Arrivals, Opening Worship, Plenary I

“Two, four, six, eight, motorway / Me and my oversized 19^th-century oil painting of a Unitarian minister truckin’ on down that line…”

It’s as well I don’t write song lyrics, isn’t it?

One very long journey down the A1 later, and a swift handover of Newcastle upon Tyne Unitarian’s portrait of Rev. William Turner in the Birmingham Hilton car park later – not something I ever expected to do, but life takes you to some funny places – it was time to start the 2025 GA! (If you’re wondering; we no longer have a building to display the portrait in, so Rev. Turner will be going on display at Harris Manchester College in Oxford.)

In a change from Daventry, we’re back in at the Hilton Metropole in Birmingham this year, and the usual cheerful chaos was in full swing. For once I managed to assemble our congregation’s banner without the requisite five minutes of polite cursing, followed by the whole thing falling on the floor; I’m sure many of you will nod in recognition.

The Banner Parade is a highlight of the Annual Meetings, and it’s a joy to see the familiar names held high, as Rev. Kate Brady McKenna led our opening worship, taking a moment for a deep breath and centring ourselves, as we lit our chalice, sang, and dedicated ourselves to two days of Unitarianism.

Plenary I began with the regulation adoption of the standing orders, followed by Gavin Howell’s statement on safeguarding arrangements during our gathering, then on to the first motion of the weekend; Motion 19 on the ‘Adoption of the Golden Rule’, essentially reaffirming our commitment to solidarity with victims of war, and exhorting us to support appeals for war and famine relief. There were no speakers for, against, or neutral. Perhaps no surprise, it’s hard to argue, but one wonder if we shouldn’t be a little more daring, dare I say, even political? Chief Officer Liz Slade gave her report, quoting from Douglas Hine’s book ‘At Work In The Ruins’:

“We have to help bring about the end of the world. We must do this, so that a new beginning can come. But first, there must be an end.”

Finally, David Warhurst and Rev. Ann Peart introduced the EC Electoral Report. Whilst I was happy to see us have an actual election for the EC, and some strong candidates, the turnout was low, and they mentioned for the first time the rather alarming news that they had encounted some legal issues and needed to take advice. Apparently we’ll know more about this in due course, which I hope will not take long.

The plenary concluded and I missed Workshop 1; I’d like to say that this was due to Important Unitarian Things, but it was due to sloping off to unpack and have a quick swim, whereupon the back pain of four hours’ slogging past the Doncaster M18 Roadworks departed, and I returned, refreshed if somewhat damp, to the Queens Room to the second set of workshops.