My first CPW: Whithaugh Park, August 2025
CPW Whithaugh 9-16 August 2025. ‘Where is God in the climate crisis?’
Ewa had been encouraging me since Christmas. “You must come to a Catholic People’s Week. We have been going for years, and I know you will love it”. I tried every excuse: time, money, a knee operation but all to no avail. Each excuse was turned back with a calm solution. So, it was with some trepidation on a bright Saturday in early August, that we began the long trip from Southampton to Newcastleton, a village in the Scottish Borders.
Luckily, I was chauffeured all the way by Andre and Ewa. For six hours, we cruised through England by motorway and service station, finally moving on to country roads at Carlisle for the final 24 miles to Whithaugh Park. Our pilgrimage centre doubled as adventure playground, situated among the forest and rivers of the borders with its mountain bike tracks and log cabins.
You know immediately when you have made the right decision. There was something so friendly and enthusiastic about the greeting we received from the young people gathered to welcome us outside the CPW hall which was to serve as our dining room, lecture theatre, chapel, concert hall and bar. The smiles on their faces matched the quiet beauty of the location and I was immediately sure this would be a good place to contemplate the presence of God in nature, climate in my own life, and in the gift of this new community.
We were shown to our log cabin which I shared with Andre and Ewa and three of the younger helpers. My room was spare, but it had a sturdy bunkbed and since I had the luxury of single-occupancy, I chose the lower bunk and settled in. I noted with some relief each room had a bathroom on the other side of the corridor and a good shower which produced a strong stream of hot water and made a noise that would have frightened the wildlife for miles around.
We returned to the central hall for evening prayer, a short orientation and excellent dinner. Esther, our chef, prepared wonderful food for us all week long. Each recipe had been perfected on her husband over the preceding months, and he did not seem to mind at all!
We settled into a relaxing routine on Sunday. The day started with morning prayer, breakfast and a thought-provoking talk on one of the many aspects of the climate crisis and our Christian response to it. The group of about 30 straddled all ages. The very young children escaped, supervised by the fine body of student helpers, who managed to work off some of their natural energy before returning them to their parent or grandparent at the end of a talk. The rest of us just enjoyed the material.
What became immediately clear was how much outstanding work had gone into the preparing this week. Mari and her team had spared no efforts to organise good speakers and a wide variety of stimulating material in terms of newspaper cuttings, artwork, books, poetry and pamphlets. Hats off to this heroic effort and to Philip Larkin.
We were encouraged all week by our Chaplain, Tim, to step up to the plate in terms of arranging the liturgies, taking an active role in realising the liturgies and organising prayer sessions. What a joy to have a priest who could lead with such a light but deft touch. I particularly enjoyed the Masses in the Sports Hall and the music provided by all ages. Not so much a church band but a symphony orchestra with woodwind, brass and strings, a veritable spiritual Prom. What is not to like about a Mass in which the kiss of peace, is not just a cursory nod but a genuine exchange and a warmed hearted acknowledgement of new friends that might last five minutes. It was so good to have communion under both kinds again.
The week was punctuated by a variety of interesting excursions. These included our trip to picnic by the riverside at Langholm and our visit to Tarras Valley, the peat moor above the town. I also enjoyed a quiet pint in the Liddesdale Hotel in Newcastleton and Andre, Ewa and I made a trip to Carlisle Castle and the Roman Fort at Housesteads on Hadrian’s Wall. Returning from the Wall on Wednesday evening we had a classy barbeque in a clearing near the main hut. I cooked my socks off that evening, and I was so tired that I slept through the wonderful astronomical viewing organised by the Kielder Observatory. I never saw the moon, but I certainly dreamed of it.
Some personal highlights decorated my week. Quite by chance I met Eileen Reynolds from my old family parish in Southeast London. It was wonderful to catch-up and exchange stories and memories of old friends and old priests and to share how are lives were still developing as we aged gracefully. What a small world! I made many new friends, and I think particularly of sharing common experiences of India with Rose, David and their mum Jean, and of long discussions with Bill on the state of our Church. On the days when we did not have a group liturgy, Tim said mass before breakfast on a picnic bench in the heart of the natural world that we had come to explore, simple but so rewarding. Finally, it was a while since I had swum in a heated pool. My knee had been quite sore during the week and the pleasure of stepping into the water and floating away was not to be underestimated. It mirrored the sense of being lifted by the wonderful group of interesting and talented people that that I met at CPW.
A great event ended with the Friday Concert, young and old shared their talent and enthusiasm as well as their happiness with a final toast to the week. After a long goodbye on Saturday morning, I sat back in the car, as Andre drove south, and mused on just how lucky I had been that Ewa had insisted and that I had finally discovered CPW.
Dominic Tildesley