WELCOME

THIS IS A ‘NO FRILLS’ VERSION OF OUR WINTER 2004 NEWSLETTER

We may produce another towards the end of 2004 / beginning 2005. The newsletter is written for our guests and the many friends of The Quinta. It is hoped that it is interesting and thought provoking. Any passing net surfer is welcome to look in but please remember the context, purpose and intended readership of the Newsletter. You are welcome to contact us.
If you want a hard copy please email the centre admin@quinta.org

In this edition: (just scroll through)

1. THE CHALLENGE OF THE FUTURE Peter Bevington writes about the issues facing the centre

• New school holidays
• Quinta Hall
• Resources
• Finance
• Wider horizons

2. Q.E.D. (Quinta Education Department) Martin Yates writes about 2004

3. JOB ADVERT - we need another person in the Maintenance Team

4. www.life-online.org - part of a project launched at Quinta in 2003

5. NEWS IN BRIEF - our news headlines

1. THE CHALLENGE OF THE FUTURE

According to scripture the future is a very mixed bag! Whilst we are given all sorts of snippets, we are told that there is much we don’t know, cannot imagine or understand. The over-riding message is God’s sovereign control of events. We are promised God’s presence and guidance. We are urged not to worry but we are also advised to be wise and discerning. This news letter has a deliberate focus on the future and a few of the immediate challenges we face at Quinta.

NEW SCHOOL HOLIDAYS
For years there has been debate. Now something is happening. At the moment this appears to be only marginal. From September 2005 at least 25 local authorities have agreed in principle to adopt a Standard School Year.
The dates to December 2006 are as follows:

Mon Sept 5th – Fri Oct 21st (2005)
Thurs Nov 3rd - Tues Dec 20th
Wed Jan 4th (2006) – Fri Feb 10th
Mon 20th Feb – Fri 31st Mar *
Tues 18th April – Fri 26th May
Mon 5th June – Fri 21st July
Mon 4th Sept – Fri 20th Oct
Thus 2nd Nov – Tues 19th Dec

*Easter Day is Sunday 16th April

Find out more about this on the web site. www.lga.gov.uk. From their home page, go to the site map. There, under Education, click on “Standard School Year”. These changes are minimal. Only in 2008 would Easter be in term time. In 2006 Easter is the last weekend of the proposed holiday.

The standard school year expands the October half term to two weeks, albeit in the form of two bits of two weeks and one complete week. This is the most significant difference for Christian residential ministry. It gives more potential for group holidays: a full week or extended weekends. It is also helpful to see a clean six weeks in the summer holidays rather than five and two bits. We would encourage you to think through these small changes to see whether you can exploit them. You will need to research your own local authority as at the moment only a significant minority are adopting this. Shropshire, for example, look as though they are not. However apart from October their other dates are nearly identical.

QUINTA HALL
Two years ago we announced the intention to make changes to Quinta Hall. We fumbled around conscious of several short-comings. The more we looked at it, the more we realised we could not tinker around at the edges. We needed a concept for the future of the whole building. Contact was established with Mike Matthews, a Christian architect who has used Quinta Hall as a guest. He took our ideas several stages further forward. We are thrilled with result: a concept involving several phases of development over a decade.

The trustees have been very supportive. They have not been blown away by the largest buildings development proposal in the group’s history. They authorised a start on Phase One. We have planning permission for the complete project subject to the solution of a water supply problem to the locality which is being examined. This will not affect the completion and use of Phase One providing we do not expand the present bed capacity of Quinta Hall. An outline of the proposals is below. This will give you an idea of the big picture.

QUINTA HALL PLANS

Preliminary work 2003 This involved getting ready for phase one. It included new bedrooms on second and ground floor: all these creating the additional space within the building for us to develop other parts without reducing our capacity.

• new shower / toilets between West and East Wings done
• new bedrooms on the second floor done except washbasin room 3
• new en-suite ground floor rooms for elderly / disabled almost complete
• new over-flow car-parking area for Quinta Hall done except lighting
• re-location of West Wing fire-escape completed

Phase One 2003-4 to early 2005 This is about filling in the courtyard between the meeting room and the dining room

• extension of meeting room into adjacent courtyard started
• new bedroom and shower/toilet facilities above
• removal of West Wing showers and toilets and replacement new bedrooms

Other work sometime / as we go This has already begun with major upgrades of electrical services. In time we shall tackle hot water and heating services and the fire – alarm system

• Major upgrade of services and utilities
• Opening of extensive cellarage for guest use

Phase Two 2006-8? This involves filling the kitchen courtyard leading to a substantial re-arrangement of kitchen, dining and ground floor toilet facilities.

• new dining room in kitchen courtyard
• lift access to 1st & 2nd floors
• first floor connection between North and West Wings
• move kitchen to old dining room area
• new toilets in old kitchen area

Phase Three 2010 & beyond ? This is not only the stuff of dreams but a logical finish to the grand scheme – time will tell!

• replace some flat roofs with pitched roofs containing more rooms – include a lift to all floors

RESOURCES
Improving the rooms is only part of the process. In our March 2001 Newsletter I highlighted the issue of future energy supply. The rate of new discoveries worldwide no longer matches the depletion of known reserves. It was reported recently that the UK became a net importer of oil again. Shell has revised downward estimates of future reserves by 20%.

Like a number of other charities we purchase gas through the OGC (Office of Government Commerce). They wrote in the autumn “UK’s energy markets have been subject to price volatility … with gas prices rising beyond all expectation. ……. The volatility of the gas market and its dependence on many external influences make future predictions difficult to quantify.” The current situation may continue for a number of years but sooner or later, at the latest by 2020, we will all wake up to an economic environment where we no longer have the cheap abundant energy that has driven our prosperity.

This has massive implications for our ministry and behind all our building plans lies the big question – how can we possibly make a building like Quinta Hall energy efficient? What should we do as we make major changes? Visitors don’t have to be told that we start from the back foot. While some rooms boil, others remain cool. ‘Efficiency’ is a joke. If there is a technology whiz kid or even a refined and experienced heating engineer out there who would like to advise us – please get in touch! With a building project that will last ten years all this becomes today’s problem.

FINANCE
Quinta is self-financing. The work we have begun on Quinta Hall will be financially challenging - a great euphemism to cover all that is involved! This is why we shall do it phase by phase over many years. Developing Quinta over the years has always been a great balancing act between the absolutely essential and the absolutely vital. All along we have to neglect one area to concentrate on another. We shall continue in this struggle and pray that we do not make too many wrong choices!

WIDER HORIZONS
Quinta is part of a group of Christian centres. In the 1960’s John Rosser led teams of students and young people on evangelistic ‘Treks’ to Ireland. This work grew and they hired Ogsdon Hall in Derbyshire for training purposes. It was sublet for conference groups. There are many tales to tell from these days but the work in Ireland diminished and the conference ministry grew. Cloverley Hall opened in 1968. Later the trust was asked to open a centre in Northern Ireland. Castlewellan Castle was leased from the Forestry Commission in 1975. In 1985 the trust became the new trustees of The Quinta and in 1995 Herne Bay Court merged with the group.

John Rosser was both Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer throughout this time. He is now retiring as CEO. Peter Bevington is going to incorporate the part time CEO role into his work as Quinta Centre Manager. The centres run fairly independently. They are all very different in character. So much change and regulation has affected us all over recent years and Christian residential work is not easy at the best of times. It will be a challenge to move forward into a new era with renewed vision and purpose.

2. Q.E.D. (Quinta Education Department)

MARTIN YATES WRITES
A primary school from a near by village came for a 3-day residential focusing on arts-based activities. The title I gave to their programme of workshops was, “All Things Bright and Beautiful”. We focused on brightness and beauty in creation, and in our own character – particularly thinking about the fruit of the Spirit. The main focus of their work was to produce a series of striking, semi-abstract hangings/banners based on their observational drawings from nature, each one including the name of a different fruit of the Spirit – the finished artwork was 8ft. high by 32ft. long.

The pupils and staff were very excited about the finished results. The work has since been exhibited in the school, at the Memorial Hall in Oswestry and at the Three-Counties Show. The work has opened opportunities to share something of the meaning and significance of the fruit of the Spirit for Christians, as the way to be “bright and beautiful” for God – I was also involved in a follow-up assembly for the whole school and for friends and family of the pupils who’d visited Quinta.

It was encouraging to have a conversation with the head teacher who acknowledged the difficulties of an unbeliever, in presenting the Bible and Christian teaching in school, and who also commented on the “naturalness” with which I, as a believer, had been able to share Christian things with his pupils.

Another school group took home 10 huge banners (8ftx4ft) reinforcing positive values and attitudes. One banner had as its centrepiece a verse from Proverbs – “A happy heart gives a cheerful face” – this was included by a Christian girl, and it was immediately accepted by the other youngsters she was working with – sometimes you sense something of the Spirit of God in such beautiful moments.

MY JOURNEY
After an evening session where I gave a presentation called ‘My Journey’ one of the girls asked me if I was a ‘100% Christian’ and we had a conversation about what it meant to be a committed Christian - she went away with some thinking to do and intending to go to a local church she described as being for 100% Christians! The following day, completely unprompted, she created an image of a man on a cross surrounded by a heart and included it on the banner she was making with others. I sensed that she was beginning to respond to God’s love…

Christmas Present

Can I offer you the chance this Christmas,
To unwrap some meaning from it all;
To look beyond the helpless child,
The baby Jesus meek and mild.

Can I offer you the chance this Christmas
To open up the gift of your mind,
To give your spirit breathing space,
To take some time to stand and stare,
Visit a church, say a prayer,
Take a Bible off a shelf,
Or talk to someone you know
Who knows Jesus for themself.

And can I offer you the chance this Christmas,
The chance, to get to know him too;
You could – you never know;
This Jesus who came to our screwed-up planet
About two-thousand years ago;
Who brought heaven to earth to show us how
To share his peace in the here and now;
This Jesus who says he’ll be back again,
To bring eternal peace, God knows when.

This poem, written by Martin, featured in the Christmas assemblies taken by Martin and the
Oswestry & District Christian Schools’ Worker at Rhyn Park, our local secondary school

3. QUINTA MAINTENANCE TEAM

We are looking for someone else to join the team. With the development work, a very busy site and changes precipitated by Peter taking further responsibility, we need another member of staff. We can offer loads of work, a real challenge and a chance to make a valuable contribution to the ministry of The Quinta. This non-residential vacancy might suit a number of people. For example: someone younger willing to accept training or someone older and more skilled who would like to change direction. Electrical skills, grounds work, painting and decorating are particular areas we are interested in—but we will look at anyone who is fit, reliable, committed and conscientious. An ability to drive and use a variety of machinery is essential. Full details should be available by mid-February but phone straight-away if this interests you. ( 01691 773696)

4. WWW.LIFE-ONLINE.ORG

“Welcome to life-online.org where we are passionate about life.”

‘Passion’ is a word we use on our bookmark and it is good to see it feature in the first sentence on this new web-site. A bit more passion in our faith would not go amiss! The web-site is all part the project to circulate copies of “Life” to students throughout the UK and further afield. “Life” is a user friendly edition of John’s Gospel. The record-breaking student Forum Conference here at Quinta in September saw the launch of this. Please pray for the students and for the distribution of “Life”.

The students and UCCF staff took a collection at the conference so that “Life” gospels could be distributed to students in Nigeria and Burundi. We were humbled by the amount they gave: £12,000. If we and all our guests followed the example of these students this year…. at least £140,000 would be raised! Why don’t you visit the web site for yourself and tell others about it!

5. NEWS IN BRIEF
Another hugely successful bonfire and firework display again raised money for a village organisation — this year £600 for the re-development of the Parish Church. Whilst on the subject: guests doing their own firework display must be insured and give us a week’s notice so we can warn livestock owners.

CCI: Peter has finished his elected term of office on the Council. The CCI web site is enormously successful. It is the place to go to look for Christian Holiday venues for your family. You use the CCI Venue-Finding service if Quinta is full and you can’t get in! A new membership scheme for churches is being introduced shortly and all the Key Resource sheets have been revised. So if you want to learn more about a whole range of important topics relevant to taking groups away from insurance to the use of mini-buses you can order these on-line at www.cci.org.uk.

Our own web site www.quinta.org is being well used. We now average well over 100 new visitors a month. Apart from new enquirers we suspect the Quinta bookmark which every resident guest is now given also reminds people to take a look. We are pleased with the bookmark which captures something of the Spirit of The Quinta. We hope that many people will use it in their Bibles and it will remind them to pray for the work of the Centre.

The Quinta Team-Building Course: Several groups now have leaders who are trained to use this course. Folk of all ages have really enjoyed the challenge. Based on a low-ropes design it is a great group activity but to use it you must have completed our 4 hour site specific training course. If you want one of your leaders to have training, please contact Martin.

Security: Following a number of incidents, notably car break-ins probably involving only one or two perpetrators, we are taking police advice and reviewing security. We shall be making several doors ‘exit only’ doors.

Much has been done on testing and renewing electrical installations over the past year—a hidden but vital part of what is going on. A significant number of fuse boards have been renewed. One result is a 500% increase in the number of power points in the Sports Hall. Electrical work in Quinta Hall is preparing the way for the planned developments. We are introducing Fair Trade products on the ‘Brew Points’ in Quinta Hall.

If you wish to contact us about any of the contents of this newsletter
please do so by email: admin@quinta.org