Network for Social Change Conferences
The Network for Social Change conferences are where we carry out our main funding work and share our skills, passions and dilemmas.We meet in February and September/October, from a Thursday evening to Sunday midday. Past venues have included Buckland Hall in Wales and Trafford Hall near Chester as well as small hotels.
The conferences are divided between meetings and presentations to do with our group funding activities, and structured sessions which address our personal development and financial strategies, or which focus on decisions about the Network's policy and direction. Decisions are made in an open and co-operative manner, and meetings are run in ways which encourage self-confidence and mutual responsibility.
Many parents attend with their children and quality childcare is provided, with, as far as possible, the same staff from conference to conference. There are some activities for both children and adults.
In between conferences a number of sub-groups meet and some smaller events are run. Annual 'Guardians' weekends act as a form of think-tank, offering opportunities for members to sound out new directions for the organisation.
"Conferences provide space and time to have a relaxing, reflective time."
“Conferences: meeting friends, discussing stuff, dancing, joking, being inspired and occasionally frustrated.....I am always invigorated by them, and deeply grateful for the friendships formed there”
A note about venues:
This is an ongoing contradiction within the Network. Conferences are not cheap, and it can feel like a serious contradiction for each person to spend around £300+ on a long weekend away (including all food, use of meeting rooms, bar bill, etc) when we are all thinking about inequity and injustice. But Network includes members of all ages, and from all kinds of backgrounds. Camping somewhere would be fine for most, but not for some because of age, infirmity or fear of spiders. Equally some might be happy to go abroad to a wonderful resort, but most would not! So at best we seek a reasonably priced, reasonably comfortable compromise in the hope that as many members as possible will feel happy to attend. We try to range between places that are run as training centres for other organisations like trade unions, or VSO, or alternative centres, or privately owned, non corporate type hotels where we usually get exclusive or near exclusive use. Finally, we look for places with an environmental policy, and helpful staff, hoping that their thoughtful treatment of us correlates at least in part to the management for whom they work. We are always looking for new venues, so if you know of one which will take around 80+ people, please let us know about it.