Mayflower
Camps UK

Mayflower Meeting

 
    Most of us have experiences of meetings that have associations with school assembly and in later life we may participate in work meetings that are often frustrating or tedious or unreal. These kinds of meetings don't usually have much actual sense of meeting or being met.

    One of the ways that we hold the camp is to meet each morning, and the meetings will reflect and feedback something of where we are in our camp and as a camp each day.

    Meeting is called when it looks like most have breakfasted, (this is usually late morning!). (Our first meeting is at 10.30 am on Saturday).

    When enough have gathered we join hands and be still. This is an invitation to just be here and now; to consciously connect in the present.

    Releasing hands we move into the speaking part. Anyone can say anything they feel moved to say to the meeting. This might be related to events or activities but can also be simply connecting or raising an issue to awareness.

 
    Our camps don't look for issues, but it is important that if any issues arise in the camp that they can be addressed. The Meeting enables speaking and hearing. It isn't necessarily about resolving or making decisions or judgements. However we have often experienced an outcome through a willingness to really communicate, that far exceeds achieving results by making rules or judgements.

    The talking part ends and we take hands again and share a usually shorter silence before dispersing.

    If anyone needs or wants to leave before the meeting as a whole is ready to close then of course it is ok to just leave in whatever way is most respectful to the attention of the meeting.

    On our closing day we have a short closing meeting after we have cleared the camp. This is usually at about 1 p.m.

Copyright Brian Steere 2004

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