Dear QUG supporter
Our Conference in 2022 – Health and Healing – Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, Birmingham – April 1st to 3rd
In December we wrote to you about our conference in April and we have had a few applications. Further on in this newsletter we are repeating the information about the conference and we hope further people will apply now. To make things simpler we are attaching the application form in Word, so you can either print it off and post it to Dorothy Searle, or send it to her by email.
But, with the Omicron variant of Covid-19 spreading rapidly in our communities, we realise that this is a very difficult time for you to make a decision as to whether you wish to attend a conference in April.
We do, however, need to have some idea of potential numbers at our conference so that we can plan with Woodbrooke the way forward. We realise that some of you will not wish to commit yourselves at present, so we are asking you to tell us what you might do over the coming months by answering the following questions. If you have no intention of being involved in the conference in any way please ignore this message, but if there is a chance of your involvement do let us know now. Please answer the questions below and send your answer to Tony Philpott, the QUG clerk, by responding directly to this email. He will then have some information to share with others on the QUG committee and with Woodbrooke. We would like your answers by Tuesday January 25th if possible.
Your name:
Please initial any of the following that apply:
There is a high probability that I will attend the QUG conference at Woodbrooke
There is a low probability that I will attend the QUG conference at Woodbrooke
There is a high probability that I will attend the QUG conference online
There is a low probability that I will attend the QUG conference online
Comments:
Conference Application Notes
There are some people who are very keen to get back to a face-to-face conference. QUG has held face-to-face annual conferences for decades and they can be uplifting and deeply spiritual experiences. Also, in relation to our topic this year we will include in the programme some practical work, which is more difficult to do online.
On the other hand, there are others who are happier to attend a conference online and we had a most worthwhile and thought-provoking online conference in May last year.
Woodbrooke assures us that they are carrying out all the safety precautions necessary to protect us from infection. These include the wearing of face coverings, general hygiene, room capacity to allow social distancing, etc. Part of this would be keeping our QUG conference as a ‘bubble’ if there are other groups there at the same time. All the details can be found at https://thewoodbrookecentre.co.uk/our-safety-charter/.
Unless Woodbrooke has to close its doors to us because of government regulations we will be catering for both groups of people in our blended conference this April and we will do our best to maximise the experience for all. We will charge the usual conference fee for those going to Woodbrooke, which covers accommodation, catering, Woodbrooke staffing, etc. We will charge a smaller fee for those online, mainly to pay for the technical side of running an effective blended meeting, with multiple cameras and microphones, recording facilities, Zoom costs etc. We will also ask for extra donations, but only from those who wish to give them, to cover the costs of the speakers’ accommodation and travel.
If you cancel before January 28th 2022 we will refund all your money (£240). After this date a sliding scale for cancellation applies, as follows:
7-9 weeks before April 1st – i.e. between January 28th and February 17th – 30% lost i.e. £72
4-6 weeks before April 1st – i.e. between February 18th and March 10th – 50% lost i.e. £120
2-3 weeks before April 1st – i.e. between March 11th and March 24th – 75% lost i.e. £180
1 week before April 1st – i.e. between March 25th and April 1st – 100% lost i.e. £240
We will need to know a week in advance of each cut-off date (which are January 28th, February 18th, March 11th and March 25th) if you wish to cancel. This will give us time to collate our information, consult together and confer with Woodbrooke.
If government regulations change or Woodbrooke makes a decision to close their doors to us, then we may have to cancel the Woodbrooke experience and make it online only again. However, we are very reluctant to do this, so do apply now if you would like to come. Of course, as in 2020, if we cancel going to Woodbrooke completely then your money will be refunded.
The £40 cost of online participation will be non-returnable. Whatever happens, there will be an online event. However, it will be possible to convert an online application into a residential application at any time, assuming a room is available, by paying the extra £200.
An application form for the conference is attached to this newsletter, with details as to where to send it (online or by post).
Speakers and Topics
Dr. Neil Morgan – Physical, mental and spiritual health.
Neil trained in medicine and psychiatry and worked as a Consultant Medical Psychotherapist in the NHS for twenty years. He now has a full-time private practice, as a psychoanalyst. He is a Quaker who lives in St. Albans and frequently writes in the Friend.
Pauline Frykman – The healing ministry amongst Quakers.
Pauline (and other colleagues) will represent the Friends Fellowship of Healing, one of the largest single interest groups in the Religious Society of Friends in Britain. Pauline is a Quaker who lives in Yorkshire.
Ranald MacDonald – Healing in Eastern cultures.
Ranald has practised Chinese medicine and taught Tai Chi for forty years. Ranald is a Quaker attender and lives in Devon.
Dr. Monica Janowski – Health and healing in the context of the Kelabit people of Borneo.
Monica has been a lecturer at Sussex University and at SOAS, University of London, and is currently a research fellow at the Sarawak Museum and SE Asia curator at Hull University. She is a Quaker, finding her own spirituality rooted in nature, and has recently trained as a forest bathing guide.
At Woodbrooke the conference will be a programme of talks, discussion in breakout groups, practical sessions, and a plenary session at the end to draw things together. There will also be meetings for worship, social time, free time, etc.
Those online will join in all of the talks and the plenary session – and we will arrange some breakout room discussion as well.
Next newsletter
In February we will send another newsletter with other QUG news.
Contacting us, questions and unsubscribing
If you are responding to our questions, or have any questions of your own, or wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter please reply directly to it.
If you are applying now for the conference please send your completed form to Dorothy Searle at dorothys@qug.org.uk.