Yearly Meeting 2024 6-13 July: West Beach, Adelaide SA

REGISTRATIONS HAVE OPENED!  Register here

TIME TO SECURE YOUR SHACK AT WEST BEACH, ADELAIDE

Friends have been eagerly awaiting the next face to face Yearly Meeting and it is on the way! 

Read the latest update, released on 4th March 2024:  here  

View the draft timetable here.  (The timetable will open in Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST). Just under the date at the top, you can alter the time zone to Adelaide time or, if you are planning to join Yearly Meeting online only, then change it to your own time zone). 

For more information go to the website here. This includes information on the program, including the Backhouse lecture, and details of who to contact on different aspects of Yearly Meeting organisation.

Yearly Meeting 2024 in Adelaide and Online

It will be in winter, at the same site as YM17, close to the sand dunes of West Beach with open skies and the sound of the sea.

This will be a Yearly Meeting accessible to all, on-ground or online. Many of the sessions will be hybrid, taking place within the venue and available simultaneously online. Some sessions will run in parallel, with some at the venue and others online.

Accommodation at The Retreat has been reserved for Friends in well-designed, comfortable holiday homes, called Shacks. Some of the Shacks are wheelchair accessible. All have well equipped kitchens which are perfect for self-catering. All have two bedrooms with either one king size bed or two or three single beds. It is possible to register for either a single room, at extra cost, or sharing with one or two others. The shacks are filling up, so please register soon if you would like accommodation. 

The main meeting area where formal sessions will be held is near the western boundary of The Retreat, at the Sea Rescue headquarters. The lounge areas of the shacks will be used as smaller meeting spaces for Friendly School and Share and Tell sessions during the week.

Friends can decide to self-cater, or register for a packed lunch and dinner at the Golf Club near the entrance to The Retreat. The Golf Club will be catering for vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan and diabetic diets. Friends with less usual diets will need to self-cater. Regular trips to the local supermarket at the Burbridge Centre will be organised and Friends may travel on the local bus which stops at the entrance to The Retreat. The local Metro bus is on the route to the airport, about 15 mins away, and to the city.

During the past five years children and young people have missed out on the experience of belonging to the family of Friends at a Yearly Meeting. So we believe that it is important to go out of our way to encourage families to attend this YM24 because the cost of travel to Yearly Meeting for a family is challenging enough. There will be no charge for children or JYFs attending Yearly Meeting 2024. Children and JYFs may stay and share meals at The Retreat free of charge. In addition, we are offering, also free of charge, an exciting camp experience to Junior Young Friends and a Children’s programme for the younger children. This has been made possible with support from the Grace Geraldine Brown bequest and from the Children and Junior Young Friends Committee.

The JYF camp will be at the Woodhouse Activity Centre at Mount Lofty, a venue owned by Scouts SA, from Sunday 7th July and returning to the Retreat on Thursday 11th July. There will be experienced Guides on site as well as the supportive Quaker presence of Tracy Bourne and Andrew Bray who will be in residence. The venue offers lots of challenging activities as well as evenings around a campfire.

The Children’s Programme at The Retreat will be in the spacious Poolside room, in the centre of the Retreat complex, adjacent to an outside play area with a large jumping pillow. It will be staffed by qualified child carers as well as Quaker volunteers. We encourage helpers with the children, to apply for a SA Working with Children check from interstate, here is the link:

https://www.dcsiscreening.sa.gov.au/SCRequestApplicationIndividual

Wednesday, in the middle of Yearly Meeting, will be a rest afternoon There will be a range of excursions available that day, so let the organisers know if you would like to visit a particular venue which is not too distant from The Retreat. The CBD is about 20 minutes away by bus or car and the Adelaide Hills about 30 minutes by car. A mini-bus is available at the venue.

Registration to attend the venue or online is now open. There is a $100 registration fee to attend in person, and a reduced fee for those attending online. We don’t know when Yearly Meeting will be meeting again face to face, so don’t miss out on this special opportunity and register as soon as you can!

If you have any questions about YM24, contact Jo Jordan josephinaj@icloud.com or Topsy Evans  topsy104@icloud.com

See the Yearly Meeting Organising Committee (SA) Report here. 

Registrations: here

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Caption and information for Karkalla image above

This photo features Karkalla growing on the sand dunes at West Beach, the site of Yearly Meeting 2024. Karkalla is the name given to this plant by the Kauna People of the Adelaide Plains and adjacent areas, its botanical name is Carpobrotus rossii. It occurs around Australia’s coast (including Tasmania), and in mallee and saltlake landscapes from Shark Bay to Kaurna Country to Rockhampton, reflecting the wide extent of Quakers in Australia. Can you find out the name given to this plant by the First Nation on whose unceded land you live? Please bring this to Yearly Meeting 2024.

The flowers, fruit and leaves are widely used and eaten by Original Australians. The fruit is left on the plant to mature and sometimes to partly dry. The fresh fleshy leaves are edible, either raw or lightly heated on coals. Besides food fibre and minerals, Karkalla can be a significant source of water, vitamin C and antioxidants. The undiluted juice from a broken leaf soothes itches, insect bites or stings, and burns. The juice of several leaves finely chewed can be used as an oral swish for throat and mouth infections.  

 Photo: Harald Ehmann

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