Batley Torchlight Procession 2019 took place this year on Monday 7 October 2019.
This annual gathering assembled in Batley Market Square in honor of Our Lady and processed from there to St Mary of the Angels Church for Benediction. The Procession was led by Right Reverend Marcus Nigel Stock, MA, STL, Tenth Bishop of Leeds, and the homily was preached by the Dean of Dewsbury, Rev Fr Nicholas Hird.
The Torchlight Procession was started in 1951 by Father Gallon so that parishioners could take part in what is both an act of public worship and a display of witness to our faith. After the Rosary was said at the Church the procession; preceded by a statue of Our Lady and a loudspeaker van playing appropriate Hymns got underway. The original route went on Cemetery Road and then along Wellington Street turning left at the Yorkshire Bank onto Commercial Street and finishing at Market Place where there would be a short service followed by Benediction. It is said that in the early days Market Place would be full before the tail end of the procession had even reached Commercial Street, in later years the route was shortened by not going on Wellington Street but entering Commercial Street at its other end. From the start, it was hugely popular attracting people from all over the diocese and beyond.
A supper of pie and peas following the event was enjoyed at St Mary’s Parochial Hall.
