It’s the 30^th anniversary of Hucklow Summer School, and the first time of my attending, despite the best efforts of the traffic jams on the M1 and kamikaze drivers on the small roads around Derbyshire to delay me getting there. Fortunately, I did make it in time for tea – fish and chips – which was much appreciated, followed by the introductory meeting, which seems an apposite point for me to introduce Summer School itself; if you’ve not encountered it yet, that’s why I’m writing this blog, to give a little insight! Here’s the official description from the website of this year’s theme:

‘In essentials, unity; in doubtful matters, liberty; in all things, charity.’ Peter Meiderlin

“As we mark 30 years of Summer School (originally known as Religious Education Summer School) in 2025 we will turn our attention to the question of what it means to be religious, as progressive people of faith, at this moment in history. During the week, through daily talks and in-depth engagement groups, we will have a chance to examine, explore, reclaim, and affirm our religious identity as Unitarians and Free Christians, in this historic and radical faith tradition which upholds unity and embraces diversity. What would it look like for us – individually and collectively – to move beyond the spiritual ‘pick-n-mix’ and take our religion more seriously? How might we deepen our spirituality, develop theological and philosophical literacy, engage wholeheartedly with tradition, and allow ourselves to be transformed by our personal and communal religious practice? Can we discern and articulate a way of being unapologetically religious that helps us to live well, here and now, and build a better world for future generations? Join us as we tackle this theme and celebrate our 30th anniversary.”

Fortunately, I did make it in time for tea – fish and chips – which was much appreciated, followed by the introductory talk in the Peach Room, in which we covered housekeeping, introductions, roommates, and the importance of the arm-in-the-air for silence rule. Essentially, when a speaker needs silence, they raise an arm in the air, everyone nearby should raise their arms and fall silent, and it should spread throughout the room until it’s silent and you can actually hear what Angela has to say (you may have encountered this at the Annual Meetings, if you’ve been). It is, however, very important to put your arm straight up in the air; if you put your right arm out at an angle, you end up resembling either Elon Musk or Arnold Rimmer from Red Dwarf, and neither is really ideal. As we settled into the sunlit Peach Room and admired the views of the Derbyshire countryside, the weather was glorious, almost too warm, but Hucklow looks stunning in the sunshine and it made for a wonderful start. Here’s some photos:

We were also introduced to the Covenent Rules of Summer School as shown below, which I’ll mention here, because they’re the reason this blog is a little different to the Roving Reporter blogs I do for the Annual Meetings. We have a rule about respecting the confidentiality of the sessions, and not sharing what is said inside the Engagement Groups outside of them. Some spaces, like the Engagement Groups and Epilogue Services at the end of the day, are photo-free spaces, and whilst there is an assumption that some photos will be taken throughout, people are encouraged to make it clear if they don’t want their photos taken, and for this wish to be respected if addressed. Therefore, there will be fewer photos of gatherings in this blog and a bit more description of what events are happening, rather than what people are saying and doing.

That aside, I did get these images of us all playing Unitarian bingo as a getting to know you exercise and the bingo card! Following that, those of us who fancied walking went on a ‘getting-to-know-you-walk’ on the ‘little triangle’ walk around Great Hucklow’s roads.

Others had a ‘getting-to-know-you-sit’. Following that, we repaired to the Chapel for our evening epilogue service, looking at the stars, then to the lounge for a getting-to-know-you-white-wine-and-natter (ale and lemonade were also available). And so to bed, a busy day awaited! A few photos from the walk: