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Summary of Sangha Organising Meeting discussion - 13th October 2024

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The members of the organising group – Hilary, Lidia, Richard, Jonathan, Gideon and Declan - met on 13

October, here is summary of the main topics we discussed.


Reflections on Saturday 21 September Day of Mindfulness

Overall we felt the recent Day of Mindfulness at Bedminster Quaker Meeting House was a success. We

had around 40 people attend from Bristol and further afield and were glad to be able to offer the day,

facilitated by our wonderful Plum Village UK dharma teacher Mhairi McLuskey


Thank you to everyone who donated to help cover the costs of the day (venue hire etc) and to dhana for

Mhairi. We have emailed Mhairi to thank her for offering the Day of Mindfulness and ask for any

reflections on how we might further improve the approach for future DoMs.

We are also grateful to Ian and Muriel who helped on reception and with payments, Leon for offering

mindful movements, Gordon who provided the sound system, and Rulo for his help in the kitchen and

washing up.


There are various learnings for the day in terms of practical arrangements which we’ll build into planning

for future Days of Mindfulness in 2025.


Upcoming White Clouds Sangha Events in 2025

Potential White Clouds Sangha and Bristol Wake Up Sangha Walk/ Event Together in early 2025

We are currently exploring potentially running a joint ‘walk and lunch’ event with Bristol Wake Up Sangha

in Spring 2025, similar to the walk earlier this year in January, again probably in St Werburghs in Bristol.

We will share more details on this once we have firmer plans.


Potential Days of Mindfulness in 2025

We are in the early stages of planning future Days of Mindfulness the sangha may be able to offer in

2025, depending on venue and dharma teacher availability. At the moment we are exploring another Day

of Mindfulness at Bedminster Quaker Meeting House in early summer 2025 (May, June or early July),

and potentially a smaller ‘self-led’ Day of Mindfulness at Claverham Quaker Meeting House in

September.


Sangha Finances Update

Lidia as treasurer provided an update on the sangha’s current financial position. Broadly speaking we

are bringing in enough income from sangha member’s contributions at our regular meditation evenings

(in person and online) and from the annual Day of Mindfulness to cover the sangha’s main expenses

(these are - room hire at Redland Quaker Meeting House, the Zoom licence costs and website annual

licence costs); keeping some extra funds in reserve for unexpected expenses; and still having some

surplus funds to donate to the Plum Village UK Being Peace Practice Centre fundraising.

We have made a donation in late September to the Plum Village UK Being Peace Centre on behalf of

Bristol White Clouds Sangha of £1000 (equivalent to £2000 thanks to the generosity of a Plum Village

UK donor who ‘match funded’ donations).


Opportunities to get involved in Sangha Activities

We have an ‘Organising Group’ and a ‘Facilitator’s Group’ who volunteer to help with the different

activities involved in running the Bristol White Clouds sangha. There is a wide range of opportunities for

other sangha members to get more involved, if you are interested in finding out more about opportunities

to help, please speak to any of the members of the organising group or email bristolsangha@gmail.com



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