Please note the new location at Chilswell House
Deadline for online registration is Monday 27th October. For enquiries after this deadline, please contact the Guild directly by emailing [email protected]
A further information leaflet is available here
Chilswell House
The dates are 7th-9th November. For more information please contact Lucy Shaw on [email protected]
About the Retreat
The mission of the Guild of St Clare is to assist priests who celebrate the Traditional Mass by repairing vestments and undertaking commissions for vestments and liturgical furnishings. The sewing retreat is an opportunity to form a community of people around the Traditional Mass who are keen to help in this work, while enjoying the benefits and graces of the devotions and spiritual conferences from our chaplain. The schedule is a fairly relaxed one, to allow plenty of time for sewing and discussion, and the weekend works best when all retreatants attend as many as possible of the sewing sessions, talks and most importantly, the Mass.
What kind of sewing we do
The greater part of our work consists of repairs to vestments: stitching trim back into place, for example, or patching holes in worn-out silks. We also make vestments from scratch to commission, sometimes first creating our own patterns when needed. The work ranges from very easy sewing indeed to an intermediate/advanced standard. No one need be put off owing to lack of experience!
About the liturgy
Our chaplain celebrates Low Mass each day, and we also have daily Rosary, Compline each evening, and Benediction on Saturday. Additionally, our chaplain gives three spiritual conferences over the course of the weekend.
Our chaplain
Fr Rupert Allen of the Oxford Oratory has kindly undertaken the duty of Chaplain in November 2025.
Under 16's
Children are permitted to stay at the Carmelite Retreat Centre and are very welcome on the Sewing Retreat.
The Venue
Once the home of the poet Robert Bridges, Chilswell House has been a Carmelite Priory for more than half a century. It is seven miles from Oxford, and set in seventeen acres of woodland. The address is: Carmelite Priory, Chilswell, Boars Hill, Oxford, OX1 5HB, and the phone number is 01865 604003.
Fees and Discounts
The rate for a single room is £245. Ensuite rooms are available on a first come, first served basis (nearly everyone will have one). For mothers with daughters under 18, twin rooms are available at £190 each.
Late Cancellations
Full refunds are possible for cancellations up to a month before the start of the retreat. After that we regret there can be no reimbursement of fees. Since these retreats tend to be oversubscribed we are concerned to make places available to those who will get the most out of them. We ask those considering booking, therefore, not to do so if they will have to arrive late or leave early, and to regard the booking as a firm commitment not to cancel less than a month before the event. While we understand that plans can be disrupted by unforeseen circumstances, we would like to keep unfilled places to a minimum, and to minimise the disruption of people arriving and leaving during the Retreat.
What you will need
Hand missal, mantilla, rosary, sewing kit: if you have them.
We provide booklets with the Ordinary of the Mass (and Benediction), booklets for Compline; we have mantillas to lend; and all the sewing equipment needed for the work will be provided. We also have sewing items for sale during the Retreat.
Chilswell Ln, Boars Hill
Oxford, OX1 5HB
United Kingdom
| Event Fee(s) | |
| Single room | £245.00 |
| Twin room (mothers with daughter's under 18) | £190.00 |
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