The day Coventry greeted the Pope

Pope John Paul II at Coventry airport

John Paul II was the first Pope to visit the UK and amongst the first cities he visited was Coventry.

It was an incredible day. From the early hours of the morning of 29 May 1982, 350,000 people began to congregate at Coventry airfield.

Enjoying and joining in with the excitement of those crowds was Monsignor Canon Thomas Gavin of St Thomas Moore's RC Church of Coventry.

Monsignor Gavin was one of the main organisers of the visit to the city.

Although he had to put a lot of work in, he enjoyed the day greatly and has a host of special memories about the visit.

"The visit took two years to organise," said the former Irish international rugby international, who began planning the event just weeks after his arrival in the Styvechale parish.

Leading Pentecost prayers at Coventry

Monsigner Gavin said: "The first thing that had to be organised was the identification of a venue - and given the scale of the event, it was a tricky task. The NEC and National Agricultural Centre at Stoneleigh had been ruled out.

Plaque marking the Pope's visit

"We were cruising back and I saw this aeroplane starting to come down overhead and I had this inspiration and I came out to Baginton, and found about 400 acres and I thought 'just the spot!'."

Of course, with 350,000 people comes an awful lot of coaches and cars but that problem was overcome when the A46 was identified as the car and coach park!

There also had to be two hospitals on site and a prison, although only one person used the prison and Monsignor Gavin added that he was "tight before he got there!".

Eventually, it was the night before and Monsignor Gavin met his parishioners at the Knoll Drive church and experienced "something he had never felt before".

The Pope on a visit to Coventry

"The church was packed and it's a big church, it can accommodate almost 1,000 people," he said.

"Everybody there was ready for a journey, they had knapsacks on their backs, and there was a terrific air of excitement . We all had candles and we all set out on the walk to Bagington.

"It was one of the happiest nights I can remember."

One of Monsignor Gavin's most abiding memories of the trip, though, was of the thirst of the Pope after he had given an address to the massive crowd on what was a very warm May day.

The Pope drove over to buildings on the aerodrome after his service in the Popemobile to enjoy a lunch with Bishops and dignitaries, prepared by chefs from the Cafe Royal.

Monsignor Gavin added: "The Pope said he wanted a drink and they tried him on sherry but he wasn't very interested in sherry and gin and tonic was out!

Waves from the Popemobile

"Anyway, the night before the Polish chef came along to me and said 'I've got some Polish beer, do you think the Pope would drink it?' and I said 'let's try him, shall we?'.

In the Coventry-made Popemobile

"So after the mass the Pope went in to rest for a bit....and I went in and there he was in the armchair and I said, 'Your Holiness, the Bishops would like to talk to you', and he said 'People, people!' but he still got out of the chair straight away and went out but he was still looking for his drink.

"There at the back of the room was the chef holding up this pint of Polish beer...he came through, put it in front of the Pope and he said 'Polish beer, your holiness'.

"So the Pope took the glass, sniffed it, and put it down in one!"