THE choice of the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams to headline at Glastonbury proved to be a popular one. This was not the Glastonbury Festival, by the way — that annual Somerset musical extravaganza that has been going since the 1970s (News, 5 July) — but the Glastonbury Anglican Pilgrimage. This has been made since 1924 and is resolutely more religious.

For this centenary year, the immaculate lawns of the Abbey grounds were verdant and welcoming. The chosen theme was “Who are these like stars appearing — Our Lady and the Communion of Saints”. It was a thanksgiving, said those who had arranged the day, “for the many saints who have been part of this pilgrimage over the past century . . . the countless numbers of faithful pilgrims who have crowded into these hallowed, ruined walls”.

“These stones which have echoed their praises are holy” was a line in one of the chosen hymns. Thousands have descended on the Vale of Glastonbury for the pilgrimage over the decades, and this year there was a return to the kind of numbers seen just before Covid: more than 700 pilgrims were present, 500 of whom received holy communion. They had come from the Midlands, Cornwall, and across the south, along with customary coachloads from Wales.

Officiating for the first time as chairman of the Glastonbury Pilgrimage Association, the Bishop of Oswestry, the Rt Revd Paul Thomas, presided in gold vestments and a precious mitre, with the assistance of more than 80 concelebrating clergy, including five bishops. Tom Stockwell’s choir sang sumptuous polyphony.

In his sermon, Lord Williams spoke of the Glastonbury pilgrimage’s contribution to history. Founded in the aftermath of the First World War and the Spanish Flu epidemic, it had united a nation in grief “where not one family was untouched by bereavement” with the solidarity of our Lady and the Beloved Disciple at the foot of the cross. It was, he said, a gaze in which Christians continued to be held and loved today.

Special words of thanks were reserved for the Revd Steven Kirk, who has now stepped down as deputy chairman after a long association dating back to 1988. That year, as a new deacon, he was one of the sacred ministers at the mass when Archbishop Runcie attended. The Archbishop flew in by helicopter across a field of thousands, much like Dame Shirley Bassey for the pop festival in 2007. Fr Kirk has many happy memories of the pilgrimage, and was visibly moved by the day’s joyful tone.

After lunch, a procession of the Blessed Sacrament moved down the high street and back into the Abbey, thurifer’s incense melding with Glastonbury’s customary joss sticks and herbal cigarettes along the way. After Benediction, hundreds of cheerful pilgrims went on their way, taking something of the day with them.