St Mary’s Cathedral in Middlesbrough will remain open continuously during the period of the visit of the relics of St Thérèse.

The safety of pilgrims is of the utmost importance to the Diocese of Middlesbrough.

The relics of St Thérèse

Members of the Knights of St Columba will have the honour of carrying the relics of St Thérèse in to and out of the Cathedral. They will also form a guard of honour and be on duty throughout the visit.

Traffic and parking

Traffic marshalls will be on duty outside of the Cathedral and will wear high visibility clothing. There will be no parking in front of the Cathedral, nor will there be any parking on the slip road to the Presbytery.

Space must be kept in front of the Cathedral for the emergency services should they be required.

Please refrain from parking in the Residential Homes’ car parks.

There is parking for cars in the car parks around the nearby Parkway Centre.

Coaches are asked to park at the Blue Bell Hotel car park after off-loading their passengers by kind permission of Ron Darby, the General Manager of the Blue Bell.

Inside the Cathedral

A team of ushers will be on duty inside the Cathedral during the visit. They will direct pilgrims and control access to and exit from the Cathedral. The ushers will wear identification.

Pilgrims are asked to co-operate with the ushers at all times; the ushers are on duty to assist pilgrims and to ensure safety.

Members of St John’s Ambulance will also be on duty.

During the periods of veneration the Cathedral will adopt an anti-clockwise, one-way system for pilgrims. The diagram below (reproduced here by kind permission of Paul Bowen) shows the route, the entrance and exits and designated areas for disabled pilgrims.