Our course has had between 60 and 85 people each. Each group has had one leader and one or two helpers. Our course runs for ten weeks the last of which is the party. I have continued to be surprised at both the number of people who come and the fact that the vast majority keep coming every week. The latter is because the atmosphere is friendly and the people get to know each other in their group.
Many groups cohere well and often they have their own further meetings and social occasions.
Friendships are formed. Another benefit of the format is that one person does the talk to the whole group. Being a large group, visitors feel less threatened and more anonymous at this stage. Well, at this stage you may well be wondering what could possibly go wrong with such a good idea. The first six of these are given weekly after dinner.