Tree Planting to celebrate 45 years at Llannerchwen

In the middle of January 2024, we marked the 45^th anniversary of our beginnings at our spirituality centre, Llannerchwen in Brecon, Wales. It was also an opportunity to plant a ginko biloba tree, chosen by Grace one of our gardeners, to mark the 180^th anniversary of the Society’s presence in England and Wales.

The ginko biloba, will produce glorious red, gold and yellow leaves each autumn, and we will be able to admire it from our kitchen window.

Clare prepared a short prayer of blessing, based partly on extracts from the section on Winter from the book called ‘The Circle of Life’, by Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr, together with some words that were written by Joan Scott about her vision for Llannerchwen.   The authors of the book state that Winter is a ‘time of waiting’ and this felt appropriate as we wait to see what emerges from our ongoing reflections regarding future developments at Llannerchwen.  And the extracts came from a section called ‘Blessings of Winter’, as we wanted to acknowledge all the blessings that Llannerchwen has already brought to so many people.  Joan Scott’s words were a characteristic blend of her passion for contemplation, for silence, for solitude and fornature, expressed in her usual ‘down to earth’ words.   We then concluded our celebration by adjourning to the warmth of our sitting-room for tea and mince pies.

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