What’s On

On this page you will find the Annual Meetings schedule and more information about the workshops, worship, social gatherings, and other offerings.

Click here to view the Annual Meeting schedule.

Keynote SPEAKER

How can we become good ancestors?
Roman Krznaric

Roman Krznaric will draw on his 2020 book “The Good Ancestor: How to think long term in a short term world”, and his forthcoming book “History for Tomorrow” to help us think creatively about our past and our future.

Roman Krznaric is a social philosopher who writes about the power of ideas to create change. His latest book is the international bestseller The Good Ancestor: How to Think Long Term in a Short-Term World. His previous books, including Empathy, The Wonderbox and Carpe Diem Regained, have been published in more than 25 languages. He is Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University’s Centre for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing and founder of the world’s first Empathy Museum. His new book, History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity, will be published in July 2024.

Note: Krznaric is pronounced kriz-NAR-ik (click link for audio).

Worship

ANNIVERSARY SERVICE

The Anniversary Service is the main worship service at the Annual Meetings. This year, we are delighted to have Rev Ant Howe as the preacher for this important service. About Ant:

Rev Ant Howe discovered the Unitarians in the northwest of England after, by chance, someone said to him “you sound like a Unitarian!”. Brought up in Pentecostal and Evangelical Churches – and having served as a musician, worship leader and preacher within those churches – Ant found his spiritual home within Unitarianism and began to use his gifts within our movement. As a lay worship leader he often led worship 4 times on a Sunday within our churches in the northwest. He then went on to lead two Unitarian congregations.

Ant trained for ministry at Unitarian College Manchester, also completing undergraduate and postgraduate studies in theology with the University of Manchester.

For 14 years he served as Minister to the congregation at Kingswood, leading the congregation to growth and expanding the offering of the congregation to the wider community. He was well known in the area for leading Rites of Passage ceremonies.  For 8 of those 14 years Ant also served as Minister to the Warwick Unitarian congregation.

Ant resides in North Wales where he is a member of Undodiaid Bangor Unitarians. He continues to lead worship regularly for a number of congregations alongside his work for the college – believing that worship is the heart of our Unitarian communities.

His style still retains some of his former Pentecostal exuberance but it is Unitarianism which he believes saved and transformed his life. He often says “my religious upbringing taught me to believe in God, but it is Unitarianism that taught me to believe in myself”. He is passionate about our Unitarian witness and sharing our message. He looks forward to welcoming you to the Anniversary Service 2024.

opening worship

Our Annual Meetings begin with opening worship, including a procession of banners from all of our congregations. This year, Unitarians 4 Climate Justice will lead the opening worship with a short, but inspirational service about our relationship with the natural world.

morning worship

Each morning at 7.30am there is the option to attend a range of morning worship sessions.

Workshops (and more)

There are a wide range of break out sessions on offer at the Annual Meetings, including training sessions, workshops, and talks.

  • An introduction to the GA’s new Congregational Support Toolkit
  • Exploring the future direction of collective Unitarian social action, based on the results of our current survey
  • Spirit of Land and Sea: reflecting on our coastal congregations
  • Professor Grayson Ditchfield on the 250th anniversary of the first Unitarian congregation, its people and practices
  • UUA minister Erika Hewitt returns to lead workshops on ‘Worship beyond the word’
  • Elekes Zsolt (Hungarian Unitarian Church) and Alicia Forde (UUA) on nourishing and sharing our global faith
  • Unitarians 4 Climate Justice lead our first ever climate-focused People’s Assembly, a process of participatory democracy
  • The launch of two new books published by the Lindsey Press, Soul Deep: Exploring Spirituality Together and Right Relationship in the Real World: Learning to Live by our Unitarian Values

Information about all of the workshops and sessions can be found here.

Click here for the full schedule.

Relaxing and socialising

As well as worship, workshops and making big decisions – make sure you take time to relax, enjoy and make new friends. We will be putting on a number of social gatherings and you can also enjoy the hotel’s pool and spa, our bookshop, the restaurant, café and bar, quiet room, outdoor walks, and more.