Retired Ministers’ Retreat at Oblate Centre, Wistaston Hall, Crewe

28th October-1st November 2019

A group of eleven retired ministers gathered at the Oblate Retreat Centre in Crewe at the end of October for a few days of retreat, reflection, and reminiscence: Srs Kathryn Woolford and Jan Mullin; Brn Peter Gubi, Fred Linyard, Len Broadbent, John Wilkinson, Trevor Auty, Kenneth Evans, Richard Ingham, Bob Hopcroft and David Newman.

Our retreat coordinator was Br Prof Peter Gubi, who began each day with a liturgy from the 'Wee Worship Book' of the Iona Community, and then guided us through a balanced programme of activities that stimulated the mind and led to good debates. Needless to say, we were well fed and cared for at the Oblate Centre by Fr Brian and his staff.

We were blessed by the presence of Dr Margaret Barker, who tested the dexterity of our little grey cells with sessions on text archaeology, tracing the Hebrew roots and meanings of the Christian imagery of the Lamb and Flag. Margaret also gave us fascinating background information on her ground-breaking research into the codes on ancient tablets, some of which was quite mind-blowing.

We had our compulsory session on Safeguarding, which Sr Joy Raynor bravely gave us; and the two 'full-time' PEC members, Roberta Hoey and Mark Kernohan, paid a courtesy visit to bring us up to date with developments at Church House, in the Province, and further afield.

We even had an outing! A nostalgic visit to Chester, which is where ministers' conferences were held back in the 70s and 80s. On disembarking from the minibus, the first sight to greet us was a huge mobile crane outside the cathedral being used to install the 'Knife Angel' sculpture. Readers may have heard of this impressive creation, or even seen it as it 'tours' the country. The spectacular, 27 feet high sculpture is made from around 100,000 bladed weapons collected in knife amnesties during police surrenders across the country.

The Angel was created at the British Ironwork Centre by sculptor Alfie Bradley. Relatives of those killed by knife crime were invited to engrave the blades with names and messages for their loved ones as part of the sculpture. Find out more by using your computer search engine to look for KNIFE ANGEL.

Thanks again to Br Peter for his organisation and leadership. It was a good, refreshing week, where we enjoyed each other's company, and all left the Oblate Centre in good spirits.

We hope to meet up again in retreat in 2021 …

Br David Newman