IN PICTURES: Brass band and 'bumper crowd' at Laois pilgrimage Mass

A special Laois mass held on the site of a shrine to Our Lady returned after a three year hiatus to a "bumper crowd" this week. 

Up to 2,000 pilgrims attended the Ladywell Mass, with hymns provided by Ballyroan Brass Band and combined choirs from four different Catholic churches, a blend of Kilkenny and Laois parishes.

Organiser John Mooney told the Leinster Express that it was a very special day.

The Mass was on Monday, August 15, the Feast of the Assumption which has been celebrated at the Ladwell shrine with a Rosary and more recently a Mass, for for some 200 years.

"The weather was just thrilling. The fact that we could not hold it for three years, I think people were glad to get back. A lot of elderly people come, families come from 10 or 12 counties to meet there once a year.  We had a bumper crowd, I would say up to 2,000 people," he said.

The shrine is on the Durrow to Ballinakill road, 1.5km from Ballinakill.

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The Mass celebrant was Fr O'Gorman  from Ballyragget. Con-celebrants were Fr O'Farrell from Lisdowney, Monsignor Michael Ryan from Castlecomer, Fr Willie Hennessy from Conaghy parish, and Fr Downey who is home on holidays from Perth Australia.

The combined choirs were from churches in Ballinakill, Durrow, Abbeyleix and Ballyragget. 

Photographer Alf Harvey was there for the Leinster Express. Scroll through our Gallery. In print in the coming issue of the Leinster Express.