The GA Zette may not be being published throughout the GA this year, though we have a pre-GA Zette, and hopefully a post-GA Zette, but Roving Reporter is still roaming the halls of the GA, bashing out summaries of what’s happening in between plenaries, workshops, and sloping off to the swimming pool. Here’s an update on the opening worship and Plenary I.

Arrivals and Worship

We arrived at Staverton Park Hotel in glorious sunshine, many of us having done battle with the roadworks on the M1, just in time to parade our banners. It is an unfortunate reality that those of us doing the actual parading spend the first 15 minutes outside the hall grappling with recalcitrant banner poles with a metaphorical ear pressed against the door, hoping to hear a little of the opening words. Still, the banner parade is a highlight each year, and an excellent start to three days of Being A Unitarian.

Plenary 1

Our first session of the day, covering necessary business, including the need for people to actually sit down and get the meeting started on time. (Good luck getting Unitarians to do that!). After Rev. Sue Woolley (GA President’s) customarily efficient summary of the standing orders and confirmation of the steering committee, and Gavin Howell’s timely discussion of safeguarding arrangements at the meeting, we moved onto Chief Officer Liz Slade’s report. I was pleased to see her cover the latest Census 2021 statistics about belief in the UK, not least because I actually worked on the Census as Newcastle upon Tyne’s Assistant Census Liaison Manager, and it’s always nice to see your work being used. More pressingly, in the last 20 years, the percentage of people in the UK defining as ‘Christian’ has declined, and those identifying as ‘no religion’ has increased. Yet we know these ‘no religion-ers’ are very interested in spirituality – so how do we meet their needs? A challenge for us all.

After that, a moving and inspiring update on the Nightingale Centre from Colin Partington, with a charming video of children enjoying a SACHs weekend by playing in the snow (dix points to the young man whose party trick was backflipping into a snowdrift), and a tribute to the much-missed Ernest Baker aka Little Ern. David Warhurst gave the electoral report for the EC Election That Wasn’t. You need a multiple of candidates for that. Fortunately I have a load of suggestions about that, borne of several years dodging the suggestions I should be on the EC myself, which I’ll take advantage of this space to post after these reports. Grab yourself another coffee, but before that, a thank-you to Simon Bland for his updates on the new Congregational Support Toolkit – more on this later – and Gavin Howell for an update on Youth Activity, and an honourable mention to the Lindsey Press for the new book launch, ‘Cherishing the Earth’.

And here’s an update on the first few workshops, keynote speaker, and Peace Vespers at the 2023 GA.

Workshop 1 – NUF and Unitarian Transformers

Having added to my daily step count by getting lost on the way back from the swimming pool, I did arrive in time to hear most of this excellent workshop led by Revs. Mark Hutchinson, Laura Dobson, and Tony McNeile on the new partnership between the Unitarian Transformers and National Unitarian Fellowship groups. I was excited to hear this, as in an era where a) we don’t have actual buildings and congregations in all parts of the UK, but b) it’s easier than ever to meet and worship online, we really need a programme of online Unitarian events that can reach out to new people. Unitarian Connections, a series of online meetings on social and spiritual issues, promises to be very interesting. I may possibly have volunteered to do a Fairtrade and Spirituality session some time. Oops.

Workshop 2 – Congregational Support

Simon Bland led this discussion, in which everyone present shared details of resources and support relating to running a congregation which they had either found useful, or which they were looking for. Ideas our table came up with including local councils for voluntary service (Newcastle upon Tyne’s is called Connected Voice), the REACH volunteering scheme for matching volunteers and organisations needing them, and the need to get our movement’s resources to the places needing them most. I did feel inclined to insert a caveat to some suggestions: it’s great to share knowledge and expertise, but we do need to ensure that people don’t feel taken advantage of (even inadvertently!) and sometimes, this should involve payment, or at least a donation to a cause of their choice. I do feel at this GA that our movement is now starting to think about how we can work together as a national movement to do things differently, and this gives me hope.

John Really Beard Lecture: Keynote Speaker – Jon Alexander

Jon Alexander, in conversation with our Chief Officer Liz Slade, introduced his book ‘CITIZENS: why the key to fixing everything is all of us’. His view (I’m paraphrasing) is that society has for millennia told us the story that we are subjects, and most recently that we are consumers, but that what is needed is for us all to be citizens, equal creators and participants in creating our society together, pointing to the success of Taiwan’s approach to tackling the pandemic as an example of how this has worked. I think he has an interesting idea, but, as I said in the question I asked, I do think that for this approach to work, we need to tackle head-on the reality that we live in an intensely divided society, and also a diverse one. How do we make this work in a world where some people do not think other people should be citizens at all? Jon Alexander did offer some interesting points in return, and perhaps a longer exploration of his ideas would answer my questions.

Peace Vespers

“What’s Peace Vespers?” asked a first time attender. Vespers is the traditional name for worship that closes the day, and it’s led by the Unitarian Peace Fellowship, hence, Peace Vespers. We also heard the following exchange, highlighting the need to remember to include everyone:

“Can we have the lights up, so we can see what’s being said?”

“See what’s being said?”

“Yes. Some of us need to lip-read.”

The lights were duly turned up.

With participants sitting in a circle, we listened to music from Shana Begum, and Arek Malecki led us in a service thinking about personal and social peace, prayer, and generally calming down at the end of a busy day. Some of us departed for the bar, some for bed, and some were content merely to sit for a moment, and contemplate our chalice.