1. Findhorn Unitarian Network (FUN) Bookings Open
Dates: Saturday 7 January at 2 pm to 9 am on Saturday 14 January 2017, Forres, Scotland.
UK Unitarians are welcome to apply to attend a Unitarian Experience Week at the Findhorn Foundation in northern Scotland. The programme provides an opportunity to experience the daily spiritual practice of an inter-faith community from a Unitarian perspective.
The Findhorn Foundation is a spiritual, ecological and educational charity based at Forres near Inverness in Scotland. It has grown over the past 52 years into an international centre, whose successes have been recognised by UNESCO, and by spiritual communities around the world. The members of the Findhorn community have changed their governance and renewed their leadership several times.
We aim to engage with the community experience and as a group to identify ideas and initiatives to share as part of the GA ‘Next Steps’ initiative.
Cost: £595. Includes full board from dinner on 7 January to breakfast on 14 January 2017.
A limited number of subsidised places are available for UK Unitarians on a first come basis.
To request an information sheet and application form please contact Hull Unitarians
For further information please contact Rev Ralph Catts or on 01482 224 662.
Rev Ralph Catts
2. Unitarian Chalice Award Scheme
Do you have children in your congregation between 4 and 16? If so, have you thought about doing the Chalice Award Scheme with them? The Chalice Award consists of four levels: Green for age 4 to 6 (or use inter generationally); Bronze for age 6 to 9; Silver age 9 to 11 and Gold for 11 years and upwards. These are not prescriptive so please feel free to choose the activities best suited to your children. To complete and achieve the Award (at each level): a young person will need to complete at least four different modules (and have received Certificates for these modules); receive at least two Personal Achievements Certificates and take part in at least one event connected with Unitarians and Free Christians, locally or nationally.
The Chalice Award Leaders Pack and Module Certificate have been updated and you will find them on the GA website. If you require further information, or to register your group, please contact Margaret Robinson (Chalice Award Co-ordinator) by email.
A new course to train people to be spiritual pioneers and facilitators in leading Unitarian groups of all ages will be launched at the 2017 General Assembly Annual Meetings. The course will consist of two residential weekends at the Nightingale Centre, Great Hucklow, Derbyshire from 1 to 3 September 2017 and 1 to 3 June 2018, with four assignments to be completed between the two weekends. Leaders will be Rev John Harley and Liz Hills. If you would like further information contact Margaret Robinson (LEAP Administrator).
4. Book on Unitarian Women: Invitation to provide information
The Lindsey Press plans to publish a book on British Unitarian Women, and has invited me to be editor/writer. We have decided to organise the work around networks of women, and are inviting contributions of notes about particular women. I will then weave together these notes, together with my own contributions, into chapters featuring networks of women who either knew each other or worked in similar areas.
We shall concentrate mainly on women who were avowedly Unitarian, and who “made a difference” and influenced change both in the wider world and in our congregations. The book will span the time from the late eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century.
Standard biographies are not required, but contributions should emphasise each woman's Unitarian beliefs, and how these were shown in her life. Contributions should be fully referenced.
If you know about a woman who you think should be included, please contact me in the first instance with brief details of the woman and her achievements, and her Unitarian context. Please contact me before the end of November 2016. We plan to finish the writing by Autumn 2017 and publish the book in Spring 2018. All contributions which appear in the book will be fully attributed and acknowledged.
5. Media Coverage
Rev Danny Crosby contributed a guest blog to Livsrecoverykitchen blog.
St Saviourgate Chapel, York Madrigal Singers (York Press, 3 September 2016).
Bristol Brunswick Square, with mention of Bristol Frenchay, first to offer same sex marriage (Bristol Post, 8 September 2016).
Shrewsbury Unitarian Church ready to marry same sex couples (Midland Zone, 15 September 2016).