We entered the Peach Room with some trepidation, not because there were any doubts of about the expected quality of Mel Prideaux and Jane Blackall’s upcoming theme talk, but because the tap water had turned a funny colour and people feared an incipient outbreak of the Great Hucklow Plague of some years back, an outbreak of sickness that appears to have left scars on all who encountered it. Thankfully, the quality of the theme talk soon dispelled all fears, as Mel and Jane spoke on their own journeys to their current Unitarian faith, taking in the parable of the mustard seed, the Terry Pratchett question of what it means to live a religious life, not conceding religion to the rotters, and remembering that your audience is at different stages in their journey. Here’s talk no. 2 from 2025:

Following a cake and coffee break – many thanks to the baker of the excellent carrot cake! next up came the Engagement Groups. Those of us in Group A, building our Unitarian houses, covered a lot of ground. One part of this included thinking of our ‘Unitarian saints’ – those in our movement who inspired those of us active in it now. Dawn Buckle and Ernest Baker were mentioned; I’d like to mention two more from the North: Mike Tomlin of Stockton upon Tees Unitarians, and Eleanor Broad of Newcastle upon Tyne Unitarians:

• Mike Tomlin Remembered
• Tribute to Mike Tomlin by Louise and Brian
• Tribute to Eleanor Broad, by Louise

When you buy or build a house, you need to survey the landscape. For congregations and fellowships, this is the culture you are part of, so we contemplated five models of God and Culture: God Against Culture; God Of Culture; God Above Culture; God And Culture in Paradox; and God The Transformer of Culture. Part of this included considering the ‘landscape ‘ which Unitarianism first emerged; the early modern period – and thinking about how our world and perceptions of what is ‘real’ and ‘true’ have emerged. We discussed the great questions of Unitarianism, and looked at the role of stories. Are they, as researcher Dr Brené Brown says, “a date with your soul?” A way to rehearse life’s inevitable challenges. When it all became very theoretical (though there’s nothing wrong with that!), we took a break to do something physical, and continue building our house of faith. , along with an appropriate soundtrack:

I’m going to be mentioning some good causes on the Diaries as well, so here’s the Good Cause for Day 3 – the Kendal Unitarians Schoolroom Roof Appeal. Nick Morrice, our excellent pianist for the weekend, had some books for sale with proceeds donated to the cause; I bought a couple of copies for our congregation (we did a retiring collection for Kendal Unitarians’ Schoolroom Roof appeal a few months back, details here: ), and you can find out more about the appeal and donate here: Kendal Unitarians Schoolroom Roof Appeal.

A fine lunch followed, then it was time to do a gentle walk with some natural sculpture. This is not actually mandatory; none of the afternoon activities are. Should you choose to, you can retreat to the summer room with a cup of tea and a book, sit around and have a chat, have a nap, jump in the car and visit somewhere nearby, or whatever takes your fancy. Many of us felt the need to be physically active after a morning’s intense reflection, so we donned our walking boots, went forth, and ambled up past the Great Hucklow Primary School – the kids round here must have great cardio-vascular health, the hill’s a steep one. We paused at the local Forest School to walk around and admire the sculptures people have made, then took time to create our own artwork and sculptures, to leave there for others. Finally, we climbed up to the top of the hill to watch the gliders soar over the hills. I mused on the possibility of going up in one next year, and realised I had already decided I was coming back next year. We wandered over hill and dale, whilst I ran through my service in my head, and tried to stop humming ‘The Whole of the Moon’.

Back home for tea, and, in my case, a gentle stroll through Hucklow, then a quick run-through of my service rather than an evening activity. Yes, yours truly was the worship leader for the Epilogue Service over at Great Hucklow Chapel. This is a short service, about 20 minutes long, intended to form a fitting ending for the day, although it’s not mandatory to attend, and many folks stay up afterwards to socialise over a hot chocolate / herbal tea / white wine / beer in the lounge back at the Nightingale Centre.

I decided to dress up for the occasion, and wore my purple dress with little white stars and moons. Whilst the role of a worship leader is not primarily to entertain, it’s still, to a certain extent, a performance, and I do rather enjoy that element, if I’m honest. Clothes on their own will not make a good service, but I’ve always felt that if people are going to look at you for 20 minutes / an hour, it’s good to give them something appealing to look at. I also know worship leaders who wear their ordinary clothes and can captivate an audience for well over an hour. There’s not actually a single right or wrong way to do it, this is what works for me.

Nick and I had had some discussion over the music for the service. The Epilogue style is an unusual one, as services go. Twenty minutes at the end of the day, meant to serve as an ending to the day. The worship leader has freedom to structure it how they will; I went for a bit of a ‘hymn sandwich’. Searching for inspiration, I checked the phases of the moon – it’s a night-time service after all – and realised it was the Waning Quarter-Moon. Perfect for a short service!

Also, I could not find any worship materials about this, which is good, because I like to have a new subject. If people are attending six services, one each day, mixing up the subjects are a good idea; those of us doing the Epilogues actually swapped our service titles in advance to be sure of this. (Also, I’ve got to be honest, I doubt I’m the only worship leader who approaches the Remembrance or Carol Services with a slight feeling of ‘what can I possibly say this year that I didn’t say last time?’ At least with the Flower Communion you can repeat mostly the same thing every year.) It did, however, fit very nicely with Tony McNeile’s recent writings, which I included, so many thanks, Tony: ‘Lammas Greetings’

I felt the need for some music, and wondered if Debussy’s ‘Clair de Lune’ was too much of a cliché (Moonlight Sonata definitely is, sorry, Beethoven). In the end, Nick’s performance of it was so lovely, it just fit perfectly, so we went with that. I actually listened to the Waterboys’ ‘The Whole of the Moon’ a few times when writing the service, but it didn’t quite fit with the ‘winding-down’ feel I wanted to go for. For once, I actually wrote some opening and closing words myself. I freely admit, this is a weakness of mine – I’m not great at prayers. Practice some more, I guess.

The hour arrived, and the Lantern Procession from the Nightingale Centre began to appear. I’d been roaming round the chapel grounds, in a slight state of pre-match nerves. I’ve wanted to lead worship at Hucklow for quite a while, and this is one of the biggest congregations I’ve led worship for. Nerves are a good thing; if you’re asleep before the service, it won’t go well. The Lantern Procession is charming; the lighting from the Nightingale Centre to Hucklow Chapel is patchy at best, so to avoid disturbing the local residents, Epilogue service attendees process down the road with battery lanterns in silence. It is a beautiful sight, and a lovely ceremonial start to the service.

No recording exists, but you can read the service pack below.

Nick’s beautiful music formed a fitting end to the service, and I was very happy we’d gone for the whole piece. Sometimes, you need music, and contemplation, not words. Thank you, Nick. We returned to the Nightingale Centre to wind down, and I resisted the urge to belt out the Waterboys at the top of my lungs out of consideration for the Nightingale Centre’s neighbours, but this is my blog, so here’s some closing music: