Opportunities to Become Involved in the Sangha Organising Community
- whiteclouds7
- Sep 11
- 3 min read
Opportunities to Become Involved in the Sangha Organising Community
Helping White Clouds Sangha Bristol to flourish and continue to share Thây’s Teachings
A sangha is a garden, full of many varieties of trees and flowers . . . One tree may bear
many fruits and another tree may offer cool shade . . . Each member of the sangha has
unique gifts to offer to the community. . .Our practice is to see that we are a flower or a tree, and we are the whole garden as well, all interconnected.
Thích Nhất Hạnh
Dear friends
The White Clouds Sangha first came together in Bristol over 20 years ago to practice together in the Plum Village tradition of Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh, and to offer Thây’s teachings of mindfulness, compassion and healing within our community. The sangha has grown and evolved from a small group of friends meeting in someone’s home, to meditation evenings at Redland Quaker Meeting House, regular Days of Mindfulness and other gatherings, and now also practicing when we meet online.
We’ve been able to offer these opportunities to practice together and share the fruits of Thây’s teachings in part through the contribution of members who’ve participated at different times in the ‘sangha organising group’.
So that the sangha can continue to grow and flourish into the future, we’ve recently begun to think about how we expand and renew the organising group by inviting new members to join.
Do you have something you can contribute by joining the sangha organising group?
The organising group is currently made up of 6 volunteer members of the sangha who meet usually every 2 months.
We are asking for people to come forward to join the organising group and begin to work alongside the current members - to find out about the roles involved, begin to share some of the tasks, and over time potentially to transition fully into whichever organising role they’ve been ‘shadowing’.
We hope this will enable us to renew and strengthen our current organising group, to share the workload more sustainably, to bring a wider range of perspectives into the group, and over time to enable ‘succession planning’. It is anticipated that some members of the current organising group at a point in the future will step back from their current roles (because of other commitments in their lives, and in some cases involvement with the Being Peace Centre and Plum Village UK).
What’s it like being a member of the sangha organising group?
We do the behind the scenes work to offer our Wednesday meditation evenings in person and online; to organise Days of Mindfulness and other gatherings; to develop our community of facilitators; and we have connections with our friends in the Bristol Wake Up Sangha and with the wider Plum Village community of sanghas.
We also try to devote some time and energy to the longer term sustaining and development of the sangha, and ‘sangha building’, matched to the capacity and resources we have available.
The work of the sangha organising group falls broadly into the roles listed below
Organising Meeting Convenor
Treasurer
Room Bookings Coordinator
Safeguarding Representative
Communications Coordinator (including the sangha website and email account)
Day of Mindfulness Coordinator
Facilitation Coordinator(s)
Please see the document linked here for more information on the roles.
The time commitment involved varies depending on role, but is probably around 1 to 3 hours per month, and attending a 2 hour organising group meeting usually every 2 months.
We try to bring the spirit of the practice into our organising work and meetings, to create a collaborative, inclusive, and mindful atmosphere, and to value a variety of different perspectives. There is a warm, friendly and supportive community (and often cake!).
Next Steps
If the idea of getting involved appeals to you and you’d like to contribute to the renewal and development of the sangha in the next stage of its evolution, or if you just think you may be interested and would like to understand more about what’s involved, please either speak to any member of the current organising group *, or email bristolsangha@gmail.com to express your interest and we can get in touch.
No previous experience is necessary, only a willingness to bring your practice and energy to support the continued development and wellbeing of the Sangha.
* The current members of the organising group are Hilary Templer, Gideon Thomas, Lidia Szczytowicz, Richard Lawrence, Declan Cooney and Jonathan Edwards.
Thích Nhất Hạnh quotation above taken from the New Sangha Handbook, at