At the end of October, St Joseph’s Travel Club enjoyed another short break. A group of 40-odd from several Middlesbrough parishes, Yarm, Whitby and even Tottenham undertook the long trip to Bruges.

As usual, Debby had found a first-rate hotel, within easy reach of the city, a smallish hotel, with understated decor, every comfort, excellent food including a copious breakfast, and a most obliging staff, who on our final evening set aside a room for Mass, celebrated by Fr Brennan.

Visits were made not only to Bruges with its wonderful churches, art galleries, cafes and shops, but also to Brussels, with its EU buildings and sumptuous art deco shopping galleries, Ostend, Ypres, miraculously rebuilt in its original form after almost total destruction in the First World War, and vast beautifully kept military cemetery near that town.