The work we do

Launde Abbey provides support for many different people. Some of our users include:

Spiritual users

Spiritual Users include a variety of different faith groups and individuals such as:
Churches, groups and individuals have time for reflection upon where they are and what they are called to be in today’s ever changing world;

People of different backgrounds who come together to learn about each other;
Church of England bishops and other Church leaders, clergy and parish and chaplaincy teams from universities, hospitals and hospices;

Other faith groups and those who consider themselves as seekers spiritually.
All come to Launde either for developmental reasons or because Launde is a lifeline that makes the difference between continuing with their ministry or not.

Community users

Community Users Launde has a long tradition of working with schools and the wider community, which have benefited many, and has resulted in two new major initiatives:

Seventy 7 – 9 year olds will stay residentially from two local schools, bringing together the Primary Schools of Belgrave in Leicester (one of the most deprived areas of Leicester) and Bitteswell in Leicestershire (one of the least deprived areas of Leicestershire), allowing the children to explore and discover who they are in the world. This pilot project will be observed by Headteachers from other Primary Schools who wish to take up the scheme for their own schools;
A positive relationship with the Probation Service and the Unpaid Work Unit has allowed offenders to be placed at Launde to carry out Community Service Orders. Launde has received both adults and teenagers within this context, a number of whom have returned and continue to give the Abbey voluntary help;

Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award students carry out their residential placement at Launde;

Youth and other school groups who come for a variety of different reasons.

Charity users

Charity Users include both regional and national charities who come to Launde for both training and meeting purposes.

These include:

• Medical charities;
• Overseas mission charities.

Ethical and philosophical conferences and meetings are supported and encouraged at Launde. To date a number of national politicians, practitioners, academics and representatives from various faith groups have met to present and debate:

• British Foreign Policy (the papers of which have been published);
• Military ethics;
• Ethics of genetic manipulation and development;
• Ethics in pain management and also in palliative care.

Why does Launde Abbey do this?

The benefits of staying at Launde Abbey can be seen by reading some of the letters of thanks that we receive. Comments such as these over the last year tell something of what Launde is:

• “Going back down the hill in the dark” – an 8 year old school child on their first time away from home;
• “Our community has a need to be here” – a woman talking about why she keeps coming back to Launde Abbey;
• “a special place” – a simple comment from a guest;
• “Wonderful peace and beauty….a place of restoration” – a man talking of his experience of Launde;
• “Everyone in my eyes was outstanding and made my stay everything I needed…..thank you for giving me much needed time and space to myself” – a young woman;
• “Felt like home from the beginning of my stay” – an older woman;
• “Obviously a place saturated in prayer” – a cleric in need of rest.

The benefit can also be seen in the conversations that are enabled at Launde. These conversations have included:

• A mother talking of her son who will possibly be sent to prison soon;
• The elderly adult who talked of being abused as a child for the first time;
• A distressed woman who talked about how she had been raped two weeks before but had not told anyone else before coming to Launde;
• A teenager who talked of being bullied at school and did not know how to find support;
• The married couple who wanted to discuss their relationship which was near collapse;
• The middle aged man who was scarred of admitting to his family that he had been made redundant.
• The list could go on.

There is a growing need for places of peace, stillness and tranquillity in today’s ever more demanding society where people can encounter themselves and come to a deeper understanding of how they relate to others. Unfortunately Launde Abbey is the only Retreat House in the East Midlands of more than 30 bedrooms which is advertised in the Retreat Magazine (following the closure of Morley Retreat House in Derbyshire which was unable to raise the funds needed for the redevelopment of their Georgian building).

What is the impact of this help?

The impact on individual lives and, through them on society in general is huge. It can be life changing in the truest sense of that expression whether it be for someone who comes to Launde for respite care or as part of an HIV / AIDS support group needing support; or as a school child wanting to explore their future or a member of a Mothers’ Union wondering about whether they can cope with old age; or as a priest asking if they should carry on or a charity worker wanting to think about how they can be more effective in their work. The list is endless.

Launde Abbey is committed to such people as these, and with the help of people such as you, to continue offering them all that Launde has to offer into the future.