It was a beautiful day to welcome many of our congregations back to our first in person AGM in a couple of years. Held at Kingswood Unitarian Meeting House on Packhorse Lane, in their charming and historic village setting, the representatives of the congregation made everyone feel very welcome. It is always a lovely opportunity to gather in different places of worship as we journey around the District each year and this felt like something of a homecoming in holding this shared space.
After the formal meetings in the morning had been handled and tidied away, a relaxing lunchtime was spent with catch ups and wombles in the grounds and village. We gathered once more for a beautiful and thought- provoking service which Sue had prepared before catching Covid, which was very ably delivered by Jane Couper. This wonderfully, and with many threads of thematic connection, led into the remainder of the afternoon.
We welcomed the afternoon’s speaker Lizzie Kingston-Harrison, who was appointed as Congregational Connections Lead for the General Assembly nearly six months ago. She delivered a wonderful time of reflection on her role, and how she connects others, and their ideas and actions via a basis of conversation. She explained her journey and some of her personal story – how she has found herself in her job and what it was that led her through the doors of the Unitarian Meeting House in Framlingham, Suffolk, which she now calls her spiritual home.