Heart of London Sangha Retreat - May 2025

Dear Friends

You are warmly invited to our 4-day retreat organised by members of the London Sanghas on the theme INTERBEING. All are welcome.

This will be a wonderful opportunity to slow down, to deepen our practice and to get to know each other better.

The retreat will be lead by Dene Donalds, one of our most experienced UK Dharma Teachers, supported by two trainee Dharma Teachers, Anthony Leete and Lorraine Sherman.

We hope that you can join us!

Schedule

Thu 22 May
4:00 PM Onward — Arrive
6:00 PM — Evening meal and retreat starts

Mon 26 May
3:00 PM — Depart

Location

Park Place is a fine old Georgian House, set in 18 acres of beautiful grounds. It is close to the Hampshire village of Wickham. This idyllic rural English Manor, is a home to a small community of Roman Catholic Franciscan Nuns who run the Pastoral Centre, for people of all ages, backgrounds and beliefs, who are interested in spiritual matters.

Direct trains run from London to Fareham plus a short run in a taxi.

Accommodation

All accommodation at Park Place is in comfortable single or twin rooms. The majority of rooms are en-suite, while standard rooms have a hand basin and a shared bathroom.

Diet

All food will be VEGAN. You can let us know if you have other essential dietary requirements when booking.

Cost

We have aimed to make this retreat as affordable as possible. The retreat is organised entirely by volunteers. All the payments go to cover the cost of accommodation and catering for participants, visiting Dharma Teachers and towards supported places. If there is any surplus, it will go towards supporting our sanghas to continue running.

Supported places

The supported places on this retreat are intended for people who have been regularly attending Heart of London Sangha for at least one year, and who are in receipt of state benefit or who are in financial difficulty.

Support towards the cost of your retreat may be possible, up to a maximum of 50%, although we expect requests to be for smaller amounts, so we can help more people to attend. Requests will be considered in the order we receive them until the allocated funds are used up.

To request a supported place, please email events@hols.org.uk and let us know what you could afford.

Refund Policy

We can offer a full refund up to one month before the retreat starts (so before 26 April). After that no refunds will be possible.

Dharma Sharing groups and Affinity groups

To clarify the difference:

— Dharma Sharing is a traditional Plum Village practice, which we take part in at all our meetings and retreats.

One of the Dharma Sharing groups will be designated for practitioners who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) or mixed heritage. Practitioners who identify with this group may choose to join this Dharma Sharing group.

— Affinity Groups are additional opportunities to meet other practitioners with whom you identify, to have a place to talk about shared issues.

There will be two opportunities during the retreat to meet with an Affinity Group. The likely Affinity Groups will be: Rainbow, BIPOC, Neurodivergent, and perhaps more, depending on needs and availability. You can join two different Affinity Groups across the days if you wish.

You can let us know of your interest in the BIPOC Dharma Sharing Group, or specific Affinity Groups, either when booking or at the retreat. 

Wellbeing

Please let us know when booking if you have any particular needs or requirements, and your thoughts on how we can support you. We will keep your information confidential to the organising team and Dharma Teachers, unless you would prefer otherwise.

Accessibility

Most areas in the venue are accessible to disabled people, however the Dharma Hall is situated on the 1st floor and. Unfortunately, although there is a stair lift, this is sometimes out of order. In such situations help to get to the Dharma Hall can be provided.

Regarding accommodation, there are 4 wheelchair accessible rooms with shower/toilet shared between each pair of rooms. These will be offered upon request and on an as needed basis.

For retreatants who would prefer not to join the outdoor walking meditation, an alternative more accessible practice will be offered. If you have any questions regarding accessibility please contact anthony.leete @live.co.uk

Sample Schedule

An example of the type of schedule we shall use for the retreat can be found here.

Contact Us

 For general questions about the retreat please email events@hols.org.uk