THREE hundred and fifty delegates gathered this week for the 2024 Festival of Preaching, in its first residential form since before the pandemic. A further 100 or so joined sessions via the live stream.

The event took place in Cambridge for the first time, at Great St Mary’s and St John’s College, near by, with a brief foray to Michaelhouse, handily located off Trinity Street between the two larger venues. And Cambridge was at its September best, now that most of the tourists have gone home and the students are yet to arrive. Crisp autumn mornings gave way to warm sunshine, so that delegates could spill happily on to Senate House Hill between sessions.

The programme was rich: a mix of keynote addresses — delivered by the Bishop of Chelmsford, Amy-Jill Levine, Mark Oakley and Malcolm Guite — and practical seminars — delivered by Sam Wells, Chris Russell, Stephen Cherry, Martyn Percy, Victoria Johnson, Isabelle Hamley, and Ally Barrett. Naturally, the festival was interspersed with worship, ranging from the more familiar Common Worship to the contemplative late-night liturgy at St John’s Chapel and an energising service of jazz vespers.

New to the programme was a preaching clinic, chaired by Paula Gooder, where speakers were asked to respond to questions that had been emailed in, as well as those offered from the floor. And on Monday afternoon, it was time to enjoy a glass of fizz and a piece of cake in celebration of a new book, Women of the Nativity: An Advent and Christmas journey in nine stories, by two of the speakers, Paula Gooder and Ally Barrett.

Post-event live-stream tickets are still available, at: festivalofpreaching.hymnsam.co.uk/cambridge-2024-ticket-page/