At the beginning of 2023 the UK leadership team started discussions on how the WCCM in the UK might look going forward. We wanted to address the many changes that had taken place over recent years and reshape the community to better support all meditators in the UK.
In November 2023, a proposal was presented to the National Council meeting and with a few amendments accepted. If you look back to pages 3 and 4 of the January 2024 Newsletter you can read the key points, which focus on a more team based approach, making best use of technology, going back to basics and with a renewed emphasis on the School.
The plan included working with every region to see how the new role of Area Team member might be incorporated with a view to combining some regions into new Areas. Birgit Duncan (NE London Coordinator) and Pat Higgins (S. Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside Coordinator) accepted the new roles of Area Liaison and the three of us met in January to agree how to start. With 34 regions we divided the responsibility for contacting everyone between ourselves meeting regularly to share progress.
We knew when we started that this would be a challenge and time consuming and it was probably just as well that we underestimated both. There were regions with very active Coordinators, some with Coordinators who really wanted to step down, others with Contacts, and those with no Coordinators where we had to contact all the group leaders.
We talked with Coordinators who were happy as things were and apart from a new title, where things were working well, there was no need for anything to change. We came across Coordinators who felt isolated and felt that joining forces with another region would give them new enthusiasm. We found group leaders and others who were enthusiastic to step up to new roles. A by-product was discovering meditation groups which we had no idea existed. We also encountered resistance and apathy.
The resistance was often around the idea that there would be more meetings with a team approach and to some extent that is inevitable, but meetings can build enthusiasm and allow ideas to be shared. The idea of combining regions caused concern that there would be a need to travel huge distances, but with the technology we now have, this is not necessary even though it may be preferable. And there was the question of leadership with a team approach to be balanced against the power of shared responsibility.
Despite some difficult conversations we have come through and after a rather appropriate 9 months time period listed on page 11 you can see our new Area Teams and our new Area Team members (the word region will be dropped). Going forward we envisage a more fluid approach, with new Area Team members being invited as appropriate and with the option to create new Areas if that is what adjoining Area Teams would like. After all the months of hard work, while we haven’t ended up with a new structure that is anything like the plan we started with, it doesn’t matter if we have achieved something that works. All group leaders now have the support of an Area Team member and all enquirers who are looking to find or set up a group can easily make contact with someone. A big thank you to Pat and Birgit as I think we demonstrated beyond doubt the value of working as a team in the support that we were able to offer one another. And I sincerely hope that the changes that have been made will be the start of many new fruitful working relationships which will benefit every member of our community.
Many thanks to all the Regional Coordinators/Contacts who have offered service to the WCCM in the UK and have now stepped down:
- Kathleen Freeman (Hampshire)
- Mark Ball (Kent)
- Caroline Shepherd (Cambridgeshire)
- Val Hilsley (Essex)
- Margaret Comerford (Suffolk)
- Carmel Cannon (Yorkshire & Lincolnshire)
- Diana Hanbury (Devon)
- Denise Leigh (Wiltshire)
And a very warm welcome to those who are stepping up to join our existing Regional Coordinators and Contacts to form Area Teams:
- Pat Hay (Scotland)
- Jan Bundy (Scotland)
- Margaret Kay (Scotland)
- Fiona Kernohan (Scotland)
- Penelope Weston (Wales)
- Sarah Feeney (Berkshire, Buckinghams, Oxford, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire)
- Glenda Gardiner (Dorset, Hampshire and Channel Islands)
- Susan Oakes (Kent & Surrey)
- Mark Fagg (Kent & Surrey)
- Sharon Francis (Kent & Surrey)
- Alison Whittle (Cambridgeshire & Norfolk)
- Eilish Storey (Cambridgeshire & Norfolk)
- Valerie Quinlivan (Essex & Suffolk)
- Jane Mann (Essex & Suffolk)
- Vivien Proctor-Parr (Staffordshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, West Midlands and Warickshire)
- Clare Benions (Bristol & Bath)
- John Rhodes (Devon)
- Chris Blanchard (Gloustershire & Worcestershire)
- Paul Batson (Wiltshire)
- Chris Cox (Wiltshire)
- Gabriel Jones (London)
- Mary Howley (London)
Love to you all
Julie Roberts
National Liaison WCCM in the UK