The weather did not look at all promising on the morning we were due to start the CRES residential. In southern England, it was tipping it down! However, over 20 students and tutors made it to Ripon College Cuddesdon for the annual residential meeting. After coffee, we began with introductions to the weekend, to each other, and to the field trip. Every year we try to find a new field trip, and this year we visited D’Oyleys Farm, a regenerative farm only a short distance from Cuddesdon. Phil White, the farmer, had sent ahead a video describing their work. We arrived at the farm and were immediately welcomed with tea and cakes prepared by Phil’s mother. The family was incredibly welcoming! Phil and his wife, Fi, then took us on a walking tour of the farm. Miraculously, the weather had improved, and it was dry and reasonably warm. The farm had only recently switched from conventional to regenerative farming, and Phil described the challenges in doing this. The soil is the key, and we looked at several examples of topsoil from various locations in the farm. Now the farm is concentrating on cattle and cereals. Lots to think about! We ended with more tea and cakes(!), before returning to Cuddesdon in time for dinner.
Over the weekend we had five student presentations with a wide range of topics: a local church living more sustainably; a biblical, values-driven economic model and care of creation; the footprint of the clothing industry; Indigenous communities in areas with rapid language and biodiversity loss; and the instrumental and intrinsic valuations of nature. They were excellent! We have a tradition of asking our local tutors to lead worship in the chapel and David Gould led us in the evening with Charlotte Jackson in the morning
Following the Examiner’s Meeting our external examiner, Prof. Christopher Southgate, made some brief and very positive comments about the course, and announced that all five students had passed. We have now had 61 CRES graduates in total. That is 56 certificates (22 with distinction) and 5 diplomas (1 distinction). Five graduates are from outside the UK (Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Argentina, DR Congo). One moved to the UK from Hong Kong during his time with us. The first graduates were in 2005, so we have had 20 cohorts so far. The average is now just over 3 graduates a year! Well done to all our graduates!
Before lunch on Saturday Margot Hodson led us in a very interesting session on “Eschatology and the Environment”. This generated a lot of discussion! After lunch we packed up and left Cuddesdon. Thanks once again to all the staff there who made us very welcome. And thanks to our students, tutors, steering group and everyone who made it such a good weekend!
Collage (top left, clockwise): Five graduates; barn filled with grain; Ray with Tractor the horse; Phil describing the soil; and our group on the farm walk.