About Us

Our vision and purpose is centred around providing the people in our community a place of peace, spirituality and sanctuary.

Our core unchanging purposes are to:

  • Celebrate and reflect on the Christian tradition at the heart of St Ethelwold’s House while welcoming, learning from and sharing nourishment with those from other faiths and spiritual paths;

  • Provide a place of peace and tranquility, centred in the practice of meditation and stillness;

  • Be open in heart and mind to exploration rather than dogma;

  • Reach out to our local community.

Our vision and purpose is expressed by:

  • Offering regular meditation;

  • Organising a programme of courses, spiritual practice and retreats;

  • Offering spiritual companionship;

  • Encouraging interfaith encounter and action;

  • Carefully tending the House and Garden, and ensuring that all we do is informed by a deep commitment to the environment;

  • Welcoming individuals and groups from our local community who want to offer life-enhancing social, community and artistic activities;

  • Welcoming activities of faith groups and others seeking to work for social justice and peace;

  • Welcoming use of the house by individuals and groups for hospitality and celebration.

  • Offering sanctuary and refugee support

 Hospitality and Sanctuary – Host Abingdon Refugee Support

Trustees and supporters of St Ethelwold’s have worked with others over the last six years to offer a welcome to refugees and destitute asylum seekers locally.

We connected with Sanctuary Hosting, who match destitute asylum seekers and refugees with people who have a spare room and an open heart and who can make their spare room available rent-free for an agreed period of time. Some amazing people in the area got together to fund the use of a room at St Ethelwold’s for this purpose.

We also became involved in supporting the eight Syrian families who came to the South and Vale area on the Home Office resettlement scheme. This was a major project over four years, involving over forty volunteers, who taught ESOL and offered general support to help families, most of whom arrived with no English at all and often traumatised.

There will always be the need for many kind action to help refugees – direct work including ESOL teaching, offering accommodation, campaigning and fund raising. Our action is currently focused on raising funds for refugee guests using the room at St Ethelwold’s, but we are very open to supporters engaging with other kinds of action…do get in touch by emailing…..

One-off or regular donations can be made to the Sanctuary Fund with these bank account details:
Host Abingdon
Sort Code 40-35-34 Account No 34134214

or send a cheque made out to Host Abingdon to
St Ethelwold’s House
30 East St Helen Street
Abingdon OX14 5EB

If you contribute to the Sanctuary Fund please would you email and let Host Abingdon know so we can thank you     hello@hostabingdon.org