The Parish Weekend at Wychcroft proved to be both amusing and stimulating. For those who have not been to Wychcroft, it is a lovely country house, just 22 miles from London and at least a hundred years away. Not that we were allowed to luxuriate in the past for very long.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and after supper (which was very good) we were introduced to the Revd. Gerald Beauchamp, who in turn introduced us to St. Luke. It quickly dawned on us, through attempting to answer his questionnaire, that we were there to work. We also went to the chapel for a short service. On the following two days we worked in groups and discovered a great deal about St. Luke's Gospel (which we would not have admitted we did not know). On Saturday afternoon we were scheduled for a walk in the surrounding countryside and we were pleased to be joined by friends and relatives from St. James's who had come to see us. We all had a Bar-B-Q supper on the terrace - lovely day.

On Sunday, after prayers in the chapel and breakfast, we set to work in our groups to illustrate the ideas gathered on the previous day. Our group, under Freda's leadership, produced a little play. We had the advantage of having a beautiful little Virgin Mary in Jennifer Greville-Giddings, who also drew the two drawings shown in the church. The other two collages were produced by groups I and 2. After lunch we had Communion. Freda played the piano and we had a good 'Brian-speak', followed by a long chat about where the weekend had led us. This, for our group, proved a bit emotional, and we had a run on the Kleenex. Never mind, we knew we were amongst friends. After a nice reviving cup of tea we all went home. Do come next time. It isn't mandatory to go on Ruth's long walk on Saturday afternoon. Betty and I used her bad leg as an excuse and sat on the terrace.

Source: Jean Gossage, The Spire Magazine - 2001 August