Aldeburgh author Rosie Andersen has written a beautiful book, ‘Songs of the Trees’ inspired by the woodlands of her Suffolk home.
Paul Jackson has supplied wonderful, intricate illustrations.
There is a labyrinth to find too!
Do follow the link below and take a look. Described as a ‘modern myth’ Rosie’s story is a treat for inquisitive labyrinth fans young and old.
Thank you Rosie for getting in touch. I’ve ordered myself a copy!
Songs of the trees: Aelfwynn’s journey into the labyrinth
World Labyrinth Day – Saturday 7th May
‘Walk as One at One’
Another opportunity to walk the cloth ‘pebble’ labyrinth in the peaceful surroundings of the Friends Meeting House at Hartington Grove. We’ll join with other labyrinth walkers all over the globe who are walking at or around 1 o’clock. Please arrive between 12.30 and 1.30. Walk finishes at 2.30. Donations welcome to help cover the cost of the hall (Suggested donation £4/£3 concessions)
Weekend Labyrinth Retreat Friday June 3rd – Sunday June 5th
Quiet Waters Christian Retreat House, Bungay, Suffolk
We will enjoy good company and delicious home-cooked meals. Morning and evening worship will include Taize and Iona chants and will have a celtic flavour. We will make a labyrinth together on the front lawn, and light it up with candles on the Saturday evening. There will be time for quiet reflection, and opportunity to enjoy the riverside garden and explore the surrounding countryside. Kay will also bring a selection of wooden finger labyrinths made by the Rowan project in Cambridge.
Suggested donation for the weekend £140, or £130 if sharing a room. Day visitors also welcome on the Saturday, suggested donation £25.
Early booking advisable! See the Quiet Waters website or book via Kay: singing.kay@gmail.com
Ferrar House Labyrinth Day, Little Gidding
Thursday 30th June, 10.00 – 4.00
Little Gidding is famous for its connection with TS Eliot’s Four Quartets.
We’ll spend a summers day enjoying the garden and surrounding landscape at Ferrar House. We’ll make an outdoor labyrinth from corn (the sort you feed to chickens!) and we’ll take a short walk to a nearby chapel where we can lay out the cloth ‘pebble’ labyrinth.
We’ll explore the labyrinth as a tool for prayer. Kay will also bring wooden finger labyrinths made by Rowan Humberstone in Cambridge.
Please book via the Ferrar House website or email Kay: singing.kay@gmail.com
Saffron Walden Maze Festival, 19 – 21 August
Brilliant family fun with mazes and labyrinths! See the maze festival website, http://www.saffronwaldenmazefestival.co.uk.
Hope to see you there!
Can you see any pumpkins?
On 24th October we made a special candlelit labyrinth to help ‘Cambridge Sustainable Food’ raise awareness of the problem of food waste and other important food issues as part of their two week ‘Pumpkin Fest’. We had a lot of fun making a corn labyrinth, even though we had to put on waterproofs and work in the pouring rain! Lighting the tea lights in their jam jars was a challenge. Our candle lighters didn’t work properly in the wet weather and breezy conditions. But our fantastic team of volunteers came up with an innovative solution, lighting them indoors and carrying them out in a handy bucket!
Pumpkin lanterns ready for lighting
If you look closely at the photos you might be able to see that we also used a few LED tea lights in amongst the real ones. The LEDs produced a more blueish light than the golden flames of the tea lights. After a lot of effort, finally the magical pathway was ready for our visitors, some of whom had come from quite far afield. Some lucky folk lived in the tall houses round about the community centre and had an excellent bird’s eye view from upstairs. Ann from Cambridge Sustainable Food brought delicious pumpkin themed refreshments, including hot pumpkin soup, and we also gave away orange balloons and leaflets about reducing food waste and becoming a more thoughtful cook and consumer. If you missed it this year, look out for us again next October!
Candlelit Pumpkin Labyrinth, Orchard Park Cambridge
Following on the success of last year’s equinox labyrinth in Girton we decided to repeat the event again. A major attraction, especially for younger visitors, was the lovely location under the horse chestnut trees which border the main recreation ground. We set about collecting conkers and soon had a shining heap near the entrance of the labyrinth. Everyone walking – or running – the labyrinth was invited to pick up a conker and take it into the centre. We thought the conker might symbolise something you are thankful for, or perhaps something you need to let go of. Or you might just enjoy the beauty of it and the feel of it in your hand.
As dusk fell, we lit tea lights in jam jars to illuminate the pathway, and our equinox labyrinth was transformed into a magical pathway of light.
Thank you everyone who came and helped, especially Eve, who showed great skill at pouring the corn for the lines, and Rowan, who worked hard to keep the tea lights lit all through the evening. Brilliant!
Follow the link below to see a stop motion video of us making and lighting this year’s corn labyrinth at Quiet Waters, in Bungay, Suffolk. Thanks everyone who helped! And to Diana Johnson for the camera work. The excellent music is from the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
This year at Cambridge’s Mill Road Winter Fair we enjoyed a clear blue sky, bright winter sun, and crisp cold temperatures. Thanks to everyone who came and helped or just walked (or ran!) the labyrinth. It was lovely to see some people who visited the labyrinth last year return to enjoy it again. I loved walking to the beat of the Arco Iris Samba Band when they passed by in the late afternoon. If you missed it this time – there’s always next year! And do keep an eye on the ‘events’ page for other labyrinth happenings.
A feather banner marks the site of the ‘mindful labyrinth’ for Addenbrooke’s Hospital Mental Health Resilience Week
The temporary sand labyrinth was built on ‘The Oval’, the green space next to the Frank Lee Centre
On the evening of Thursday 9th October we lit the labyrinth with LED tea lights
A charm of goldfinches made a very special ‘fly past’ of this year’s labyrinth at dusk on Thursday. As we watched from the top of the car park, at first they looked like Autumn leaves being blown from the trees. But then they turned and flew back, and we realised they were goldfinches.
This year we also held a labyrinth walk of the cloth ‘pebble’ labyrinth in the hospital chapel on Thursday afternoon. Thanks to everyone who came and helped, and to all the staff and visitors who joined us in walking the labyrinth or trying the wooden Rowan finger labyrinths. Some of these will continue to be available for patients to use on the wards. We hope they will bring a sense of peace and calm into the busy environment of the hospital.
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26th June: a beautiful summer’s day at Ferrar House Retreat Centre, Little Gidding, well known for its association with the poet TS Eliot. Many thanks to Judy Fox for taking care of running the Labyrinth Day for me while I was recovering from an operation, and to Wendy Skirrow for her enthusiasm, hosting the day and looking after everyone so well.
If you came this way,
Taking any route, starting from anywhere,
At any time or at any season,
It would always be the same: you would have to put off
Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,
Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity
Or carry report. You are here to kneel
Where prayer has been valid.
TS Eliot (Little Gidding)
The group made a corn labyrinth on the lawn in front of the house and spent time reflecting and enjoying the natural beauty all around, especially the plentiful bees and butterflies visiting the garden. After lunch the group made the 10 minutes’ walk to Steeple Gidding, where the cloth ‘pebble’ labyrinth was laid out in the beautiful space of Saint Andrew’s Church.
At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement.
And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered.
Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.
TS Eliot (from ‘Burnt Norton’)
What a lovely Bank Holiday weekend we had at Quiet Waters, Bungay in Suffolk a couple of weeks ago! By a happy chance our weekend coincided with the auspicious date of Saturday 3rd May – World Labyrinth Day.
Here are some photos taken by Felicity and Diana over the weekend – there are lots of our beautiful corn labyrinth, of course, but I also love the ‘Pentecostal tulips’ in the chapel – just beautiful.
If you missed the weekend, don’t worry! There are plans for another labyrinth weekend at Quiet Waters, and maybe an Advent labyrinth day, too.
And don’t forget that Quiet Waters welcomes visitors at other times too – as day guests seeking some peace and quiet, or for longer stays. You can find out more at http://quietwaters.org.uk
Woodland pathway
Bird’s eye view of the labyrinth-making
First labyrinth walk
‘First Sunday’ Service and Labyrinth Walk, Quiet Waters
Candlelit labyrinth at nightfall
Sunset over the meadows
‘Pentecostal’ tulips
‘In this place I will give peace’
Kay's Pathway: a labyrinth journey 
