Wellington will soon be blessed with the presence of more than 70 Irish pilgrims stopping off for 10 days on the way to World Youth Day (WYD) celebrations in Sydney.

The group is expected to arrive in town next Thursday and will be billeted out to host families in the area.

Their itinerary will include tours of the major sights and attractions in the district, from the Wellington Caves Complex to the angora farm, Lake Burrendong and Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

Preparations are coming along thick and fast in the midst of day to day parish life, according to St Patrick’s parish priest Fr Tim Cahill.

“Life has continued as normal with confirmations recently and upcoming first holy communions, and in the middle of all that, the Irish are coming,” Fr Tim said.

“This particular group are from the north-east of Ireland and span the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland so some of them will have very different life experiences to us.”

Fr Tim said he met the Irish diocesan director at last year’s WYD celebrations.

The director then came out to Australia in August last year along with members of the youth council, who approved Wellington as a stopover on their pilgrimage.

There will be plenty of activities for pilgrims and their host families, but there is also a focus on making their journey spiritual as well as fun.

One of the highlights will be the celebrations at Yeoval.

Their visit will act as the prelude to the town’s now well-known Mulga Bill Festival, co-ordinated by Alf Cantrell.

Mr Cantrell is looking forward to the visit and has some fantastic activities planned.

The group will kick off their day in Yeoval with a demonstration of Gaelic football.

Mr Cantrell said the Irish had agreed to split into teams for a match and were even bringing their own ball and referee.

After the match will be a quick shower and then a barbecue lunch, followed by a tree planting ceremony at Banjo Paterson Park.

“We’re having them as guests in our community for a day and we would like them to be able to leave something behind,” Mr Cantrell said.

“Little River Landcare have agreed to provide one Australian native plant for each pilgrim to plant.

“In addition to that we have an Irish strawberry tree, so we have planned for the pilgrims to plant their shrubs in a semi-circle facing toward the strawberry tree.”

The upshot to the idea is twofold: any Irish pilgrims passing through in coming years can pull over in Yeoval and remember their time here.

Not only that, but the rest of us will be able to enjoy jam made from the berries of the Irish strawberry tree.