northampton unitarians events

Northampton Unitarians Annual General Meeting

When: Sunday 27th March, after the morning service

Where: 31, Hazelwood Road, Northampton

This is your chance to make your views known, and to learn about how the congregation has fared in the past 12 months. Please make every effort to be there

northampton unitarians news

Sue Woolley valedicted as a minister from Harris Manchester College Oxford (June 2011)

We are pleased to report that Sue Woolley was valedicted from Harris Manchester College Oxford at a special service on 28th June, and has completed most of her ministry training. For now she will be continuing in her role as District Facilitator of the Midland Unitarian Association.

Northampton Unitarians' motion on the Charter for Compassion passed at General Assembly Annual Meetings (April 2011)

We did it! As reported last month, Northampton Unitarians submitted a motion about the Charter for Compassion to the General Assembly's Annual Meetings, which were held in Swansea this year. Sue Woolley seconded the motion on our behalf, and I am delighted to report that it was passed unanimously by all present. Sue is hoping to be a member of the working group which will be formed to implement the recommendations.

See Other News below for a more complete report of the GA Meetings

Northampton Unitarians AGM (27th March 2011)

A select few of us gathered after an interesting service on the questions where we are and where are we going, to hold our Annual General Meeting. Chairman Jon Small reviewed the highlights of the past year, including two very popular alternative services led by Rowan & Willow Songsmith, two services led by regular attender Julia Watson, and the erection of a cross to mark the site of the grave of Sir Philip Manfield. It was announced that our Treasurer of 49 years, Martin Weiss, wishes to retire on health grounds. Sue Woolley was re-elected onto the committee. The other continuing members of the Committee are Jon Small (Chairman & Acting Treasurer), Fiona Boyle (Secretary), Joanne McGeehan (Newsletter Editor) and Mark Beaumont, our talented organist.

Northampton Unitarians to propose a motion at the General Assembly Annual Meetings

Northampton Unitarians have submitted a motion about the Charter for Compassion, which will be discussed at the General Assembly's annual meetings in Swansea in April. Sue Woolley will be seconding the motion.

Penny Collins, 1929 - 2011

We are sad to report that Penny Collins, a member and former committee member of Northampton Unitarians, passed away on Sunday 20th February after a short illness. Her funeral was on Monday 14th March, at 11.00 am, at the Quaker Meeting House, Wellington Street, Northampton NN1 3AS, and was conducted by Sue Woolley, and our organist Mark Beaumont played the piano. Part of Sue's eulogy is printed below:

"Penny discovered Unitarianism at the end of the 1980s in Texas, where her son Tony was living. Her first Unitarian congregation in the UK was Oxford, and she became very friendly with Alice Schulman, wife of minister Frank Schulman. In later years she attended the Banbury Unitarian Fellowship for a while, before finding her home with Northampton Unitarians towards the end of her life.

Whilst in Oxford, she became involved in a small Women's Group, which she found very fulfilling. She found out how strong and eager American women were to do something about other people's problems, for example in Africa.

The last time she visite America, the group was still fighting the battle for freedom for women everywhere, enabling them to help themselves. She learned so much about what women could do to help other women. She remembers having to stand up in an enormous hall and take a bow, because she was the only Englishwoman there. Her work for women has sustained her.

Her friend Cynthia wrote in this year's Christmas card: "You are a real inspiration to others and I always remember how you really encouraged me and other Unitarian women to initiate Woman Link when I was a new Unitarian with very little experience of charity work. Penny supported this charity for 16 years.

My own connection with Penny goes back about 15 years, when she joined Northampton Unitarians. She was one of the first people to encourage me to train for the ministry, and I can remember in my early days of leading worship looking across to where she sat to see whether I had done all right. On one memorable occasion, I had included a reading by someone she disapproved of, and she did not hesitate to tell me so! But she was a staunch friend and a great support - like all of you, I will miss her."

Northampton Unitarians AGM (28/3/2010)

A select few of us gathered after the good congregational service on Spring, to hold our Annual General Meeting. Chairman Jon Small reviewed the highlights of the past year, including a splendid alternative service led by Rowan & Willow Songsmith in March, September's Anniversary Service about Sir Philip Manfield and a very interesting Saturday school led by Fiona Boyle. Some refurbishment of the building and gardens has taken place, including a brand new ground floor toilet. In any other business, it was agreed that we should change the way we buy refreshments, that there should be slight changes in our customary order of service and that the Meditation Group should be revived. Watch this space ....

Saturday School: Looking at the Big Picture. (3/10/2009)

Four of us gathered for a trial run for this course, run by Fiona Boyle. The objectives of the course were to acquire a broader view of religion and spirituality in England today by looking at the traditional churches (particularly the Church of England); at world religions; at spirituality; and at the mind, body, spirit phenomenon.

In the first session, Fiona took us on a whirlwind tour of the history of Christianity in England, from the earliest times right up to the present day. Current issues were touched on, such as the right of bishops to sit in the House of Lords, the Sunday trading laws and faith schools. After a quick coffee, session 2 looked at what we knew about different religions, which included a deliberately fiendish quiz, which Fiona intends to make easier when the course is offered to a wider audience! We also looked at the different perceptions of religion and spirituality; religion is sometimes perceived as out-of-date, irrelevant, too structured and constricting; whereas spirituality is perceived as more intuitive, freer, less prescriptive and based on personal experience.

After lunch, we filled out a personal experience questionnaire, which covered experience of both traditional religion and what Fiona called the "holistic milieu". We were invited to think about how we identified ourselves, about the significant changes in our religious / spiritual lives so far, about our key values, and about anything in the questionnaire that we felt uncomfortable about, and why. The final (shorter) session dealt with our views of the religious / spiritual future; for ourselves, for the UK and for the world.

It was a fascinating and mind-stretching day. We are hoping to offer it to a wider audience some time in 2010.

Northampton Unitarians visit Banbury Unitarian Fellowship on Fifth Sunday (29/3/2009)

Some of you may know that we usually try to do something together on Fifth Sundays; otherwise we don't meet for three weeks. This time, 29th March, we decided to visit Banbury Unitarian Fellowship. Our own Sue Woolley was taking the service, and four of us joined her in Banbury Town Hall. For Penny Collins and Jon Small, this was a reunion with old friends; Penny used to be a member at Banbury, and Jon used to attend there with Peter Galbraith many years ago. The Banbury Fellowship made us very welcome.

Member accepted for Ministry training

We are pleased to announce that Sue Woolley, our Secretary, and member at Northampton for 20 years, has been accepted for Ministry training at Harris Manchester College Oxford, starting in the autumn.

New Constitution

A new constitution was adopted at a Special General Meeting on 8th June 2008.

New Member

We were delighted to welcome Joanne McGeehan into membership at our Sunday service on 8th June 2008.

New Notice Board

We have taken advantage of the Notice Board grant from the General Assembly to get ourselves a lovely new notice board. It is to the right of the front door, above our other notices, and really makes you notice the building.

A Walk In The Park - 31st August 2008

This planned “gentle stroll in the sunshine” proved to be somewhat different – more like a swift trip through the rain. To be fair, it didn’t rain all the time, but it did put something of a damper on the day.

There were three of us from Northampton, Joanne, Marc and myself; Leicester Unitarian Fellowship was well represented along with two from Market Harborough. We met up at 10:30 and the Umbrella Fair, an annual environmental event started at 12:00. This was a bonus as we didn’t know it was to be on this day until a few weeks ago. The first part of the morning was spent by walking around the park looking at the earthworks of the Deserted Medieval Village. These are so useful as they provide me with a chance to show people how archaeologists recognize significant sites. The park has good examples of features; a “holloway” – a medieval road that can be seen running through the grass and appearing to come from the rear of Archway Cottages. We also saw wide expanses of “ridge and furrow” – the remains of the old three field strip farming system and several clearly defined house platforms. Because the grass was so wet we tended to stick to the paths so I didn’t have the pleasure to leading the group across the ridge and furrow, as walking across it really brings home the nature of this feature. I think our visitors were impressed by our park with its fine collection of trees [including a Chinese Ghost Tree, sometimes called a Handkerchief Tree] and the beautiful lakes.

We retired to the café and fortified ourselves with tea &c. where John joined us. During the conversation it was realized that there is to some extent a lack of communication between us and Leicester because they are not in the Midland Union and it was resolved that this should not continue and I feel a visit to Leicester is on the horizon.

Whilst we were in the café the rain increased, but had more or less stopped when we left to look at the now open Umbrella Fair. Later the rain came back and after a while it was time for our friends from the north to leave, probably for home, warm fires and dry clothes!

other unitarian events

other unitarian news

MUA delegates make a splash at Swansea (GA Annual Meetings 15-18/04/2011)

20 MUA delegates, representing nine MUA congregations, attended the 2011 Annual Meetings of the General Assembly of Unitarian & Free Christian Churches at Swansea University on 15th - 18th April 2011, including three ministers, two retired ministers, two ministry students, our President, Mrs. Bronwen Taylor, and Mrs. Alison Thursfield, who is now a member of the national Executive Committee. And we were certainly in evidence! Dorothy Haughton (Shrewsbury) was the star of the Opening Celebrations, performing three 'Talking Heads' monologues on the theme of volunteering, which had been written by Kay Millard. How she kept her face straight I will never know.

The Opening Celebrations were followed by the Peace Vespers, which were led by Sue Woolley, with the help of Carwyn Tywyn, the new Welsh Secretary, who played some beautiful peaceful music on his harp. Sue was also one of the speakers at the Unitarian Renewal Group's slot, on the theme 'Too much organisation, not enough God?', which attracted a capacity crowd.

Northampton Unitarians were the proposers of one of the motions, urging the General Assembly to affirm and support the Charter for Compassion, and to become a Partner Organisation. It was passed unanimously. And Angela Maher was one of the indefatigable team producing the GAZette.

One of the highlights of the Meetings was the Anniversary Service, held in the beautiful Brangwyn Hall. It was led by Rev. Ant Howe, minister at Kingswood & Warwick, and Rev. Jeffrey Lane Gould delivered the Anniversary Sermon. This was preceded by a Welsh singing festival, during which we all nobly attempted to get our tongues around Welsh lyrics.

As usual there were many meetings and workshops to choose from. The signage at Swansea was excellent, and there was an interesting innovation - walking buses leading delegates from the Fulton House refectory to the various break-out venues. During the business meetings, the national Executive Committee announced its strategy for the next six months, during which time all the various commissions and panels are going to be reorganised in line with the new Strategic Priorities (see other news September 2010)

In the closing session, Rev. Dr. Ann Peart was installed as the new GA President, and Ms.Lis Dyson-Jones as the new Vice-President.

Northampton Unitarians
Home Page Our Faith & History Services News & Events Discussion Group Meditation Group Newsletter How To Find Us Contact Us Links "Excellence is to do common things in an uncommon way." Booker T. Washington		northampton unitarians events Northampton Unitarians Annual General Meeting When: Sunday 27th March, after the morning service Where: 31, Hazelwood Road, Northampton This is your chance to make your views known, and to learn about how the congregation has fared in the past 12 months. Please make every effort to be there northampton unitarians news Sue Woolley valedicted as a minister from Harris Manchester College Oxford (June 2011) We are pleased to report that Sue Woolley was valedicted from Harris Manchester College Oxford at a special service on 28th June, and has completed most of her ministry training. For now she will be continuing in her role as District Facilitator of the Midland Unitarian Association. Northampton Unitarians' motion on the Charter for Compassion passed at General Assembly Annual Meetings (April 2011) We did it! As reported last month, Northampton Unitarians submitted a motion about the Charter for Compassion to the General Assembly's Annual Meetings, which were held in Swansea this year. Sue Woolley seconded the motion on our behalf, and I am delighted to report that it was passed unanimously by all present. Sue is hoping to be a member of the working group which will be formed to implement the recommendations. See Other News below for a more complete report of the GA Meetings Northampton Unitarians AGM (27th March 2011) A select few of us gathered after an interesting service on the questions where we are and where are we going, to hold our Annual General Meeting. Chairman Jon Small reviewed the highlights of the past year, including two very popular alternative services led by Rowan & Willow Songsmith, two services led by regular attender Julia Watson, and the erection of a cross to mark the site of the grave of Sir Philip Manfield. It was announced that our Treasurer of 49 years, Martin Weiss, wishes to retire on health grounds. Sue Woolley was re-elected onto the committee. The other continuing members of the Committee are Jon Small (Chairman & Acting Treasurer), Fiona Boyle (Secretary), Joanne McGeehan (Newsletter Editor) and Mark Beaumont, our talented organist. Northampton Unitarians to propose a motion at the General Assembly Annual Meetings Northampton Unitarians have submitted a motion about the Charter for Compassion, which will be discussed at the General Assembly's annual meetings in Swansea in April. Sue Woolley will be seconding the motion. Penny Collins, 1929 - 2011 We are sad to report that Penny Collins, a member and former committee member of Northampton Unitarians, passed away on Sunday 20th February after a short illness. Her funeral was on Monday 14th March, at 11.00 am, at the Quaker Meeting House, Wellington Street, Northampton NN1 3AS, and was conducted by Sue Woolley, and our organist Mark Beaumont played the piano. Part of Sue's eulogy is printed below: "Penny discovered Unitarianism at the end of the 1980s in Texas, where her son Tony was living. Her first Unitarian congregation in the UK was Oxford, and she became very friendly with Alice Schulman, wife of minister Frank Schulman. In later years she attended the Banbury Unitarian Fellowship for a while, before finding her home with Northampton Unitarians towards the end of her life. Whilst in Oxford, she became involved in a small Women's Group, which she found very fulfilling. She found out how strong and eager American women were to do something about other people's problems, for example in Africa. The last time she visite America, the group was still fighting the battle for freedom for women everywhere, enabling them to help themselves. She learned so much about what women could do to help other women. She remembers having to stand up in an enormous hall and take a bow, because she was the only Englishwoman there. Her work for women has sustained her. Her friend Cynthia wrote in this year's Christmas card: "You are a real inspiration to others and I always remember how you really encouraged me and other Unitarian women to initiate Woman Link when I was a new Unitarian with very little experience of charity work. Penny supported this charity for 16 years. My own connection with Penny goes back about 15 years, when she joined Northampton Unitarians. She was one of the first people to encourage me to train for the ministry, and I can remember in my early days of leading worship looking across to where she sat to see whether I had done all right. On one memorable occasion, I had included a reading by someone she disapproved of, and she did not hesitate to tell me so! But she was a staunch friend and a great support - like all of you, I will miss her." Northampton Unitarians AGM (28/3/2010) A select few of us gathered after the good congregational service on Spring, to hold our Annual General Meeting. Chairman Jon Small reviewed the highlights of the past year, including a splendid alternative service led by Rowan & Willow Songsmith in March, September's Anniversary Service about Sir Philip Manfield and a very interesting Saturday school led by Fiona Boyle. Some refurbishment of the building and gardens has taken place, including a brand new ground floor toilet. In any other business, it was agreed that we should change the way we buy refreshments, that there should be slight changes in our customary order of service and that the Meditation Group should be revived. Watch this space .... Saturday School: Looking at the Big Picture. (3/10/2009) Four of us gathered for a trial run for this course, run by Fiona Boyle. The objectives of the course were to acquire a broader view of religion and spirituality in England today by looking at the traditional churches (particularly the Church of England); at world religions; at spirituality; and at the mind, body, spirit phenomenon. In the first session, Fiona took us on a whirlwind tour of the history of Christianity in England, from the earliest times right up to the present day. Current issues were touched on, such as the right of bishops to sit in the House of Lords, the Sunday trading laws and faith schools. After a quick coffee, session 2 looked at what we knew about different religions, which included a deliberately fiendish quiz, which Fiona intends to make easier when the course is offered to a wider audience! We also looked at the different perceptions of religion and spirituality; religion is sometimes perceived as out-of-date, irrelevant, too structured and constricting; whereas spirituality is perceived as more intuitive, freer, less prescriptive and based on personal experience. After lunch, we filled out a personal experience questionnaire, which covered experience of both traditional religion and what Fiona called the "holistic milieu". We were invited to think about how we identified ourselves, about the significant changes in our religious / spiritual lives so far, about our key values, and about anything in the questionnaire that we felt uncomfortable about, and why. The final (shorter) session dealt with our views of the religious / spiritual future; for ourselves, for the UK and for the world. It was a fascinating and mind-stretching day. We are hoping to offer it to a wider audience some time in 2010. Northampton Unitarians visit Banbury Unitarian Fellowship on Fifth Sunday (29/3/2009) Some of you may know that we usually try to do something together on Fifth Sundays; otherwise we don't meet for three weeks. This time, 29th March, we decided to visit Banbury Unitarian Fellowship. Our own Sue Woolley was taking the service, and four of us joined her in Banbury Town Hall. For Penny Collins and Jon Small, this was a reunion with old friends; Penny used to be a member at Banbury, and Jon used to attend there with Peter Galbraith many years ago. The Banbury Fellowship made us very welcome. Member accepted for Ministry training We are pleased to announce that Sue Woolley, our Secretary, and member at Northampton for 20 years, has been accepted for Ministry training at Harris Manchester College Oxford, starting in the autumn. New Constitution A new constitution was adopted at a Special General Meeting on 8th June 2008. New Member We were delighted to welcome Joanne McGeehan into membership at our Sunday service on 8th June 2008. New Notice Board We have taken advantage of the Notice Board grant from the General Assembly to get ourselves a lovely new notice board. It is to the right of the front door, above our other notices, and really makes you notice the building. A Walk In The Park - 31st August 2008 This planned “gentle stroll in the sunshine” proved to be somewhat different – more like a swift trip through the rain. To be fair, it didn’t rain all the time, but it did put something of a damper on the day. There were three of us from Northampton, Joanne, Marc and myself; Leicester Unitarian Fellowship was well represented along with two from Market Harborough. We met up at 10:30 and the Umbrella Fair, an annual environmental event started at 12:00. This was a bonus as we didn’t know it was to be on this day until a few weeks ago. The first part of the morning was spent by walking around the park looking at the earthworks of the Deserted Medieval Village. These are so useful as they provide me with a chance to show people how archaeologists recognize significant sites. The park has good examples of features; a “holloway” – a medieval road that can be seen running through the grass and appearing to come from the rear of Archway Cottages. We also saw wide expanses of “ridge and furrow” – the remains of the old three field strip farming system and several clearly defined house platforms. Because the grass was so wet we tended to stick to the paths so I didn’t have the pleasure to leading the group across the ridge and furrow, as walking across it really brings home the nature of this feature. I think our visitors were impressed by our park with its fine collection of trees [including a Chinese Ghost Tree, sometimes called a Handkerchief Tree] and the beautiful lakes. We retired to the café and fortified ourselves with tea &c. where John joined us. During the conversation it was realized that there is to some extent a lack of communication between us and Leicester because they are not in the Midland Union and it was resolved that this should not continue and I feel a visit to Leicester is on the horizon. Whilst we were in the café the rain increased, but had more or less stopped when we left to look at the now open Umbrella Fair. Later the rain came back and after a while it was time for our friends from the north to leave, probably for home, warm fires and dry clothes! other unitarian events other unitarian news MUA delegates make a splash at Swansea (GA Annual Meetings 15-18/04/2011) 20 MUA delegates, representing nine MUA congregations, attended the 2011 Annual Meetings of the General Assembly of Unitarian & Free Christian Churches at Swansea University on 15th - 18th April 2011, including three ministers, two retired ministers, two ministry students, our President, Mrs. Bronwen Taylor, and Mrs. Alison Thursfield, who is now a member of the national Executive Committee. And we were certainly in evidence! Dorothy Haughton (Shrewsbury) was the star of the Opening Celebrations, performing three 'Talking Heads' monologues on the theme of volunteering, which had been written by Kay Millard. How she kept her face straight I will never know. The Opening Celebrations were followed by the Peace Vespers, which were led by Sue Woolley, with the help of Carwyn Tywyn, the new Welsh Secretary, who played some beautiful peaceful music on his harp. Sue was also one of the speakers at the Unitarian Renewal Group's slot, on the theme 'Too much organisation, not enough God?', which attracted a capacity crowd. Northampton Unitarians were the proposers of one of the motions, urging the General Assembly to affirm and support the Charter for Compassion, and to become a Partner Organisation. It was passed unanimously. And Angela Maher was one of the indefatigable team producing the GAZette. One of the highlights of the Meetings was the Anniversary Service, held in the beautiful Brangwyn Hall. It was led by Rev. Ant Howe, minister at Kingswood & Warwick, and Rev. Jeffrey Lane Gould delivered the Anniversary Sermon. This was preceded by a Welsh singing festival, during which we all nobly attempted to get our tongues around Welsh lyrics. As usual there were many meetings and workshops to choose from. The signage at Swansea was excellent, and there was an interesting innovation - walking buses leading delegates from the Fulton House refectory to the various break-out venues. During the business meetings, the national Executive Committee announced its strategy for the next six months, during which time all the various commissions and panels are going to be reorganised in line with the new Strategic Priorities (see other news September 2010) In the closing session, Rev. Dr. Ann Peart was installed as the new GA President, and Ms.Lis Dyson-Jones as the new Vice-President.