The Yorkshire-Derbyshire border for our autumn gathering

I’ve been in the north for the monthly meeting. It means that I get to at least see, if not necessarily play on the moors, so, as you can imagine, I am happy. The evening meeting saw us read through part of the script for the April workshop, but lunchtime took us to the venue of September’s informal workshop in the landscape.

We have some wonderful things lined up for this year. April in Derbyshire will see us exploring the spiritual concepts hidden in the Arthurian myths and the symbol of the Green Man. June takes us down into Pembrokeshire in Wales, to walk amongst the stones of history and pre-history. September will find us gathering on the border between Yorkshire and Derbyshire, where thousands of years of history have left their traces on the landscape… and the location of December’s gathering, yet to be announced, will doubtless be another gift, ready for Christmas.

Winter magic in Lancashire

There is a huge difference between April and the rest of the workshops. Most of the year we may seem to be just ‘playing out’, as we wander the landscape, visit ancient and sacred sites and talk as we walk. These events are wholly informal, allowed to be fairly organic… and though there is a structure, a spiritual purpose and real content to these weekends, the casual observer might find it hard to discern and mistake us for just a group of friends out having fun. They wouldn’t be wrong… except for the ‘just’.

Pembrokeshire in summer… photo courtesy of one of our students.

The April workshop is a more structured affair, with a set of detailed scripts allowing us to explore concepts in some detail through a symbolic story augmented with discussions and talks. We stay in the little village of Great Hucklow in Derbyshire for the whole weekend and although it is a fun event with plenty of time to just sit and talk, meet new friends and old and enjoy the company and laughter, it is also a more ‘formal’ style of workshop… if anything we are involved in can ever be called formal. Months of work go into making these weekends run smoothly and deliver what we intend for them, from the writing of the scripts and talks to the painting, sewing and ingenuity that are brought to bear on the setting, costumes and props that bring the story to life.

April in Great Hucklow

By January we are generally tearing our hair out waiting for confirmation forms to give us some idea of numbers so we can finish the script and assign the ‘roles’. February and March tend to see my home looking more and more like a craft studio or costume department, with the dog hiding under the table and wondering what on earth I’m doing getting in and out of garb clearly unsuitable for a walk in the fields.

Then it is April…and the car is stuffed with strange and colourful things… and the only thing left is anticipation as I head north once again to a beautiful little village, a weekend that flies by far too fast… and hugs from friends from across the globe who have gathered to share the weekend.

I love where life has taken me 🙂

Derbyshire in April

If you would care to join us for one of our weekends, or learn more about what we do both at our open events and within the School, just click the highlighted links in the post to go to the Silent Eye website for more details.