The Planning Group
Thank you to all the members of the Planning Group: Michael Gunton, Shella Parry, Tony Philpott, Jerry Cullum, Marion Penn, Ruth Heine, Mark Redman, Rosemary Webb and Anthea Hall.
Attendance at the Weekend
Total attendance at the Weekend was 99, as shown in the Table. This compares with 118 at the 2006 Weekend. In 2006 there were 22 under 19s, whereas only 11 attended this time. These were divided into: a 10+ group of 8; two young children; and a baby.
Key to Options:
Opt1 – Whole weekend
Opt2 – From start of weekend to Saturday evening
Opt3 – From Saturday morning (after breakfast) to end of weekend
Opt4 – Whole weekend – non-residential (i.e. excluding overnights and breakfasts)
Opt5 – Saturday only (excluding breakfast)
Opt6 – Sunday only (excluding breakfast)
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Option |
|
Of which U 19s |
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|
Meeting |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Total |
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|
Alderney |
1 |
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|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
Alton |
3 |
|
3 |
1 |
4 |
|
11 |
2 |
|
Basingstoke |
7 |
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|
|
|
|
7 |
3 |
|
Bognor Regis |
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
Guernsey |
1 |
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|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
Hythe |
2 |
|
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|
|
|
2 |
|
|
International |
2 |
|
|
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|
|
2 |
|
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Isle of Wight |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
6 |
|
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Jersey |
2 |
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|
|
|
|
2 |
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Petersfield |
1 |
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|
|
1 |
|
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Portsmouth |
5 |
|
|
|
|
|
5 |
1 |
|
Rye |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
3 |
1 |
|
Southampton |
25 |
1 |
|
4 |
|
|
30 |
3 |
|
Winchester |
6 |
1 |
2 |
9 |
7 |
1 |
26 |
1 |
|
|
66 |
2 |
5 |
14 |
11 |
1 |
99 |
11 |
Evaluation
Thank you to Marion Penn for carrying out this evaluation.
Participants were asked to grade aspects of the weekend using 5 categories: Excellent (5), Good (4), Average (3), Poor (2) and Very poor (1). 66 forms were returned.
It is very pleasing that all the 44 scores except two were 4 or above, which shows overall satisfaction with the weekend.
The preparation measures all scored above 4.5.
The accommodation measures were 3.85 (this was the lowest score on the whole evaluation for the ‘Kitchens near rooms’), 4.37 for the sleeping rooms, 4.31 for the meeting rooms and 4.0 for ease of accessing rooms.
Catering scored highly (three measures between 4.45 and 4.52).
The sessions apart from the option groups were all well-received (all above 3.97), with the North American Indian Dance to the Sun, Sharing Session and Ceilidh receiving the highest scores.
All the option groups received scores of 4 or above, with the following receiving 4.5 or above: Climate Change, African Drumming, Islam, Music Workshop, Membership, Jesus untouched by the Church (Gospel of Thomas), Asylum Seekers and Ballroom and Latin Dancing.
There were numerous ideas for improvements, which will be passed on to the next planning group. If we did return to Winchester and in negotiation with the University some of the ideas which need looking at are:
· Nearer accommodation in the student village
· Improvements in the kitchen facilities
· A lounge-type area being made available
· Tea/coffee ‘on tap’ all the time
· A faster evening meal service
· A faster toaster
· Hearing loops
· Instructions for the showers
· Sorting
out bedroom facilities for young children
· The older young people participating fully in the adult activities
· Hiring the College Pool again
Budget
The weekend came in approximately on budget. We were pleased that we could supplement the income from adult fees with a grant from the Peggy Jackson Fund (which supported the attendance of the Under 19s), extra donations from participants (we are grateful for £230 donated in this way) and a subsidy from the Area Meeting. Area Meeting also paid for the two International participants and assisted in the costs of one or two local Friends.
Recommendations
1. We recommend that the two popular and oversubscribed items ‘Islam’ and ‘The Gospel of Thomas’ are addressed through a gathering or similar event in the coming months. (Some participants were disappointed they could not attend these groups at the Weekend – but we were restricted by room size and fire regulations – and we did want a good audience at all the options.)
2. We recommend that international participants are invited again to attend the Weekend.
3. We ask Friends who are able to lead sessions to let the next planning group know. We are grateful for all the suggestions for future topics – but we also need to have volunteers to lead them, or names of suitable speakers/facilitators.
4. Area Meeting will have to decide whether to return to Winchester University for a third time or whether to look elsewhere.
If we decide to return to Winchester the advantages are
· The evaluation of this year’s event was favourable
· We know the facilities well now, so we know what can be done successfully in the accommodation
· It has good transport connections
· It is central to our Area Meeting
· It enables non-residential and day visitors to attend easily
· The University takes some of the pressure off Friends, who in other facilities may have to do more
However, Winchester does have limitations:
· It is not a nice ‘rural retreat’
· There is no lounge area
· We are limited in the facilities provided (e.g. no art room, limits to the size of the meeting rooms)
· There is no camping allowed
Other possible venues could be other Universities, Schools or Conference Centres (e.g. Quaker Conference Centres) - in our local area or further afield.
If we decide to return to Winchester then the University will need to be booked as soon as possible to guarantee the weekend we require. The new planning group could consider alternative times of the year (when the University is available) but if we go for the equivalent weekend (i.e. the last weekend in the school Summer Term) we would need to book Friday 16th to Sunday 18th July 2010. The school Summer Holidays start on Monday 26th July 2010. The planning group would need to start meeting in summer 2009 to plan the Weekend, dealing initially with the Theme and Programme.
If we decide to look elsewhere then it would be preferable for a planning group to be set up this autumn to start looking at alternative venues.
5. In terms of the make-up of the next planning group, we recommend that:
· The members of the planning group should have attended a residential weekend
· There should be some members of the present (and maybe previous) planning group on the new planning group
· There should be someone nominated who is prepared to be in charge of the arrangements for the Under 19s
Tony Philpott – Convenor – Planning Group
