Annual General Meeting 2020

2pm Wednesday 4th November 2020

Given the current restrictions on travel and group gatherings, this year’s AGM will be conducted online using ‘Zoom’. Whilst we will really miss meeting our members in person, and sharing lunch and worship together, it might be an opportunity for a wider geographical spread of people to join us as we reflect on the past year, and look forward to new projects.

Everyone is welcome to join – but you will need to register with us beforehand to get the Zoom link. Please email the APR Administrator on promoting.retreats@gmail.com, or telephone 01395 272243, for all the details.

The APR would like to thank NHS Staff and care-workers for their tireless care throughout the Coronavirus Pandemic.

And to say ‘thank you’, we have made a number of Bursaries available for NHS staff and care-workers to make a retreat at any of the APR Retreat Houses across the UK before April 2021.

Full details about how the scheme works, and how to apply, can be found on the Bursary page of our website.

4th-6th November 2020

Letton Hall, Shipdham, Norfolk IP25 7SA

The retreat is centred around the monastic rhythm of prayer including a lunchtime Eucharist. During your retreat, there will also be the opportunity to meet up with a Spiritual Director each day (advance booking required), and you will be welcome to join in with the monastic rhythm of prayer, good food and fellowship.

Accomodation, full board including all meals and led retreat, are included in ticket cost, £160 per person. More information, and booking forms, are available from www.guidedretreats.org.uk, or download a flyer here.

23-25th April 2021 at St Katharine’s Parmoor, near Henley

Have you ever wanted to lead a Retreat for Beginners, but haven’t known how, or where, to start? APR Trustees and experienced retreat-leaders, Alison Christian and Dawn Pointing, will guide you through some of the do’s, don’t’s and FAQ’s of this, whilst sharing a weekend retreat together as though for the very first time!

The retreat will cost £205 per person, to include all your meals, and in line with the current Covid-guidelines, all rooms are single and en-suite. Click here for more information, or download a Booking Form.

Published in March 2020, this beautifully-produced guide offers some practical ideas to help Retreat Houses of all denominations reach out to a wider audience. These include ideas on how to best utilise online and social media promotion, as well as how to promote the value of retreat through more traditional local, regional and national channels.

Spreading the Word is available to download for free here as a pdf file, and comes with our blessings for your ongoing ministries. However, if you would like a hard copy, you can purchase one online (using Paypal) through this link, or by emailing the APR Administrator on promoting.retreats@gmail.com.

18th-20th November 2020

Letton Hall, Shipdham, Norfolk IP25 7SA

The retreat is centred around the monastic rhythm of prayer including a lunchtime Eucharist. During your retreat, there will also be the opportunity to meet up with a Spiritual Director each day (advance booking required), and you will be welcome to join in with the monastic rhythm of prayer, good food and fellowship.

Accomodation, full board including all meals and led retreat, are included in ticket cost, £160 per person. More information, and booking forms, are available from www.guidedretreats.org.uk, or download a flyer here.

2nd – 4th December 2020

Letton Hall, Shipdham, Norfolk IP25 7SA

The retreat is centred around the monastic rhythm of prayer including a lunchtime Eucharist. During your retreat, there will also be the opportunity to meet up with a Spiritual Director each day (advance booking required), and you will be welcome to join in with the monastic rhythm of prayer, good food and fellowship.

Accomodation, full board including all meals and led retreat, are included in ticket cost, £160 per person. More information, and booking forms, are available from www.guidedretreats.org.uk, or download a flyer here.

Due to the Coronavirus situation, this retreat has been postponed, and will now be held from 1st-3rd November 2021. 

The retreat will cost £205 per person (or £185 per person, sharing a room), which will include all your meals. To book, please complete and return the downloadable Booking Form, with your deposit, or contact the APR Administrator who will be able to help you.

Led by APR Chair, the Revd Barry Preece, the retreat is entitled ‘Late Musings’. Barry writes, ‘I am a reflective person by nature and this retreat will be an opportunity to share thoughts about aspects of faith and life which have become increasingly important to me.  With titles of talks that include “Good Enough”, “Such is the Mystery” and “Letting in the Light” you may already have an idea of what some of those things might be.

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Owing to the Covid-19 situation, we have had to postpone our biennial diocesan Spirituality Advisers’ Conference, until November 27th-29th 2020. However, we hope to offer a similar programme.

Entitled ‘LOST FOR WORDS’, it will include workshops and opportunities for discussion in regional groups, as well as welcoming speakers (including Retreat Association Patron, Revd Graham Sparkes, Revd Canon Andrew Walker, and musician Janet Macdonald) who will explore how poetry, music and art can stimulate and encourage prayer.

We are hoping that a representative (or two) from every diocese in the UK will be able to attend, and have already taken more than 40 bookings.

In this new series of podcasts, entitled ‘Life, Love and Light’, medieval historian Veronica Mary Rolf will be exploring the teachings of Christian mystics to discover how they may inspire, encourage, and guide us on our own spiritual path – especially during this pandemic that produces so much fear and suffering. The Initial episode is entitled “Sheltering in Place” and introduces the anchorite Julian of Norwich as our spiritual guide.

Future podcasts (one a week, at least) will enable listeners to make “A Virtual Retreat with Julian of Norwich.” It will be a sixteen week series — to explore Julian’s sixteen Revelations of Divine Love and their direct relevance for our spiritual path through this crisis. Each episode will include a guided meditation at the end.

The podcasts can be downloaded from the Life, love and Light website.