The Gandhi Foundation 2008 Summer Gathering will take place from

Saturday 26th July to Saturday 2nd August

at The Abbey, Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire

The Summer Gathering

This will be the 26^th annual gathering of friends of the Gandhi Foundation.  We live together for a week to recreate something of the experience of living in a Gandhian ashram.

The theme for this year is ‘Faith and Action’.  Religious beliefs tend to draw out the best and worst in human behaviour.  
We shall look at the extent to which Gandhi’s principles of non-violence, social justice, simple lifestyle etc are reflected in the literature and teaching of the main world religions and how far they are practised.  Gandhi remained a Hindu all his life but learned from other religions.  He respected those who put their religious principles into practice and was saddened by the hypocrisy of others.

The Summer Gathering is open to people of any faith or none who are prepared to share their experience and listen to others with respect.

Gandhi was concerned for the welfare of all (Sarvodaya) but did not value individualism that showed lack of concern for others.  He lovingly insisted that some people move on when he felt it would be best for the ashram.  As a greenhouse nurturing young people into Gandhi's ideas, we aim to provide a memorable week in a secure happy environment.   

The Programme

Gandhi expected everybody in the ashram to do their share of manual work.  We take it in turns to do meal preparation, washing up and household cleaning during the week.

The day starts with yoga for those who want it.  After breakfast we have a time of meditation together and deal with any business before the adults study some aspect of the theme.  A speaker introduces the subject and then leads discussion.  During this time the children will follow their own programme.

After lunch we may practise creative listening and this helps us to build deeper friendships during the week.  Later in the afternoon there will be opportunities for practical and creative work.

In the evenings there are activities such as circle-dancing, music, games, presentations and videos relevant to the theme.  The day ends with another short meditation.

There will be opportunities during the week for people to visit Oxford, go for a walk or just relax in the beautiful surroundings.

The Abbey

The buildings date from the 13^th century and originally were linked to the Benedictine Abbey in Abingdon.  They stand in four acres of woodland in the village of Sutton Courtenay just four miles from Abingdon and a short walk from the river Thames.

The main building has two single-sex dormitories and several single rooms.  There is a guest-house with single and double rooms and space for campers in the grounds.

The Costs

We are charging people according to the accommodation and their ability to pay.  Those with low income can pay less than the standard charge but we are inviting those who can afford it to pay a bit more.

For each adult, the costs are:

	Low	Standard	Generous
Camping	£140	£160	£180
Dormitory	£170	£190	£210
Double Room	£190	£210	£230
Single Room	£210	£230	£250

Children and full-time students come at half price.

We regret that in order to maximise our use of the available accommodation we cannot accept bookings for part of the week until after 30 June.  Until then, only bookings for the full week will be accepted.

Non-residential visitors are asked to pay £15 to £20 per day.

For further information, please contact Graham Davey, 29 Norton Road, Bristol BS4 2EZ
Tel: 0117 909 3491
Email: graham.davey@blueyonder.co.uk

Click here to download an application form for the 2008 Summer Gathering

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GF Summer Gathering 2007 at Bilberry Hill Centre
Denise Moll

How does one catch a moonbeam, or a passing week of laughter, learning, sharing, healthy food, cleaning, walking in the hills, staying up late to chatter?    As I reflect, my heart is full of sights and sounds of the week just passed and a welling up of gratitude for this oft-repeated event and especially to Graham Davey who has held it all together for over 10 years, making arrangements in the calm, measured way I have come to expect from Quakers. 

This was my first full week of being there, and I found it quite a difference from "popping in" for a couple of days! It was our first visit to Lickey, outside Birmingham, in a large Youth Centre, unattractive at first glance, but providing masses of space, single bedrooms, large communal areas and an easy-to-work-in kitchen.  There is a group who attend the Summer Gathering year after year and it’s fun to watch their children growing up and contributing much to the Gathering.  New Friends came too and one person joined on the spot – that we love to see! 

At the first session we heard excellent talks from David Maxwell, Stephen Petter, Trevor Lewis & Graham about "Gandhi and: Interfaith, Social Justice, Education, Health, Simple Living and Non-violence" – putting us in the right frame of mind to take Gandhi’s thoughts and way of living into the week, however imperfectly.  Main sessions thereafter were led by Susan Denton-Brown, along the following lines: understanding our sense of self and our roles in life; our spirituality and how we develop and express it; the wider community – helping create unity in diversity; transforming conflict through nonviolence; healing and sustaining Creation and the environment (with contributions from others too).  Susan is producing a course for schools, based on scenes from the Gandhi film, not finished but already drawing interest from educators in the UK and abroad. 

The pattern of the day goes something like this: 7 am Yoga, led this year by Kala Gunness, 8 am Breakfast, 9 am a gathering of all for Silence, followed by thanking, information, difficulties, hopes for the day; 9:30-11:30, the main session (see above).   Shramdana (giving work voluntarily) follows, and in teams we clean, tidy, hoover and cook a simple lunch of tasty soup, salad and fruit. The afternoons are for craft work, walking, taking the youngsters to play tennis or swim and, for some of us, resting!  The Shramdana team prepare a delicious supper of, eg, rice and a massive vegetable casserole, apple crumble, under the competent eye of Ken Scott, overviewing meals.  And then we are ready to start evening activities around 7:30 pm. There is much talent within the group, and we heard some fascinating accounts of a charity ‘Treelink’ which plants trees worldwide for social change and development; about shared community living to help bring healing to society; ‘Swaraj (self-rule) on Mars’ by a member of The Mars Society and how to plan in advance for a nonviolent way of life when the time comes for people to live there;  some moving poems, read by his father, from the son of Nat Sharma, who died prematurely;  pictures of 2 Muslim weddings and a Montessori school in Leh, Ladakh, India;  what the Life Style Movement is currently up to;  a walk, against Trident, from Glasgow to London, undertaken by Bernie Meyer, also known as 'the American Gandhi', and his adventures en route;  the Interfaith Seminary by recently ordained Interfaith Minister Mirabai Narayan;  and much on the environment, global warming and the work of the Green Party to help right many of the wrongs. Each evening ended with Circle Dancing led by David Maxwell and a final 15 minutes of Silence.

On the last night, following tradition, we threw a sparkling Party, with many contributions of poems, songs, stories, card tricks, games and the young people performing a dance, a puppet show and a play, written and performed by them, about Gandhi on the train in South Africa and his assassination in Delhi.  An evening to remember with delight.

Because the Bilberry Hill Centre is outside a residential area there is no collection of recyclable materials.  We collected all food waste, cans and bottles, which were taken to the Woodbrooke compost bins and local recycling points.  We produced relatively little rubbish and most of that was picked up on the Lickey hills during our walks!

I came away with memories crowding in on each other:  conversations, light, serious and teasing fun; scientist Habib Ahmed’s dedicated sharing of carbon information for the next generation; Sarathi’s beautiful, illuminating smile; a window banner made by the young people: "Remember Hiroshima" and later "Nagasaki"; hugging friends; greetings/ 'au revoirs’ and promises of "next year" wherever that might be.

The GF believes this week is of central importance to its work and ethos, helping boost its funds a little, whilst at the same time being of reasonable cost to participants, and the selling of literature to those who genuinely want to know more about Gandhi:  "man for our time".