First published in the Ipswich Unitarian newsletter.

The ‘GA’, or the Annual Meetings of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, to give the event its full name was held at a hotel near Daventry from 4th to 6th April. It was the usual mix of business, worship, talks and meetings on a range of issues. Overall, it was an enjoyable and positive few days. There were a couple of disappointments, though, which rather surprised me. Firstly, there was the dearth of interesting and controversial motions such as usually enliven the plenary sessions. Finally, though, one did appear as an emergency motion expressing concern “that the provisions of the Illegal Immigration Bill will remove rights to protection in the UK for vulnerable adults and children seeking safe haven.” Congregations and individuals are called on “to raise these concerns with their MPs” before the Bill’s third reading on 25th April. The motion was passed unanimously, apart from, I think, one abstention.

The second disappointment was about the near absence of one of the GA Meetings’ regular features: ‘GA Zette’. This year there was only one issue of ‘GA Zette’, the ‘daily newspaper’ of the Meetings since 1963, instead of the four issues that might have been expected and the one that did come out was not the usual assortment of reports on each day’s events which, apart from anything else, is very useful for anyone doing a report-back service like this one! The problem was that, for the first time ever, no one could be found to edit it! This is the subject of an article in the one issue that did appear, but I haven’t time to go into all this now. It is ironic, though, that this has happened in 2023, when modern technology makes it so much easier to produce a daily ‘GA Zette’ than was the case back in the ‘60s, in the days of all-night sessions on typewriters and duplicators that I remember.

Back then ‘GA Zette’ was largely the work of young people, mostly drawn from the Foy Society and the Unitarian Young People’s League, or UYPL. It was as a UYPL-er that I attended my first full GA Meetings in 1968. I was involved in UYPL from 1962 until the mid-1970s, and this has always given me an
interest in Unitarian youth activity. Sadly, and to the great loss of the Unitarian movement, the once vibrant and independent youth movement that UYPL had been, closed down in 1984. This didn’t mean the end of Unitarian youth activity, of course, but nothing comparable has really replaced UYPL. It was encouraging, therefore, that this year’s GA featured a youth group, called #Blessed from Gellionnen Chapel near Swansea.

They were at the meeting which launched the new Lindsey Press book, ‘Cherishing the Earth – Nourishing the Spirit’, edited by the Rev. Maria Curtis. In the book a number of contributors – all Unitarians and some of whom spoke at the meeting – “write from diverse theological and ethical perspectives” on living “in right relationship with the Earth.” One chapter is by the Gellionnen Chapel youth group. and describes their varied activities, including their work clearing the rubbish that is routinely dumped and fly-tipped on the otherwise beautiful ‘mountain’, as they call it, where their delightful little Chapel is situated. Of this environmental effort they write, “Our first excursion included the removal of 18 tyres; the second generated 20 bin bags full of rubbish; and our latest attempt involved the removal of 123 tyres, two TV sets, and a kitchen sink.”

The Gellionnen youth group also held their own meeting at the GA, called ‘Youth Leading Change’, when they said more about themselves, their faith and their activities – which include more than just clearing rubbish. I went to this meeting and it seemed to me that the old spirit of UYPL is still alive in young Unitarians like this. Writing of their faith they write, “As Unitarians, we are a community of people who take a liberal approach to our religion and spirituality. We encourage the freedom to believe in what your life-experience tells you is true and what your conscience tells you is right.” The teenagers and twenty-somethings in #Blessed were an encouraging presence at the GA.

Another meeting which I attended was ‘LGBT+ Voices’. This is the title of what is called, “a new project that lifts up the voices of LGBT+ Unitarians.” One of the two project leaders is Lizzie Kingston Harrison from Framlingham. Amongst other things, the meeting traced the long history of Unitarian work to change the old negative attitudes on LGBT+ issues. These efforts got going in around 1970 and included debates and resolutions at GA Meetings which I well remember. Other personal memories stirred by the meeting concerned the ‘gay-straight integration’ work of Integroup, of which I was a member at Golders Green Unitarian Church in the early ‘70s, and a very successful UYPL conference at Great Hucklow in 1972 on attitudes to homosexuality. All this is the subject of a fascinating new exhibition which will be coming here to the Meeting House on this summer’s Pride weekend, so be sure to come and see it!