WOMEN’S RETREATS
A creative planning guide
By Sue Edwards, Kelley Mathews & Linda Robinson . Kregel. 167 pages
ISBN 0 8254 2507 7
Fraulein Maria was quite right to recommend the von Trapp children to ‘begin at the very beginning, a very good place to start’. I made the mistake of opening this book at random, only to find I was being advised to ‘find a 5-foot-in-diameter round cylinder to use as the base of the beehive. Cut openings on either side for the bees to come in and out. Take chicken wire...’. I might have given up there and then if I’d had no review to write!
You will have guessed somehow that the authors are American and the book is certainly aimed at American churches providing retreats for large numbers of women with seemingly endless time to design sets, provide take-home gifts, rehearse sketches and make quilts. However, don’t be tempted, as I was, to write it off, because despite the cultural differences, the first half of the book, where I should have begun, makes very helpful reading for those planning some kind of ‘women’s weekend’.
