The main organisers of the Glastonbury Symposium are Andy Thomas, Helen Sewell and Jason Porthouse, all of whom have long been part of the Symposium – see below.

The Symposium was created in 1991 by Roland Pargeter, who ran it for nine years, and to whom we pay tribute for founding the principles of the event. In 1999 the event was passed to the keepership of Sheila Martin, Andy Thomas and Karen Douglas. Karen moved on in the winter of 2004, and Andy and Sheila were then joined by Debbie Parkes. In 2008, Debbie was replaced by Di Brown. In 2019, after many years of excellent service, Sheila stepped back for a rest, and in 2025 Di also amicably went on to new pastures!

There is also a remarkable support team who ensure the Symposium runs smoothly in all possible ways – see below!

Helen is a familiar face at the Symposium, having been involved since 2003. She has been our social media administrator for several years, as well as being Andy Thomas’s wife and our astrological consultant! Now Helen supports Andy as assistant MC for the event.

In the wider world, Helen studied with the Centre for Psychological Astrology (CPA) under the renowned Liz Greene PhD, and is a Relate-trained relationship counsellor. She gives lectures, personal consultations and writes for astrological journals and websites. Helen is one of the regular tutors for MISPA, the internationally-recognised Mercury Internet School of Psychological Astrology. This experience has helped enormously in her astrological couple consultations, and she runs her own general counselling practice as well as giving astrology readings.

More on Helen can be found at her website: www.astrologicalinsights.co.uk

Jason is both technical advisor for the Symposium, and also the leader of our meditations on the Friday afternoon in the hall and on the Sunday afternoon in the Abbey grounds, where he manages to hold together a ring of sometimes up to 100 people come rain or shine!

Jason Porthouse works as a freelance documentary editor, working on programmes such as BBCs Panorama and Stacey Dooley Investigates… When not in an edit suite though, Jason follows a lifelong interest in spirituality and the metaphysical world. A qualified Spiritual Companion and alumni of Jan Day’s School of Being, he is particularly interested in exploring ideas around what being a man in today’s world really means, and how that feeds into relationships on all levels.