WGYF - a year on....

"I sing for joy at the work of your hands,
Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in you."

Even just typing that brings a lump to my throat and the tears are welling up as I remember the last morning at WGYF singing that song holding hands between Eleni and Thomas. We'd done it, it was almost over... at least the Lancaster part was.

WGYF Lancaster 2005 started a year ago today. Well the event officially did, it's conception was 5 years earlier. Even in terms of us gathering in Lancaster a good number of us had started arriving 5 days beforehand; to set up, produce nametags, allocate rooms (yet again...). put together welcome packs and the signage we needed and an inordinate amount of other tasks that seemed to multiply each time we turned our back on the list for 5 minutes.

Whilst in no way could I describe WGYF as 'my baby' having come in on the act just 18 months before it happened it was very much my life from that point onwards. I felt at times as though my life didn't really exist beyond it and I really valued the times spent sitting on the floor playing with my godson and his little brother or reading them bedtime stories to remind me that there was another world out there! However I don't think I could have done it any differently - being WGYF administrator wasn't so much a job as a vocation, a way of life, good preparation for becoming a Resident Friend....

Many participants have spoken about WGYF being a life-changing event, for many of us on the various planning committees it was as much the process as the event itself that had the impact. I have no doubt whatsoever that the line in the mission statement about creating the next generation of Quaker leaders (in whatever sense you wish to interpret that) will come to bear fruit. I think of the difficulties we overcame (and those we didn't) and the way they were handled; the skills developed in clerking, eldership (in the liberal tradition sense of the word), pastoral care; translation; working together on committees under extreme pressure and over vast geographical distances; fundraising; the report, preparation material and grant application writing. The practical lessons we learned in terms of large event planning and management; the spiritual lessons learned in terms of discerning (sorry simon!) a way forward again, and again, and again....

I recently came across John's photos from the Kenya WGYF (pages and pages of wedding photos and then up pops a rhino!), seeing the familiar faces of the Lancaster participants there and knowing that the spirit of the the gathering was passed on through them was something really special. Each time I see [wgyf] in the subject line of my inbox I know too that the community we created has continued.

We have been there for each other through marriages and deaths, natural and human disasters, celebrations of life and shared our fears for the future. We have shared our experiences, our hopes and dreams. We've networked, arranged to visit physically and 'meet' virtually.

I know too that our reporting back has touched the lives of others, the way it has affected the life choices of many of us and the way we've lived our lives and made decisions since has also reached many others. WGYF was always about more than just those of us who got to Lancaster for those 9 days, it was about Quakers around the world being brought together, being united in seeking unity with and acceptance from each other regardless of our many and varied differences.

Was it a success? Can we justify the vast expense? These questions have been asked many times in many places, maybe it's too soon to tell, but maybe it's not....