apart from pushing a lot of wheelchairs around.

"I take tablets for blood pressure and sometimes it builds up and causes gout which makes me limp."

He was making the pilgrimage with a party organised by Steve and Bernadette Theaker from Great Harwood.

Fr Heakin used to be a priest at St Wulstans, Great Harwood, and the Theakers' daughter Jane, who drove one of the mini-buses to Lourdes, was the first child he baptised.

There were 22 people from England making the journey overland and they met 160 handicapped people and their helpers who flew out from London.

Fr Heakin said: "I have been involved with the Leonard Cheshire Foundation, which organises the trip, for 23 years.

"We spent six days nursing and caring for the sick and handicapped and it was hard work but extremely rewarding - even if I did come back with a limp."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.