“Of all the Baha'i events I have attended in the ten years since I declared, it was one of the most enjoyable I have been to.” A participant at NI Summer School 2006
Blue sky, brilliant sunshine, old friends, new faces, inspiring talks and devotionals, laughter, good food, interesting facts, singing, fun, Val‘s wonderful dramatic presentations – these are a few vivid memories of Northern Ireland’s Bahá’í Summer School 2006 - what a start to the Five Year Plan. Monday 17 July saw us gathering at Lorne once again in anticipation of a great week (we were not disappointed). This year we welcomed participants from Canada, Hong Kong, Poland, Israel and Spain as well as other areas of the U.K. and Ireland.
Most of our speakers had spoken in Northern Ireland before, but we had one newcomer, Dan Wheatley. Dan is “our man at Westminster”, someone who is very much involved in external affairs and government relations, and the All-Party Parliamentary Group “Friends of the Bahá'ís”. He gave very interesting talks on the Bahá’í Faith and the work involving the wider community and its structures.
Speakers, clockwise from top left:
Eddie Whiteside, Bahá’í Council for Northern Ireland
Pat Irvine, Bahá’í Council for Northern Ireland
Dr Sepideh Taheri, Edinburgh
Other topics covered during the week included “Joy in Teaching”, “Woman’s Role in the New World Order”, “One Common Faith”, “Our Irish Bahá’í Heritage” and “The Concourse on High”. Val McGinley’s dramatic presentations deserve a special mention. She did two; one on The Greatest Holy Leaf and the other on Leroy Ioas They were very moving. The Bahá'í Council for Northern Ireland and the Arts Committee also took sessions.
Val McGinley (from Tralee) gave a fascinating and moving monologue presentation on life in the household of the Greaest Hooly Leaf
The junior youth, the youth and the children had their own sessions. The children also had two trips out, one to a sweet factory and the other to an open farm, as well as a fascinating visit from the Owl Man. Each day we also had an hour for the arts. We had a choice of various things to do including freestyle crochet, choir singing, painting, yoga and Tai Chi. One afternoon the One World Cup (junior & senior) football tournament was held – ending the week with several people on crutches!
We had our usual fundraising time. Colin’s hair got the chop and raised over £100. The children had made book marks as part of their class which they sold. The crochet project was also sold, prayer beads and Greatest Names were on sale and at one table you could have your nails painted, all to raise money for the Fund. The School raised a record sum for the National Fund and the World Centre Endowment Fund, almost £900 in total.
Just some of the participants of all ages at the Northern Ireland Bahá’í Summer School 2006
Part of the evenings were given over to fun – two quizzes (one general, one Bahá’í), learning dancing, and a campfire with music as well as our traditional last night entertainment. As usual the last night entertainment included a wide range of “acts” and all ages -from the very young to old age pensioners were involved. It is amazing the talent within the community here in Northern Ireland Late on in the evenings some of our speakers took part in “Stories in the sitting room with ….” A more light-hearted learning experience.
The weather at the start of the week was beautiful though it turned cooler later on. I am told there was also a spectacular thunder storm in the middle of Wednesday night, I can’t confirm it as I slept through it. I’ve been told that several of the campers woke up to waterlogged shoes – having left them outside the tent at night.
Clockwise from top left:
The occasional (and it was occasional) rain did not deter the hardcore Tai Chi fans
No, it doesn’t rain all the time in Northern Ireland. The wide range of activities included yoga which, like many things these was held under canvas (or in the open air) because of the brilliant Summer weather.
The ad-hoc choir performs for the School, and we expect to hear more of them in the future.
The staff at Lorne kept us well fed most of the time and Claire was also there in the tuck shop to provide for us in between meals! A big thank you to the committee – Negin, John and Iain - for a very enjoyable school and to all those took sessions, children’s classes, oversaw activities or the technical side of things, and otherwise made sure that the School was the success it was.
ECP
"Every time I come to Northern Ireland I feel I should visit more often. The two days I spent at Summer School intensified that feeling. But as short as the visit was, it was tremendous to see old friends and to make new ones, to engage in deep discussions about matters of great importance, and to meet the excellent youth. The best bit of all was being a member of the winning quiz team!" (Barney Leith)
“In times of global strife and division, any one wishing to find a vision of a better future for humankind should travel to Northern Ireland in the third week of July. The Northern Ireland Bahá'í Summer School is perhaps one of the finest examples of life in a Bahá'í culture. Bahá'u'lláh's writings speak of ‘a new race of men’. At Lorne I watched a beautiful blend of humanity from across the generations, of different races, as they learned, sang and celebrated together, inspired by the Word of God for this age. It left me with an idea of what this new race of humanity might look like. And it looked very hopeful.” (Dan Wheatley)
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