Estuary Conversation – Free and friendly space for deeper discussions

Everyone needs a space to be heard – come to speak, listen and connect.

Estuary Conversations are a format for open discussion and debate, going deeper, and developing friendships – everyone welcome!

Join us for the South Wales group of the UK Estuary Network in Treforest at Parc Arts community arts centre.

Parc Arts is a roughly 25-minute drive from Cardiff and a short walk from Treforest train station. There is on-street parking available (though make sure to avoid resident-only bays). Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.

What actually happens at an Estuary event?

• Glad you asked! An Estuary event is a two-hour conversation, but not just any conversation.
• Estuaries are where fresh water meets salt water, and ‘Estuary Conversations’ are a structured approach to help different people and ideas to meet and engage together.
• We especially welcome people from different ideological backgrounds, different religions, different political persuasions, different perspectives on current events.
• In other words, we appreciate intellectual diversity, and we really like intellectual honesty and free expression.

What is the goal of an Estuary conversation?

• Our goal is to listen and learn, and perhaps even learn to love.
• We use a protocol that encourages mutual respect and openness to new ideas.

How is the topic of the evening set?

• There's no set topic in advance, everyone is invited to bring a question or topic to suggest on the evening
• In a rather unique democratic fashion, each participant puts a topic on the table, and then we decide together which topic(s) lend themselves best to having an interesting and productive conversation during that session.
• So if you were to join us for any given event, you would be able to put your favorite topic on the table, alongside the topics of every other participant, and then we would decide together which topic seems most interesting to proceed with. It could be yours!
• You might want to talk about something you're thinking about:
• intellectually — maybe from a book you've read, a podcast you've listened to and so on
• contextually — something happening in the world socially or politically, or in the local community
• creatively — to do with some artwork or project you are working on
• personally — especially once you've got to know others in the group a bit more
• 'Estuarily' — 'meta' questions in relation to the Estuary group – why are we here, what is the purpose of our conversation?
• Of course, no-one should feel pressured to contribute. You don't have to propose a topic – you can just join in with the discussion, or even just observe.

What topics typically come up?

• We like to deal with what we call the big questions of life, like morality, justice, or any other difficult question in the news today, but, to be clear, no topic is off limits, whether it is about religion, or personal relationships, or how to make friends.
• Previous topics at this group have included: the costs and benefits of AI, what it means to be human, the ethics of euthanasia. Occasionally even God makes an appearance (as a topic)!