As we gather just after the Church’s celebration of All Saints’ Day, this quiet day will begin by exploring aspects of theology relating to the role of icons in our worship.  We will then consider more practically how icons and iconography can help us in our own spiritual practice. 

This Quiet Day will be led by Catherine Lomas.

The Revd Catherine Lomas was, until earlier this year, a parish priest and pioneer in the Diocese of Peterborough. Her particular interest is in the use of visual means to explore theology and spirituality. Her interest in icons began in 2007 and she painted her first icon in 2016. Now based in Wiltshire, she is exploring a calling to full-time ministry as an iconographer and Christian artist.

Quiet Day price: £44 includes lunch and coffee and tea throughout the day.
Why not think about extending your time at Launde by staying overnight after the event.  Check for availability and a quote when you contact us.

The Scriptures and the sacraments resonate with the symbolism of water.  Beyond our daily home-based involvement with water in drinking and washing, the wild water of the natural world speaks of God’s intimate relationship with the created world.  The day will lead into time to explore and ponder the significance of water and spiritual life, in ways that are seen and unseen, expected but also sometimes surprising.

Revd Canon Mike Booker

This Quiet Day will be led by Mike Booker.  After many years in parish ministry, theological education and on a bishop’s staff team, Mike is now partly retired and is rediscovering his roots as a geographer.  He lives on the bank of the Great Ouse in Huntingdonshire, and loves the local wild life, kayaking through the seasons and occasional wild swimming.  Mike is married to Liz, and has three grown-up children.+

Quiet Day price: £44 includes lunch and coffee and tea throughout the day.
Why not think about extending your time at Launde by staying overnight before or after the event or even both! Check for availability and a quote when you contact us.

In Dependence

Is God dependable? … What does it mean to depend on God?

Drawing on the life of Peter, this day will offer space to be known, held, and affirmed by God, and to find safety in His dependability.

This Quiet Day will be led by Emily Owen.

There will be opportunities for 1-1s with Emily, either with speech or in sign language

Emily Owen is an award-winning author and speaker, with several books to her name.  She lost her hearing overnight aged 21, and has had numerous surgeries.  Emily knows what it is to be broken, and she knows what it is to meet God there.

Sign language support will be available for this Quiet Day.

Quiet Day price: £44 includes lunch and coffee and tea throughout the day.
Why not think about extending your time at Launde by staying overnight before or after the event or even both!.  Check for availability and a quote when you contact us.

This event is now fully booked.

In this Quiet Day we shall be seeking to understand something of the impact of Advent on our vision, out attitudes and our way of life.  As we come before God, we shall be following the practice of the Fellowship of Contemplative Prayer in receiving the word of God in stillness.  There will be an opportunity to pray together, to listen to God, and also to be alone and enjoy the beauty of the Launde Abbey surroundings.

Revd Canon Charles Dobbin

This Quiet Day will be led by The Revd Canon Charles Dobbin.  Charles has spent a considerable amount of his ministry in Leicester diocese, moving from ministry in South London to serve in Melton Mowbray, then Loughborough and Ashy-de-la-Zouch before moving to be team rector in Leeds. There he became involved in inter faith work, becoming chair of Leeds Faiths Forum, receiving an MBE for services to community cohesion. At this time, he was also chaplain of the Fellowship of Contemplative Prayer. Retiring in 2016, he and his wife Ros moved to Loughborough to be near the family. Since then, he has revived old links, among which has been the leading of some Quiet Days at Launde.

Quiet Day price: £44 includes lunch and coffee and tea throughout the day.
Why not think about extending your time at Launde by staying overnight after the event.  Check for availability and a quote when you contact us.

This Quiet Day will be led by Rosie Feuell.  The day will consider traditional ideas of Harvest Thanksgiving, the Harvest of our Lives, and Harvest in modern and future contexts, where we are detached from food production and more interested in protecting the environment.

We will focus on Scriptures from Deuteronomy, Psalms, Gospels and other writing.

Rosie will begin the day with a Liturgy of Thanksgiving and the day will end with a celebration of Holy Communion led by one of the Launde Abbey Team.

Rosie Feuell

Rosey Feuell is an LLM in the parish of St Mary the Virgin, Great Shelford, (near Cambridge) and an experienced spiritual director.  She has special interest in ways of praying, especially with Holy Scripture, the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, and work with older people in church and community.

Rosey has conducted Quiet Days, Retreats, and Courses on Prayer in various contexts, including Iona and Lindisfarne, Lincolnshire, Ely Diocese, London, and the Community of St Mary the Virgin (CSMV), of which she is an Associate, as well as Retreat Secretary to the Associates’ network.  She also guides on Weeks/Months of Accompanied Prayer and has published poetry/articles in Christian magazines.

Quiet Day price: £44 includes lunch and coffee and tea throughout the day.
Why not think about extending your time at Launde by staying overnight after the event.  Check for availability and a quote when you contact us.

Transformed, Converted … or merely a Make-over

On the Feast of the Transfiguration, this is a chance to reflect upon the account of how Jesus took Peter, James and John up a mountain and they witnessed something extraordinary.  The story is written in all 3 synoptic Gospels and we will explore something of its significance!

Additional details of this Quiet Day, led by Claire Goode, will follow shortly.  Please check back regularly.

Revd Claire Goode

Claire is an experienced parish priest and retreat leader who was most recently a Chaplain at Launde Abbey.  Previously she had been the Vicar of a city centre church in Nottingham. Claire was also one of the team offering Spiritual Direction (Spiritual Accompaniment) and Mentoring in Southwell & Nottingham Diocese.  

Quiet Day price: £44 includes lunch and coffee and tea throughout the day.
Why not think about extending your time at Launde by staying overnight before or after the event or even both!  Check for availability and a quote when you contact us.

If the Word became flesh and blood, and “moved into the neighbourhood”, how then do we see our own bodies?  How do we relate to the bits we like? And the bits we don’t? A chance to think about our bodies, in both their brokenness and beauty, as “very good… wonderfully made”!

Revd David Harknett

This Quiet Day will be led by The Revd David Harknett and assisted by his daughter Rose.

David has been given to Rose as a parent, carer, friend, explorer and annoyance.  Not expected to live because of sepsis in 2013, David has mild, chronic fatigue, but is able to swim, cycle and run.  He also oversees 6 small, rural villages outside Melton Mowbray.

Rose Harknett at Launde

Rose has been given to David as a daughter, demand, friend, entertainer and irritant. During David’s sabbatical in 2022, his wife Vicky described Rose as his “greatest Mentor”. She is non-verbal and attends Birch Wood Special School.

Quiet Day price: £44 includes lunch and coffee and tea throughout the day.
Why not think about extending your time at Launde by staying overnight after the event.  Check for availability and a quote when you contact us.

Walk In The Light

This Quiet Day presents an opportunity to discover the work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart, according to the Fathers of the Eastern Church.

A Quiet Day for Pentecost, the day will invite participants to engage the heart through a morning session entitled ‘The Purifying Light’ and an afternoon session entitled ‘The Glorifying Light’.

The day will start and end with informal versions of Orthodox Morning and Evening Prayer.

Dr Jim Wellngton

Dr Jim Wellington is a member of the Antiochian Orthodox Church and will lead this Quiet Day.

For over forty years Jim was a Church of England priest. He holds a doctorate from the Archbishop’s Examination in Theology for a thesis relating to the origins of Jesus Prayer, an MPhil from the University of Nottingham and an MA from Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. He is a conductor of retreats and quiet days on the Jesus Prayer and other aspects of spirituality.

Jim is the author of Christe Eleison! The Invocation of Christ in Eastern Monastic Psalmody c.350-450 (Berne: Peter Lang, 2015), Praying the Psalms with Jesus: A Journey of Discovery and Recognition (Cambridge: Grove Books, 2015), Beguiled by Jesus: Faith and the Language of Intimacy (Cambridge: Grove Books, 2017)., and Journeying with the Jesus Prayer (Oxford: SLG Press, 2020).

Quiet Day price: £44 includes lunch and coffee and tea throughout the day.
Why not think about extending your time at Launde by staying overnight before or after the event or even both!  Check for availability and a quote when you contact us.

TOOLS FOR DIGGING; finding wellsprings of hope in a parched land.

‘The Lord says, “For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground.” ’ (Isaiah 44.3)

Against the backdrop of the overwhelming of contemporary life & global currents, and our ever greater risk of spiritual aridity, this Quiet Day will explore ‘Tools for digging’, including contemplative prayer, Lectio Divina, Kingdom praying, and various spiritual disciplines for contemplative living, drawing on the spiritual practises of Jesus of Nazareth, as well as centuries of Christian spiritual tradition.  The metaphor of digging relates to Jesus’ parable of treasure hidden in the field, and the approach of Gerard Hughes SJ, in ‘God of Surprises’.

This Quiet day will reaffirm opportunities to live more deeply rooted in prayer, contemplative practise, and recovering a more prophetic spirituality.

Revd James Shakespeare

Revd James Shakespeare will be leading this Quiet Day.  He is a local parish priest in Cambridge, as well as Bishop’s Spirituality Adviser for the Diocese of Ely. Previously James served in the Diocese of Leicester, developing a close link with Launde Abbey, and regularly assisting with Quiet Days. James is a regular spiritual director, as well as a tertiary Franciscan. James’ particular interests include contemplative spirituality, the religious life, church-community engagement, and working cross-culturally. James enjoys walking, novels and relaxing with his family.