Stapleford Conference

I was privileged to attend the Stapleford Centre's "Transforming Lives? Transforming Culture?" conference, held in the comfortable facilities of the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. I presented a seminar paper on "Transformation and Conversion in the Quest for Knowledge" (top marks if you recognise the allusion to Torrance's book), and was able to clarify for myself something of where I want to go with the argument in my thesis. The keynote speakers were very good, and I particularly enjoyed the presentation by Dr. Clare Watkins.
I (understandably) expected to know no-one at the conference except my new friend David (whom I met thanks to the conference organiser who noted that we are both "from" the Belfast area) and John Shortt, whom I had met only via email. I was surprised, then, to recognise a face, and it took me a while to figure out that he had attended, and presented at, the "Education & Theology" conference in Texas in March. Then I met Harold and discovered that I have facilitated Distance Learning courses for his daughter (I think) and son-in-law, whose home church in Ottawa is the one my brother-in-law and his family attend. Small world, indeed!