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Quaker Pilgrimage to England
Date to be announced Climb the first Pendle Hill                       Sit in the first Swarthmore Hall                                             Visit the first Lancaster jail                                                                   Meet British Quaker Educators

A remark able opportunity is on the horizon.  Sarah Sweeney-Denham and I are co-leading the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Quaker Pilgrimage to England in June 2008.  We were pilgrims in 2002when the trip was led by Richard and Carol Bernard and we are very excited to return as trip leaders. We are just begriming to make the plans concrete and are accepting tentative reservations. We expect the cost for the 8-day pilgrimage to be in the range of  $1550-$1800 per person. This includes all room and board, local bus travel to historic sites, guides, site entry fees, etc. It does not include airfare.  There will be some financial aid available.  This is a wonderful opportunity for teachers, administrators, and trustees of Friends Schools.

We’ll stay at the Glenthorne Guest House in Grasmere, England, a lovely Quaker conference center in the Lake District. Meals at Glenthorne are hearty and delicious, the hiking trails around the countryside and through the towns are lovely, and the day trips that we take, following the footsteps of George Fox and Margaret Fell and the founding of Quakerism in lush green surroundings, are true experiential learning.  Hiking to the top of Pendle Hill is a highlight.  We hope to invite educators from British Friends schools Ackworth and Bootham to share tea and conversation with us on one afternoon.  

The fee covers 7 nights at the Glenthorne Quaker Guest House in Grasmere, England, a lovely Quaker conference center in the Lake District, the heart of "1652 country."  Check out the Glenthorne web site for photos and more details  www.glenthorne.org .

The pilgrimage dates are Monday, June 17 through Monday June 24, 2008. Participants are free to make their own travel arrangements to and from Glenthorne, arriving in England prior to June 17, or staying after June 24 to explore England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland.  We hope to arrange visits to two of our sister schools, Ackworth and Bootham, immediately following the pilgrimage.  We also hope to invite the heads of Quaker schools to visit us for afternoon tea and dialogue at Glenthorne on one of our Pilgrimage days.

The Quaker Pilgrimage to England is sponsored by Philadelphia Yearly Meeting which invites Friends to share their journey with other PYM Friends in the Lake District and Cumbria where early Quakers explored their own spiritual journeys. There is limited financial aid available for Quaker teachers.

Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Website Map