WITH church bells ringing over the City and May sunshine warming the earth, more than 2.500 people on Sunday took what must have been a large step forward in " the race for the soul of England."
The 2.500 were those who joined the Guild u( Our Lady of Ransom at Newgate and took part in the great silence of nearly three hours while they walked the long route to Tyburn in honour of the English Martyrs.
Ely Place was the first stop. There the Master of the Guild, Mgr. Laurance Goulder, spoke of the volume of silent prayer that should go up during the Walk" to beat the Communists in their race for the soul of England."
Led by Bishop Rudderham of Plymouth. the long procession slowly wended its way to Kingsway, then to St. Patrick's, Soho Square, and so to the roadway and Hyde Park opposite Tyburn Convent,
Here at least another 1.000 people waited. From the convent balcony, Fr. Clement Tigar, S.J., led the crowd in the Rosary, Some 600 Scouts and Cubs renewed their promises, Cardinal Griffin gave Benediction. and quietly the people dispersed. One figure was missing from this year's walk: Mgr. John Filmer, who succeeded Mgr. Philip Fletcher, founder of the Guild, as its second Master, is in hospital.