It was lovely to see old friends and new people at our first Transition Café since the pandemic. Thank you to Zarah Ross, from Faiths4Change for the lovely scouse stew. Zarah will be joining us to support our work each month.
St Peter’s Church quiet garden
Talk by Pam James,
The space for St Peter’s quiet garden in Birkdale was donated in 2006 by the person who was living in the vicarage on the church premises. It was created and maintained by a team of volunteers who between them plant flowers, trees and shrubs and maintain the garden. The national movement is able to provide the ongoing support for this and other quiet gardens that makes this possible.
Pam, one of the volunteers, explained that the Quiet Garden Movement is a network of outdoor spaces and gardens spread across both rural and urban locations worldwide. These outdoor spaces are used for prayer, contemplation, stillness and rest for the spiritual, mental and physical well-being of individuals, groups and communities.
Those involved in the Movement come from a variety of traditions and cultures, and access to outdoor spaces and gardens is available to individuals and communities of all faiths and none. As such, the gardens are found in a variety of settings including private homes, churches, schools, hospitals, community gardens, prisons, retreat centres and woodland burial grounds.
The quiet garden at St Peter’s church in Ainsdale has incorporated a labyrinth design, using a part if the area as a space for walking meditation. In Greek Mythology, Daedalus created the first labyrinth for King Minos of Crete to hold the minator. There is evidence of the typical labyrinth design on coins dating from 430 BC. The labyrinth in St Peters’ church quiet garden is built to this design, having a single route in to the centre, where there is a seat for rest and for contemplation and then a single route out back to the beginning.
The quiet garden search facility enables you to search for a garden in a particular area and view details of the garden including opening times, location, events and contact details. There are four quiet gardens in the Merseyside area that can be found here,
