Report by Reverend John Harley.
Twelve people attended our third annual retreat at Hilfield Friary – twelve seemed like a perfect number, and holy as well! The programme included lively communal art with Angie, poetry writing with John, meditations from Lucy and Peter and other contributions from the participants. Most of the activities were at Juniper Cottage in the grounds of the community, a snug, homely place. For our meals we joined the Friars and the community – and what delicious meals made with their own produce – also we attended some of their worship. We had free time to roam the grounds or rest, time for small supportive check in groups and we even fitted in a talk from one of the brothers. Extra thanks to Lucy for her administrative help.
One of the participants wrote:
“Hilfield is such a special place to be, surrounded by nature, the peace and quiet and the warmth of the community. I so enjoyed meeting everyone on the retreat, what a lovely bunch of people! It seemed so easy to relax and be together and to get to know folk a little better over the course of the weekend. We seemed to very quickly gel as a group, and to be open, accepting and appreciative of each other.”
The retreat is open to anyone in the South West – and was supported by the Unitarian Western Union district. If you are interested in coming the dates for next year’s retreat are 15-17 November.
During the week there had been a family retreat and Rebecca Hilton and her grandson Kai attended and wrote –
Kai and I had a fabulous time at the Inter-generational retreat with John and Gav providing excellent leadership and activities. We were there with a lovely family from Trowbridge, who were a pleasure to share time with and everyone got on well, we had so many funny moments and wise insights, it was very inspiring, thought provoking and fun and Hilfield is such a beautiful peaceful place that everyone came away feeling refreshed
Kai and I are already looking forward to next year’s retreat!