Courses, Events and Workshops

The Autumn Equinox marks that beautiful turning point in the year, when day and night come briefly into balance before we begin the slow journey into the darker months.

And autumn has always carried a message for us...

Let go.

Just as the trees begin to release their leaves, this season invites us to notice what we are still carrying. Stress, tension, old emotions, habits, expectations, the constant need to keep doing and pushing.

On 23 September, join us at Springbank Manor for an evening designed to help you slow down, come back into your body and consciously step into the new season.

We’ll begin with gentle seasonal movement and breathwork with Dawn, working with the energy of autumn and creating space in the body and mind.

Then Donna and Stuart from Purple Butterfly Sound Healing will take us into a deeply relaxing sound healing journey, allowing you to simply lie back, receive and rest.

Movement. Breath. Sound. Stillness.

A little space to release what you no longer need and make room for what comes next.

Wednesday 23 September
6.30pm to 9pm
Springbank Manor Hotel, Darwen
£15
Refreshments afterwards and time to sit, chat and reconnect.

No experience needed. You don’t need to be flexible and you don’t need to know anything about breathwork or sound healing.

Autumn is the season of letting go. Maybe there’s something you’re ready to put down.

Booking advised via:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/movement-breathwork-sound-healing-autumn-equinox-tickets-1998746992058?aff=oddtdtcreator

Come and celebrate the abundance of the harvest season with us at our Thriving with the Seasons Harvest Festival.

This relaxed community event is a chance to slow down, come together and reconnect with the food, skills, music and seasonal wisdom that have supported communities for generations.

The afternoon will be led by Jackie Robinson, holistic wellbeing coach, retreat leader, founder of The Balance Approach and Co-Founder of Root Connections Networking.

Jackie is passionate about seasonal cooking, foraging and helping people reconnect with nature through food. During the event, she will demonstrate how to create delicious and nutritious dishes using seasonal vegetables and foraged ingredients.

We’ll also have live music from local musician Noah, bringing another lovely community element to the afternoon as we celebrate the harvest together.

You will be able to enjoy:

• A seasonal cooking demonstration 
• Food tasting 
• Local and home-grown produce 
• Foraged ingredients and traditional food knowledge 
• Live music from local musician Noah 
• Conversation, connection and a celebration of the harvest season 

You do not need any previous cooking, growing or foraging experience. Just come along with an interest in seasonal food, nature and community.

Harvest traditions are part of our living heritage. They remind us of a time when communities worked more closely with the land, gathered food according to the seasons and passed practical knowledge through families and neighbours.

Music, food and gathering together have also long been part of seasonal celebrations, so we wanted this afternoon to feel like more than just a workshop. It is a chance to come together, share food, listen to music, learn something new and celebrate the abundance of the season.

Thriving with the Seasons is helping to keep this knowledge and sense of community alive through shared experiences, stories and hands-on learning. This fits directly with the project’s focus on living heritage, seasonal traditions and bringing heritage into the present rather than simply preserving it in the past. 

Jackie Robinson is a holistic wellbeing coach, retreat leader and founder of The Balance Approach, as well as Co-Founder of Root Connections Networking.

She leads wellbeing retreats, festivals, community events and online detox programmes, inspiring people to embrace simple, sustainable ways of living that support better health and wellbeing.

Saturday 26 September 2026
2.00pm to 4.00pm

Springvale Church
Watery Lane
Darwen

This is a voluntary donation event.

Booking is essential because places are limited. Please only reserve a place if you intend to attend, and cancel your ticket if your plans change so that somebody else can come.

Thriving with the Seasons is a year-long community heritage and wellbeing project exploring seasonal living, food growing, foraging, traditional skills, nature connection and community stories.

The project is delivered by Reconnection to Wellness CIC and made possible with support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Book your place here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/thriving-with-the-seasons-harvest-festival-tickets-1996436732008?aff=oddtdtcreator

Feeling stressed, anxious, overwhelmed or emotionally drained?

Join us in Darwen for a fully funded eight-week Stress Reduction Course, offering a supportive space to slow down, reconnect with yourself and learn practical tools for managing life’s challenges.

Drawing on modern research, neuroplasticity and practices from the Zen tradition, we will explore:

• Practical mindfulness and meditation techniques
• Ways to calm and regulate the nervous system
• Understanding your individual stress patterns
• Working with difficult thoughts and emotions
• Building greater self-awareness and emotional resilience
• Simple practices to support your everyday wellbeing

No previous experience of mindfulness or meditation is needed. The course is friendly, accessible and suitable for complete beginners.

Come to the taster: 

Tuesday 29 September 2026
7.15 pm
Springbank Manor Hotel, Darwen

Come along, meet me and experience some of the practices before deciding whether the full course is right for you.

EIGHT-WEEK COURSE

Every Tuesdayfrom 14 October to 2 December 2026
7.15 pm to 9.00 pm
Springbank Manor Hotel, Darwen

Places are fully funded, but numbers are limited. Please only book if you are genuinely interested in attending the full course.

The course is delivered by Dawn Juson, Zen meditation, mindfulness and Zen yoga teacher and Director of Reconnection to Wellness CIC.

This course forms part of Thriving with the Seasons and has been made possible with support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Reserve your place through the Eventbrite booking link. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/.../free-8-week-stress...

For further information:

As we move into autumn, nature begins to slow down, let go and draw its energy inward.

Maybe we need a bit of that too.

Join us every Tuesday evening at Springbank Manor Hotel in Darwen for an hour of gentle Autumn Zen Yoga, breathwork and mindful relaxation.

These sessions are designed to help you slow down, release some of the tension you have been carrying and reconnect with your body before we move into the darker winter months.

We will use gentle, accessible movement to open the chest and shoulders, stretch and soften the body, breathe more deeply and create a little more space physically and mentally.

You can expect:

• Gentle Zen Yoga and mindful movement
• Breathwork to help settle the body and mind
• Practices to release tension and help you slow down
• Seasonal movement inspired by the qualities of autumn
• Time to reconnect with your body and your energy
• A calming mindful relaxation to finish

Zen Yoga is not about being flexible, getting into complicated positions or pushing your body.

It is about learning to listen to your body, work with it rather than against it, and use movement, breath and awareness to support your overall wellbeing.

There is much more behind the practice that we will explore together as the weeks progress, including the traditional seasonal wisdom that informs Zen Yoga. You do not need to know any of that before you arrive.

Just come as you are.

Every Tuesday
29 September to 9 December 2026

NO CLASS 7 OCTOBER 

6pm to 7pm

Springbank Manor Hotel
Darwen

No previous yoga experience is needed. Beginners are very welcome and the practice can be adapted to different bodies and abilities.

Come and give yourself an hour each week to move, breathe, let go and gather your energy before winter.

Supported by The National Lottery Community Fund.

Saturday 10 October 2026 | 2.00pm–4.00pm
Springvale Church, Watery Lane, Darwen, BB3 3ET
Donation-based event | Booking essential

There was a time when preserving food was simply part of everyday life. You grew what you could, made the most of what was in season, wasted very little and found ways of carrying the abundance of one season into the next.

Join us for an afternoon exploring some of those traditional skills with Jackie Robinson, as part of our Thriving with the Seasons Heritage Fund project.

This relaxed, hands-on workshop will explore different approaches to pickling and preserving, alongside the wider wisdom behind them: being more frugal, reducing food waste, eating more seasonally and reconnecting with practices that were once passed naturally between generations.

This isn't about creating the perfect pantry or becoming an expert preserver. It is about remembering some of the simple things people used to know, sharing knowledge, asking questions and learning together.

During the afternoon we'll look at:

• Traditional pickling and preserving methods
• Simple ways to make seasonal produce last longer
• Being more frugal with food
• Reducing food waste
• Using what is locally grown, available or abundant
• The seasonal traditions behind preserving food
• Ideas you can take home and try for yourself

And, as always with Thriving with the Seasons, expect plenty of wisdom sharing, conversation, laughter and connection along the way.

Before supermarkets, refrigeration and year-round access to almost every type of food, preserving was an essential part of seasonal life.

Communities grew, harvested, stored, pickled, fermented and preserved what was available so that food could carry them through the colder months. Much of this knowledge was shared through families and communities rather than written down.

That living knowledge is exactly what Thriving with the Seasons is trying to explore, celebrate and help keep alive.

Our Heritage Fund project is reconnecting people across Blackburn with Darwen with seasonal living, local food, traditional growing and preserving skills, nature and the stories that sit behind them. Heritage isn't only something that exists in museums or old buildings. It lives in recipes, gardens, kitchens, memories and the things people teach one another.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/preserving-workshop-tickets-1998869433283?aff=oddtdtcreator