CRES day conference - 12th Nov. 2011

CRES is a distance learning course, but we also like to meet together. We are based at Ripon College, Cuddesdon nr. Oxford, and have three meetings there a year. This report on the day conference on 12th Nov. 2011 is the first meeting of this academic year. People started to arrive at around 10.00am and we had coffee together in the lounge. Martin Hodson (Principal Tutor of CRES) gathered the students, tutors and speakers together (18 in total) and we had a time of introductions. Our first speaker was Bishop Stephen Pickard (Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Adelaide, Australia) on “Multi-Parish Benefices: here to stay or signs of a church in transition?” He was a very engaging speaker and it was difficult to stop the questions afterwards! We then split into two groups when John Reader led a further discussion with Bishop Stephen, and Martin Hodson explained the running of the course to the new students and tutors. We then had a group photo before lunch under the famous Cuddesdon beech tree. Lunch was taken in the atmospheric Cuddesdon dining hall. Dr. David Robinson (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bangor) was our afternoon speaker on “Soils and their link to ecosystem services”. Totally different to the morning, but really good, and invoked more lively questioning! Martin Hodson then gave an update on recent news and upcoming events. We ended with a short service led by John Whitehead. Then it was tea and we all made our way home! A truly excellent day. More photos are on Facebook (you need to register to see them!)