For all the places in the world where Bertie paraded his sublime skills, he never made it to the town of Lourdes in France.
As many of you know, Lourdes is the biggest Catholic shrine in the world with each year over 6 million visitors making a pilgrimage there from all over the world. However, despite not visiting Lourdes, Bertie, as he did in so much of his life, left his inimitable mark on a small Youth Group from Glasgow dedicated to helping people who do go to Lourdes.
The St Margaret of Scotland Youth Group is an 80-strong body of 18–23-year-olds who travel out to Lourdes for 10 days in July to assist the sick kids, elderly and those with additional needs who travel to Lourdes with Glasgow Archdiocese. The cost for young people who volunteer to go to Lourdes to work for those 10 days is nearly £1,000 and as the Group also take families with sick or dying children to Lourdes with them, fundraising plays a huge part in the work of the Group
Bertie was introduced to the Charity by his friend and long-time supporter of the Group, John Haughey. For nearly 20 years, Bertie attended every one of the Group’s Charity Balls held in the Radisson Hotel and every year he would be invited by comperes, Hugh Keevins and Michelle McManus, to regale the audience either with a story or even to lead the singing – usually, “Hail Hail!” As you can imagine, the crowd just lapped it up.
However, Bertie never forgot that the reason he was there was to support, as he put it, “these wonderful boys and girls who make us so proud.” One year, after the Ball and when all the funds had been disbursed, I heard a tale of a former Group girl who had just been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Annie was only 35 and had 3 young children. I was desperate to get her and her family to Lourdes but unfortunately, by that stage, all our funds had already been allocated and the pilgrimage was only a month away. By sheer chance, I happened to meet John Haughey, who as ever was keen to hear about the Lourdes preparation and I happened to mention to him about Annie. After I told John he then went and told Bertie and that is when a little Lourdes Miracle happened right there in John’s garage in Baillieston.
A few days later, I got a call from John to come down to the garage. On arrival, I saw Bertie sitting behind the counter, cup of tea in hand. “Michael, John told me about your wee lassie with cancer. I was at a posh function last night and I told them your story and I offered to auction off my club Lisbon Lion jacket. So, here’s some money to get your wee lassie to Lourdes.” When I opened the envelope there was £5,000! Typical Bertie.
A nice follow up to the story happened at one of our annual Charity Balls which are always held in May. The occasion of the 50th Anniversary of Lisbon had just passed, and the Group wanted to show their appreciation to Bertie for his continued support. They had commissioned an etched picture of Bertie in his Celtic prime onto a crystal decanter. I took the opportunity to tell the audience of the tale of Bertie auctioning his Celtic blazer to get Annie to Lourdes. At the end of the story, applause erupted around the hall, and I finished by saying if you just look behind you Bertie, that wee lassie, Annie would like to present you with a token of all our affection.!”
Not a dry eye in the house.
Annie continues to do well. God Bless You, Bertie.
Michael Canning,
President
St Margaret of Scotland Youth Group
