The Marmalade Recipe Book by Arts at the Old Fire Station

THE MARMALADE RECIPE BOOK PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR WAYS OF WORKING BETTER TOGETHER JULY 2021

BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

WITH THE SUPPORT OF:

INTRODUCTION

Marmalade is a fringe event to the annual Skoll World Forum and, over the past ten years, has created space for workshops, lectures, cabaret nights, bread making and much more. More important than anything else, Marmalade has become a space to strengthen relationships, to reflect on our work and reconnect with our motivation to make a difference in our communities. The covid-19 pandemic led us to cancel Marmalade 2020 but set in motion an ambitious partnership project that built on relationships that have been nurtured for many years. In Spring 2020, the Old Fire Station used the storytelling methodology to capture the remarkable stories of Oxford under lockdown. You can find them here Through the stories of those people involved in the emergency response across the city, we collectively drew seven key insights: We need to • invest in relationships • focus on the small things • collaborate • support less-hierarchical decision making • be creative and take risks • empower local groups, communities and volunteers • involve different voices in decision making.

All of this learning relates to the core principles of Marmalade, which focuses on the role that power and relationships can have in advancing local place-based change. Marmalade 2021 could not go ahead in its traditional way, but we were determined to go ahead and use the event as an opportunity to both live by these seven principles and help each other to uphold them as we emerge from the pandemic. This recipe book is one of the outcomes of 132 people having conversations in pairs about how we can put into practice the seven principles above. This is not meant to be a theoretical tome on systems change. We want to provide you with an accessible resource with some practical actions you can prioritise and implement easily. Some of what you read may seem obvious. In which case you can share it with friends, partners and colleagues, talk about where this is already happening, where you could do more of it and find spaces to have more Marmalade conversations in your day-to-day work. And, of course, you can enjoy the actual marmalade recipes in this book. We do hope you will join us for Marmalade 2022 to continue on this journey.

BINA’S MARMALADE RECIPE

Ingredients

Method

4lb Seville oranges

DAY 1: Cut up fruit, removing pips to a small bowl; cover with water and set aside. Into a large pan put the fruit and cover with 6 pints of cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes. Put it through the Magi mix for desired chunkiness and leave to stand for 24 hours.

1lb lemons 10lb sugar 6 pints cold water

DAY 2: Add 10lb sugar to the fruit pulp. Put the pips into a muslin bag (tipping the jelly which has formed in with the fruit). Bring to the boil - stirring it - and boil for approx. 25 minutes before testing a dessertspoonful for setting. Continue to boil till setting point is reached.

Oxford Hub staff member Katharine’s granny was given this recipe by a neighbour and friend, Bina, in Helensburgh. ‘We’d only been in Helensburgh for two or three months and didn’t know anyone very well yet, when I had a phone call from Bina, who I’d met at church. Bina asked me if I had any screwtop jars, and I said, yes, I think I have a few. She said, well if you bring them to me, I’ll fill them with marmalade. I wasn’t sure how many jars it would be polite to take, and after a bit of dithering decided on six. When I got to Bina’s she looked at my jars and said ‘Is that all you’ve got? I’ve made you a whole jellypan of marmalade!’ Every year that followed, Bina made us a jellypan of marmalade and when we moved away she gave us her recipe.’

INGREDIENTS FOR FOCUSSING ON RELATIONSHIPS

RECIPE TIPS FOR FOCUSSING ON RELATIONSHIPS

Don’t be afraid to

RESPECT

other people’s

BOUNDARIES

and know your own.

AS A FUNDER, TAKE THINGS STEADY. TRUST PEOPLE and assume good intentions.

Provide resources slowly as people grow in their vision, confidence and plans.

LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE NEED

from the relationship and BE GENEROUS in what you bring.

DON’T LEAP INTO THE AGENDA – create

space at the start and end of meetings to

CHECK-IN AND SAY HELLO and share with

others the daily joys and tribulations of life. 5

USE THE PHONE MORE, CREATE TIME TO MEET IN PERSON and challenge the tyranny of email and the demand for immediate responses.

LISTEN ACTIVELY.

REACH OUT TO PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF YOUR SPHERE.

BE GENUINELY INTERESTED IN OTHER PEOPLE – not just professionally but also in their wider lives.

realise that there is a whole background and an entire story behind a person and what they do.

BE HONEST, AUTHENTIC

and don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know.

THINK MORE ABOUT PEOPLE THAN JUST THEIR BEHAVIOUR –

BE OPEN to wherever a conversation might go.

CREATE PEER LEARNING NETWORKS

where experiences can be shared.

ATTEND TO THE RELATIONSHIPS

within your team, with your partners, with commissioners/ funders, with the people you work with. They all matter.

INGREDIENTS FOR FOCUSSING ON THE SMALL THINGS THAT MATTER

RECIPE TIPS FOR FOCUSSING ON THE SMALL THINGS THAT MATTER

ALLOW TIME FOR THE SMALL THINGS

ASK what can we do now, and

WHAT ARE WE WORKING TOWARDS? DELEGATE BUDGETS to people on the ground.

and stop rushing – it means you miss out on the little interactions with others which are fun and important.

rather than a ‘do what your procedure says’.

Don’t just ask people to report on the big stuff, but REPORT ON

FACILITATE PEOPLE LOOKING OUT FOR EACH THE SMALL STUFF TOO – what OTHER

without needing to be part of a service provider system.

CARRY OUT SMALL AND SIMPLE ACTS

that don’t have to be done but show you care – a Curlywurly in the post, a quick text, or remembering to ask about someone’s family.

ADOPT A ‘DO WHAT SEEMS SENSIBLE’ APPROACH

small things did they try? What details made a difference?

Remember ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’ – accept that strategy is flawed, we don’t know the future. Instead, FOCUS

ON THE EVERYDAY INTERACTIONS ON THE GROUND.

AVOID

micromanaging people.

If involved in strategic planning,

IMAGINE WHAT THE IMPACT OF YOUR PLAN MIGHT BE ON AN INDIVIDUAL, and avoid

becoming over preoccupied with policies and procedures. They matter but they are not the answer.

ASK OPEN QUESTIONS and LISTEN to the details.

ALEX’S JAFFA CAKE RECIPE (BORROWED FROM JAMIE)

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

1 free-range egg

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Whisk the egg and sugar with an electric hand whisk until thick and creamy. Sift in the flour and stir in. Grease a 12-hole jam tart tin and put 1 tablespoon of mixture in each hole. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, until golden brown, then remove to a wire rack to cool. Once cool, cut the cakes in half horizontally, so you have 2 thin cakes. Gently heat the marmalade in a saucepan for a few minutes, until it has thickened but is still spreadable. Sift to remove any peel, if you want a smooth centre. Allow to cool, then spoon a dollop of marmalade onto the centre of each cake. Chop the chocolate and melt with the oil (if using) and 1 tablespoon of water in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water. Grate in the orange zest, stirring well. Cool until the chocolate starts to thicken, and spoon over the marmalade-topped cakes. Leave to set.

50 g white caster sugar 65 g self-raising flour butter for greasing 250 g marmalade 100 g quality dark chocolate (70%) 2 tsp vegetable oil (optional) ½ an orange

Old Fire Station staff member Alex made these Jaffa cakes using Jamie Oliver’s recipe: www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chocolaterecipes/jaffa-cakes

INGREDIENTS FOR COLLABORATING EFFECTIVELY WITH OTHERS

RECIPE TIPS FOR COLLABORATING EFFECTIVELY WITH OTHERS

TRY A ‘SKILL DONATION’

– be open to the different things people can bring to the collaboration and don’t make assumptions.

Not all meetings result in clear outcomes. But the more you get to know your partners, the more likely it is that you’ll find that brilliant piece of work to do together.

BE PATIENT.

DON’T ALWAYS LEAP TO TRYING TO FORMALISE THINGS

– what happens if you don’t form a committee, have a chairperson or take minutes?

KEEP FINDING NEW WAYS TO WORK WITH PARTNERS WHO ARE HARDER TO REACH –

keep looking outwards and keep open doors and minds.

can spark ideas and nurture relationships.

FOSTER RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PROJECTS

– send that email, have a phone call with colleagues and partners, make sure to stay up to date with what’s coming up in their world through social media. You never know what might spark your next collaboration.

REMEMBER COLLABORATION IS NOT EVERYONE’S TOP PRIORITY AND THAT’S OK – we’re not getting married we’re just [planting trees; cleaning the road; changing the system...]

FREQUENT RANDOM CONVERSATIONS

ALWAYS TRY AND SAY YES

to requests for help from partners. What goes round, comes round.

It’s not all about rules, plans and reading the minutes from the last meeting,

IT’S ALSO ABOUT CHATTING WITH PEOPLE IN THE TEA-BREAK.

When problems arise, DON’T

BLAME PEOPLE

– abstract the problem and bring things back to what you’re working towards.

MAKE TIME FOR RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

and chit-chat round the edges of meeting.

FIND WAYS TO COLLABORATE ON SHORT, INTENSE, FOCUSED BITS OF WORK.

INGREDIENTS FOR SUPPORTING LESS HIERARCHICAL WAYS OF WORKING

RECIPE TIPS FOR SUPPORTING LESS HIERARCHICAL WAYS OF WORKING

CONSIDER ROLES IN A GROUP GIVE BUDGET TO PEOPLE ON THE GROUND

based on how this will affect power dynamics.

so they are able to make decisions with immediate effect.

BE HONEST ON WHERE IMPLICIT HIERARCHIES EXIST or have emerged.

FIND A COMMON FOCUS IN WHICH PEOPLE HAVE EQUAL STAKES (e.g. a new

community mural) and use this as an opportunity to try new ways of working that shake up existing hierarchies.

TAKE TIME TO PARTICIPATE IN TRAINING AND LEARNING ABOUT DIFFERENT WAYS OF WORKING

e.g. facilitation, nonviolent communication, or group reflection. This can feel difficult to prioritise, but may save time in the longer run, as disengaged people don’t get much done.

ROTATE FACILITATORS/ CHAIRS so that

the responsibility is shared and people become used to being in this role.

SHARE KNOWLEDGE IN AN EQUITABLE WAY so that access to information does not become a form of power imbalance.

TRY ORGANISING TEAMS AROUND TASKS AND SKILLS/ INTEREST rather than roles.

Pick a procedure that currently requires sign-off from managers, and

TRIAL REMOVING THE SIGN-OFF STAGE. Try lower risk procedures first and monitor what goes wrong – and right.

DELEGATE LEADERSHIP for

DON’T AUTOMATICALLY TRUST THE OLD WAYS of doing things.

NOT EVERY DECISION NEEDS TO BE MADE BY EVERYONE, WORKING GROUPS OR COLLECTIVE DELEGATION CAN MAKE THIS SIMPLER. Equally, implementing a process for process sake can make decision making longer than it needs to be.

particular areas of responsibility or projects and SHARE

RESPONSIBILITY BETWEEN PEOPLE/TEAMS FAIRLY.

BE AWARE OF PEOPLE HAVING DIFFERENT STRENGTHS OR LEVELS OF EXPERIENCE and draw individual contributions out.

AVOID VOTING AND LOOK FOR CONSENSUS BY CHECKING FOR CRITICAL CONCERNS. If concerns are not critical, make a decision and move on. If concerns are critical, amend the proposal. (A critical concern is where a proposal might be illegal, unsafe, unethical, inappropriate for this group, likely to damage reputation or unaffordable).

When transitioning to less hierarchical ways of working

TRY IT OUT IN MORE FAMILIAR SETTINGS OR ON PARTICULAR PROJECTS before taking on whole organisational change.

INGREDIENTS FOR BEING CREATIVE AND TAKING RISKS

RECIPE TIPS FOR BEING CREATIVE AND TAKING RISKS

– experiment with new ideas and combine imagination and playfulness with technical skill and intellectual analysis.

INVOLVE DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES –

different voices can help generate questions, ideas and new ways of working.

BE CREATIVE IN HOW YOU HAVE CONVERSATIONS –

have ‘speaker circles’ to help people hear each other’s views and spark ideas, try walking and talking, or encourage people to draw, knit or paint during conversations. This can help spark new ideas and ways of thinking.

Explain at the start of a project that you’re trying something new, you want to see how it goes, and it might not work. This can help MANAGE EXPECTATIONS and make trying new things less scary.

Create space to

TRY RUNNING AN ORGANISATION LIKE AN ARTIST

Sometimes the pressure to be creative can feel intimidating –

SPEAK ABOUT ‘EXCELLENT FAILURES’ THAT YOU’VE LEARNED FROM and share

stories of when things went wrong.

IT SHOULD BE FUN and be as much about

FINDING VALUE AND NEW IDEAS IN SMALL THINGS.

USE A CONSENT-BASED APPROACH TO DECISION MAKING whereby all

relevant people have to agree they have no critical concern – you don’t have to love the idea you just have to not have a critical concern. If someone has an idea and there is no critical concern, try it!

At the start of a new relationship

DISCUSS THE TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT AND THE BOUNDARIES FOR CREATIVE COLLABORATION.

This can help people to feel less exposed and more confident coming up with ideas and giving them a go.

Funders could

ASK “WHAT HAS BEEN LEARNED”, AS OPPOSED TO “WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED” in monitoring of grants.

MEGAN’S MARMALADE CAKE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

175g butter

Heat the oven to gas mark 4 /180°C /160°C fan oven, and line loaf tin. Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl. Pour beaten eggs into the bowl with the butter and sugar and stir. Zest the orange. Add marmalade and orange zest to the mix. Fold in the flour. Stir in juice from half the orange. Pour into your lined tin and bake for 40 minutes. Once cooked, leave to cool.

175g caster sugar 1 orange 3 eggs 75g orange marmalade 175g self-raising flour 100g icing sugar 2tbsp juice from the orange

For the topping, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl and mix in juice from the remaining half an orange. Drizzle the icing onto the cake and leave to set. Put the kettle on and enjoy! This is Old Fire Station staff member Megan’s marmalade cake. She doesn’t know where the recipe comes from, as it was passed on to her.

INGREDIENTS FOR EMPOWERING LOCAL GROUPS, COMMUNITIES AND VOLUNTEERS

RECIPE TIPS FOR EMPOWERING LOCAL GROUPS, COMMUNITIES AND VOLUNTEERS

GIVE PEOPLE OWNERSHIP AND RESPONSIBILITY and trust them with things.

LET PEOPLE KNOW THE POWER THAT THEY HOLD.

CAST YOUR NET WIDE:

you can only support people and groups that you know about.

CELEBRATE AND HIGHLIGHT THE AMAZING WORK

HAVE A CLEAR OFFER

and make it simple to get involved.

of local groups and volunteers.

WORK TOWARDS SOME QUICK WINS

– they can help build momentum, give confidence in the group’s ability to make things happen, and reassure people they are not a talking shop.

WORK WITH GROUPS/ VOLUNTEERS THAT TRULY REPRESENT THE VOICES OF THAT COMMUNITY – especially the quiet voices!

CONNECT LIKEMINDED GROUPS to share visions and amplify voices – the voices of many cannot be as easily ignored.

CHECK IN WITH VOLUNTEERS FORMALLY AND INFORMALLY

to make sure they are getting what they want from the experience and have the support they need.

RESPECT LIMITS AND BOUNDARIES – make it ok for people to step back and avoid burnout.

Work out how to

FUND FRONT-LINE GROUPS WHO LACK CORE CAPACITY. Don’t assume experts in the community can work for nothing.

MAKE VOLUNTEERING BITE-SIZE –

something that people can do little and often.

OFFER SUPPORT AND COACHING TO PEOPLE so

they have the confidence and knowledge to speak out and represent their communities.

INGREDIENTS FOR INVOLVING DIFFERENT VOICES IN DECISION-MAKING

RECIPE TIPS FOR INVOLVING DIFFERENT VOICES IN DECISION-MAKING

LET PEOPLE KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT

INVITE PEOPLE WHO HAVEN’T SPOKEN YET TO SPEAK g

HAVE CHECK -INS at th

e star the mee t of ting so everyon e’s voice can be h eard.

n (without calli on specific individuals).

If it’s a larger group,

TRY BREAKING INTO PAIRS OR SMALLER GROUPS

DEDICATE ENOUGH TIME TO MEET AND DISCUSS

– this can help shift the dynamic and less confident people may find it easier to speak.

before making a decision.

THINK ABOUT LANGUAGE and AVOID JARGON

ENCOURAGE NEW PEOPLE TO BRING A COMPANION

to meetings.

that might exclude or alienate people.

in advance so they have time to think and prepare.

DON’T DEFAULT TO WRITTEN DOCUMENTS AND PAPERS.

Instead of a repo rt, could it be a short video or an infographic? How can we do them differently?

REMEMBER IT’S NOT ABOUT EQUALITY BUT EQUITY – some

people’s voices need to be platformed so they can be heard.

Leaders or more experienced members should

SPEND TIME ENCOURAGING OR MENTORING OTHERS.

IVE HAVE OBJECT TO CHECK-LISTSS/ REFER IDEA TO, SUGGESTION st

ot ju so that n st voice e d the lou rd. gets hea

GET TO KNOW PEOPLE before,

follow up afterwards , an

ACTIVELY LISTEN CE AN AND GIVE ASSUsR are n that opinio d valid. n a t n importa

KEEP IN TOUCH between meetings.

THANK YOU We hope you’ve enjoyed reading the ingredients and recipe tips which emerged from Marmalade 2021, and that they might continue to spark conversations and ideas. We look forward to hearing about them and hope to see you in the week of 4th April 2022 for another year of Marmalade!

MARMALADE 2021 was possible thanks to key local partners, each of whom championed a Marmalade question: Active Oxfordshire works to increase activity levels, challenge health inequalities and create a happier, healthier and more active Oxfordshire. Community Action Groups (CAG) Oxfordshire consists of over 80 groups across Oxfordshire who are at the forefront of community-led climate change action, organising events and projects to take action on issues including waste, transport, food, energy, biodiversity and social justice. Mandala Theatre produces theatre for local, national and international audiences and employs, trains and nurtures young people from diverse backgrounds into the Creative Industry. It uses the power of performance and creativity to change young lives, build communities and foster social justice. Oxfordshire All In is a partnership of voluntary, public, and private sector organisations. It helps support a joined-up approach to the response to and recovery from Covid-19 in Oxfordshire that is first and foremost community-led, fair, effective, and which reaches the most isolated and vulnerable as a priority. Oxford City Council is the local government authority for the city of Oxford.

A BIG THANK YOU to all those who attended Marmalade walks and conversations and contributed to this recipe book. Marmalade 2021 was funded by:

Marmalade is a collaboration between the Old Fire Station and Oxford Hub: The Old Fire Station is a centre for creativity in Oxford. OFS encourages people from all backgrounds to understand and shape the world in which we live through stories, creativity and the arts, and by connecting with others. Oxford Hub brings people and organisations together to make Oxford a better place for everyone. They run programmes that build new relationships in the community and support everyone who lives here to thrive.

Illustrations: Zuhura Plummer; Chanté Timothy Design: Katy Dawkins

The Old Fire Station: www.oldfirestation.org.uk • Oxford Hub: www.oxfordhub.org • Marmalade: www.marmalade.io