VOLUME 25 AUTUMN/WINTER
2017
FACING THE FUTURE A few of our Kindergarten learners at Camphill South Africa. The article is on the back cover.
Esk Valley Garden. To read the full article, see page 03.
Tintagel Theatre Sheffield, see page 09.
21 this year! The Theme ‘Facing The Future Stories of Challenge & Achievement’
Camphill Dialogue, Scotland May 2017. See our special Page Plus Insert.
Golden Garden, see page 08.
As Camphill Pages comes of age this year, read stories of gatherings and awards, environment improvement and reflections of where we are as Camphill Communities in The British Isles, who are members of The Association. Since 1996 Pages has reported a rainbow of events and thoughts that cover the life and times of Camphill Communities and related initiatives in a unique size and colourful presentation. Yet it is the varied hues of life of these communities with their vibrant social, cultural and working life, that is the true colour reflected within Pages! Read on dear Reader!
Pages is the newsletter of the Association of Camphill Communities UK and Ireland www.camphill.org.uk
WELCOME Pages Comes of Age! Welcome to this Autumn Winter Edition of Pages, 21 years old and begun from the birth of The Association of Camphill Communities Public Relations Group in 1996.
local authorities and their social services departments. It has been a rocky road sometimes with misunderstandings all It has been a moment of reflection with the along the way but as is described in The Dialogue reports although we haven’t death in August of Margaret Colquhoun come out unscathed, lessons have been who headed up The Pishwanton Project learnt on both sides of the funding and which has done so much in the field inspection bodies argument and Camphill of environmental education south of Edinburgh. As a member of The Association is still very much here, its independence as charities very much valued. This is all the of Camphill Communities her passing more apparent in a care environment now was marked at a deeply moving Memorial run by private companies with duties to Gathering at the Pishwanton site in Those were important times, just as today, share holders to make profits and who have mid September. communicating Camphill’s life and work bought large amounts of care based property to an ever more professional audience Roger Halpern who came from The Camphill for its investment value. interested in intentional communities. Rudolf Steiner Schools to Botton Village Among the projects initiated by To conclude Pages is looking at its The PR Group was a book of all the Camphill in the 1950s and spanned six decades in distribution so you can read its contents Camphill Communities, including his final Communities in The British Isles to mark online, on paper or on Issuu, the home in Thornleigh’s adult community the new century, Shaping The Flame, an publications website where you can access Orchard Leigh near Stroud. He is honoured introduction to Camphill booklet based on a number of back issues of Pages. As a in a special obituary. the working, social and cultural life of the parent or friend of a particular Camphill communities and the famous Association Why is it after huge changes in the way care Community you should receive Pages List last produced in map form in 2014! from them by email or post. If you are is approached and administered that the having difficulty receiving Pages ask your community model that Camphill represents You can see a collage of Pages over the years community of interest or contact me The and thanks are offered to Ideas in Print and is more than ever relevant? This is brought Editorial Coordinator and we will make sure into stark relief with the vexed question of Cactus Creative for all their help and Andy you receive a copy. how we are going to operate after Brexit. Paton for his original vision to bring about the Association PR Group for a new century! Happy Reading We are going in the Association, to Best Wishes, represent four countries, with only one in From what has been done, to what will Vivian Griffiths the EU, with different social policies and be done is the content of this edition different approaches to ‘congregate care’ and in the following pages Pages reports as it can be described. This is a challenge on the many 2017 gatherings beginning indeed but in the year that homoeopathic with The Dialogue in a Special Pages Plus medicine ceases to be on NHS prescription, Supplement which met in early summer in the official line on communities and any lovely weather in Aberdeen. The Camphill so called alternative provision needs to Movement Group which met in Northern be constantly reviewed. The EU it seems Ireland following the very successful through its social policy directives was no Camphill Festival at Ballytobin in March friend of congregate care in the past. is represented in a taking the temperature article; The Camphill Foundation had its We will have opportunities to reset our role AGM recently meeting in Scotland and as provider of a social, working and cultural a description is enclosed. New Camphill life communities with those with a learning initiatives in The Esk Valley in The North disability when we leave the EU in 2019. York Moors and The Mount in The Sussex If you are interested in how Curative Weald are described. In next Pages’ Spring 2018, Education and Social Therapy is represented We report on Camphill Families and in Europe a view of The Website ECCE is We move into new territory with a Friends AGM, highlight Camphill’s description of Dr König - Camphill’s Founder recommended. Movement meetings and explore the - and his interest in Sheffield as the School charity ResCare’s work supporting Back in 1983 Dr Thomas Weihs founded Communities expanded after the war. The intentional communities. Exhibition text is printed courtesy of Ruskin The Association of Camphill Communities Mill Trust as hosts and Carole Baugh which as he foresaw the need for a body to ‘Camphill Reaching Out - Our Social represent Camphill to government bodies, appeared at Freeman College for The AGM Enterprise’ out April - May 2018! of The Anthroposophical Society in the famous cutler’s city.
NEXT TIME IN PAGES...
Contents Facing the Future 03 Esk Valley Garden 04 Clanbogan Development Initiative 04 Milltown Community’s Electric Car 05 Exploring, Experiencing & Achieving a Job 06 Transforming Social Care through Innovative Community Building 07 Leadership & Succession
News 08 Golden Garden
Pages Plus Insert Camphill Dialogue 2017 - A Celebration of Diversity - An Interview with Brian Zecca - Camphill Tippereth - Dialogue Report
Morphology 09 John Ruskin, Rudolf Steiner, Arnold Freeman & Karl König
Camphill Pages Comes of Age 10 21 Years
Reasearch Network 12 Back to Bedlam
Obituaries 13 Dr. Margaret Colquhoun 13 Roger Halpern
Camphill Foundation 14 Camphill Foundation UK & Ireland
Back Cover 16 Camphill School in South Africa turns 65!
Shaping the Flame This Camphill Book has become a reference point for the yearly cycle of how a Camphill Community could look at The Festivals, The Craft Work and Workshops, Life on The Land and through prose and poetry weaves a journey of substance that can help a newcomer understand a bit more what lies behind the life and work of Camphill. It might serve as a helpmate to celebrate a festival or it can be a present to a young co-worker to take away on their life’s journey after a gap year helping in a Camphill Community. It is a keepsake for parent or sibling. It is as relevant today as when it was published by The Association of Camphill Communities to mark the new century. It can be obtained by emailing The Editorial Coordinator viviangriffiths@talktalk.net where an invoice will be sent or a cheque for £7.50 (includes p&p) sent to Vivian Griffiths, Camphill Literature Services, 2 Pull Woods Cottages Pull Woods, Ambleside, Cumbria LA22 0HZ and made out to The Association of Camphill Communities.
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Facing the Future | Autumn/Winter 2017
FACING THE FUTURE Esk Valley Garden Marcello and his family are part of the new Esk Valley Camphill Community in Danby Dale. North Yorkshire, now Associate members of The Association Of Camphill Communities. Here is his remarkable story...
“ Thank goodness there is light at the end of the poly tunnel”
Last September my family and I moved back to Botton, having spent a year at Vale Head Farm in Kinver (Stourbridge) where I was working as biodynamic apprentice and my wife was studying to become a Waldorf Kindergarten teacher. We decided to go back “home” to Botton to help in building up the new Community that was slowly emerging from a long process of conflict and subsequent mediation with the Camphill Village Trust, and which has become today the Esk Valley Camphill Community. Personally as a land worker my goal was to create from scratch a new space for growing food for the community. The terms of the legal settlement left us without any land and properties and therefore the new challenge was and is to create new projects outside the Village. After a few weeks of research for new land Michael Hazelton, the Vicar in the nearby village Danby, offered us the Vicarage’s garden for the use of the community. Already a dream was coming true. We started working that piece of land in October getting things prepared for the following season.
We asked permission to the Elementals first. And then we got on with fencing, manuring, building a tunnel, building our composting system and spraying the biodynamic preps. Eventually in February we started the sowing. Everything from seed. We’ve been growing in our houses, conservatories and in a small greenhouse. With the help and support of our Botton Buddies and input from new volunteers, the Esk Valley Camphill Garden is now thriving offering vegetables to about 20 families. We have also been also able to go to some local markets and we’re about to sell our produce to the Danby Health Shop - a local business bought in 2016 by Camphill Community Ventures Ltd, a not-for-profit company created by the new community. The location of the ‘vicarage garden’ makes it a great opportunity to create a strong connection between the new
www.camphill.org.uk
Esk Valley Camphill and the wider local Community. The vision for the future is to create something like a Community Supported Agriculture scheme. People from the locality can join and also people farther afield who believe in the idea behind it. Recently we had the first learning disabled people volunteering at the Vicarage garden. We strongly believe in Biodynamics as a way to relate to the Land. We are looking to develop associative partnerships with the Seed Cooperative, (a new independent BD project), and of course with the Health Shop in Danby. The Vicarage Garden is a communal garden with the aim of feeding a group of people but also a space where everybody can share their passion for food, plants, animals and creativity.
I’m still an apprentice with the privilege to have guidance from one of the most knowledgeable person in Biodynamics in the UK, Hans Steenbergen, co-worker at the Esk Valley Camphill Community who is strongly involved also in the Seed Cooperative project. This past year has still been very tough for those of us going through the, as yet incomplete process of disengaging from CVT, but the experience with this new garden has been inspiring and productive at the same time. As one of our fellow co-workers said when we built the polytunnel at the Vicarage which was provided by dear friends of the Community: “ Thank goodness there is light at the end of the poly tunnel”
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FACING THE FUTURE Clanbogan Development Initiative Clanabogan Development Initiative was born more than twenty years ago out of a will to maintain and develop community relations in the wider area of Clanabogan near Omagh, County Tyrone. Clanabogan is an ancient Gaelic townland name meaning Bogan’s meadow and a more recent postal division. As such it has come to be understood as a wider area than the original townland and is well known over West Tyrone and indeed further abroad.
it was felt that efforts should be made to integrate newcomers to the community. Camphill Clanabogan has been a focus for the Development Initiative since its inception and the group provides opportunities for relationships to flourish.
Being close to Omagh and on a main route there was an explosion in development in the latter part of the twentieth century and
Meetings, which are normally informal, are held in Camphill and provide opportunities for Camphill folk to meet and chat with
others in the wider community and vice versa. Over the years, activities included litter picks, public walks, production of DVDs, publication of books, charity events and efforts to promote home safety for seniors. Just before Christmas we were blessed with a beautifully pleasant Sunday evening for
the switch on of Lights at a local grocery store. Carols were sung by a large crowd drawn from all sections of the community. As I write preparations are under way for our charity quiz, the proceeds of which will be donated to Camphill. Sean Maguire
Milltown Community’s Electric Car - Driving for a Greener Future We are all facing the challenge of climate change. As you look around on a day out or on your daily commute you can’t help but notice a change to the landscape – wind turbines, solar panels, and sometimes an electric car. In this modern age it falls to everyone to do something to help the environment. There is much talk in the news just now about air quality and pollution due to traditional vehicles. In fact there is a proposed bill to ban the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040. There is also a push by car manufacturers to provide their own electric vehicles (EVs) which currently make up less than one percent of cars on our roads. Government estimates suggest that number could rise to fifty percent by 2027, and if you look around during a car journey you will probably notice more EVs on the road as people take advantage of various grants towards EV purchase and charge point installation. More public charging points are becoming available as the trend towards zero emissions continues. The rise of greener electricity from wind farms coupled with EV’s zero emissions means that they are good for the environment.
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Add in running costs of around 2 pence per mile and EVs are looking good for the future. A huge percentage of car journeys are less than 100 miles and a staggering number are less than one mile. If you put all these facts together you can see that electric cars are the way forward. Here at Milltown we have had an all-electric Nissan Leaf for the best part of a year. The decision to buy an EV was made by the tenants at an inclusive meeting which set out the many benefits of switching from diesel vehicles. Shortly after purchase we had a dedicated charging point installed so that the car is always ready to go. After some basic induction to the workings the Nissan proved to be a big hit with both tenants and co-workers, and it has now become the default vehicle for most trips – our diesel car being the second choice. It is great to drive being just like a traditional automatic Left - right: Alan, Ben, Daniel, Andrew and Duncan, in front of Milltown House. car. It is responsive and can be sedate or sporty depending on the driving mode. We feel that it has been a very good move and hope that other Camphill communities will be inspired to look into getting their own electric vehicles. Ralph Blair
Facing the Future | Autumn/Winter 2017
FACING THE FUTURE
Exploring, Experiencing & Achieving a Job
“ It is the impact we make upon a student’s post college life that is important to Ofsted”
at Pennine Camphill Community By Raph Taylor, ACE coordinator, Pennine Camphill Community “ Today he attended work experience at the rugby stadium independently. As usual he walked from home to the stadium; then worked with the staff all morning. When I arrived, the staff said that they had got a lot of work done – moving scrap, cleaning toilets, and sorting players kit out. He was positive about working without me supporting, and wants to continue this arrangement.” From learning… Pennine Camphill Community is currently developing an exciting new venture as part of the college curriculum: Access to Community and Employment (ACE). This programme supports students to develop the fantastic Real Work skills they learn at Pennine, by working with them to Explore on- and off-site Work Experience with a range of local employers, and to undertake Supported Employment with the aim of Achieving part-time paid work.
…through doing… Three stages form the core ethos of ACE: Explore – students are initially challenged through onsite work experience, where they are given job responsibility and expected to work more independently; Experience – a step outside college, where the students are supported in offsite work experience with local and regional employers; and Achieve – some students will move on to a Supported Employment placement, with an employer who is willing to offer them paid work upon completion. Through the Explore, Experience and Achieve steps, we work with our students on Facing their Future Together, enabling and supporting them to make a gradual step into work.
“ I am very proud of her progress in her confidence! She has come home from college this week in a very good mood! She has not brought any issues or concerns to our attention so things are looking up! I have just had a quick discussion with her During their time at Pennine, our students regarding her work experience and she become equipped with a range of work stated she is really enjoying it!” skills, and we work with them towards their post-college lives. Through the ACE programme we support the students in taking their first step out of college, and into adult working life. “ The moment that she enters the room the atmosphere changes completely. She brings happiness to the residents with her energy, jokes and laughter. I heard a conversation between two residents saying that it is wonderful when she comes in the mornings; listening to her laughing and watching her making them happy.” www.camphill.org.uk
…into work… This programme would not be able to work without the partnership of some wonderful employers: from the little independent pet shop, who took on a very shy and anxious young lady, and supported her to become a valued member of staff, working 6 hour shifts, and travelling to and from home by bus; to the larger company able to offer work in catering, house-keeping, grounds and warehouse work. Along the way we have encountered rugby stadiums, garden centres, exotic animal farms, prestige car showrooms, many a café, a few shops, as well as a lot of excitement, a touch of apprehension, and an enormous amount of satisfaction felt by all. This academic year we are increasing the ACE team to meet the growing number of students on the programme; by the time this goes to print, we will be a team of 6 – all part-time posts – ranging from coordination to job-coaching. We are expecting to support around 25-30 students over the academic year, all of whom will take their developing work skills from within the college community, into the world of work – students with learning disabilities moving into their futures, demonstrating the depth and value of their true abilities.
Pennine Camphill Community celebrates the abilities of each individual, and when our students graduate, they are sometimes entering an area of unknowns. The world of employment and work can be both daunting and unforgiving to a young person; through the ACE programme we aim to equip our students with experience of work, the ability to demonstrate transferable skills, and where possible the opportunity of either voluntary or paid work. HMI (OfSTED) lead, Nigel Evans: “ It is the impact we make upon a student’s post college life that is important to Ofsted”. Pennine Camphill Community Student Support Manager, Pete Vickers: “It’s bloomin’ important to the student as well!” Pennine Camphill Community ACE coordinator, Raph Taylor: “ It gives a real sense of achievement to be part of a programme that not only supports our students into work, but celebrates the value of learning at Pennine. Facing their Futures Together with our students allows us to be part of their next steps, and to know that they will leave us with a part-time job also demonstrates the quality and value of their experience at college.”
…and further.
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FACING THE FUTURE The Mount Camphill Co-Housing Community
Transforming Social Care through Innovative Community Building The Mount Camphill Community has been thriving since 1970 as a successful independent Residential College for students with a range of learning difficulties in the heart of the Sussex Weald.
“ We are constantly in awe of your thoroughness, diplomacy and optimism… Really appreciate all you are all doing... Thank you so much.” Relative
“ Co-Housing is really flexible…co-workers have enough free time to pursue other interests and courses while sharing ‘work’ and happily supporting each other where needed.”
Changes and pressure in education, health and social care services have resulted in a decline in student numbers and increasing financial and regulatory challenges. These challenges have inspired The Mount to explore new, sustainable and inclusive Community Building initiatives.
Co-worker
“ The Mount is brilliant.” Supported Co-Housing member
“ For many years, The Mount has received requests to provide further opportunities for vulnerable adults to live and work in our very special supportive and inclusive community context. This project will offer such people the choice of a lifestyle, which combines personalised care with equality and full participation in shared living and meaningful work. The Trustees are excited by this initiative, fully endorse it and warmly ask for your support.”
The Mount Camphill Co-Housing Community Inspired by the Sturts Community Trust Co-Housing, we researched and developed our pioneering Co-Housing initiative with a trial house in April 2017. The initiative is based on a clear separation of accommodation and support, with Co-Housing Community members responsible for participating in the day-to-day running and development of the Co-Housing Community, managing housing, tenancies, repairs and maintenance. The Co-Housing Community enlivens and sustains the whole Community with energy and enthusiasm for Camphill life, work, festivals and celebrations all year round. We have been overwhelmed by the demand for places and quickly filled our second house in September with 9 supported Co-Housing members, 4 co-worker members and two families. We are working towards our third house opening next year in Wadhurst village.
Steve Briault, Chair of Trustees, The Mount Camphill Community
“ Co-Housing is great!” Supported Co-Housing member
“ It’s a pleasure being part of Co-Housing... loving it!.” Supported Lives Facilitator
The Mount Camphill Community Anthroposophical Care & Support Offers individual personal care and support for Co-Housing Community members. Because care and support is provided separately from Co-Housing, the regulatory requirements of residential care are reduced and individuals are empowered with increased choice and control of their life, home and support. We have been able to employ four fantastic Supported Lives Facilitators to help support individuals, households and workshops. 06
Social Enterprise activities are developing to meet the need for meaningful work for Co-Housing Community members and the demand for our products and services. We produce our own honey, run herb and candle workshop, wood workshop, pottery and craft workshops, baking and cooking workshops as well as helping to maintain the garden and estate. These activities promote inclusive Community Building through our collaboration and support of the local community, supplying local shops and farmers markets.
We feel priviledged to be able to establish and maintain new and healthy Camphill Community initiatives in such difficult times. However, is not all plain sailing; it takes continual hard work and commitment from everyone involved. We would like to thank all those in Camphill for their amazing contributions and courage. We wish you all much love and strength to continue Community Building and upholding the culture and ethos of Camphill.
Facing the Future | Autumn/Winter 2017
FACING THE FUTURE Leadership & Succession I joined Camphill Scotland in 2011 and was soon aware of some unease about the future of Camphill – could the impulse survive in times of increasing regulation, modernisation and managerialism? As part of this general concern were more specific questions like – where were the future leaders of Camphill going to come from? What sort of leaders do we want and need? In other words, Camphill was concerned about succession. Succession is the very practical task of finding, preparing and supporting the next generation of leaders to carry Camphill forward into the future. When we surveyed our members in 2013, six out of the eight communities who responded agreed with the statement that they were ‘worried about how your community will find and develop people who are capable of carrying your community into the future.’ I remember a discussion at the Scottish Neighbourhood when I said “I can remember people talking about succession since I joined in 2011” and someone replied “we’ve been talking about it since 1973!” In this article I want to share some of the things Camphill Scotland has been doing to address this issue in recent years. It can be a tricky issue but we can definitely say that it is very worthwhile to make the effort to do something rather than just talk about it. The first thing we did was to get a group of leaders across Camphill Scotland to explore the question of succession in more depth. Together, they created the Camphill Scotland Guide to Succession. This introduced some key challenges and dilemmas around succession and offered very practical tools for working with them. Planning for succession means being honest and open about how influence and authority works in community and the
Worldwide Weave Exhibition Sale
levels of influence that exist. This takes thought and commitment as, amidst the busy life of a community, it may feel easier to rely on established forms of decision making and look to established people to do it. The Guide therefore provides advice on how to make a succession plan and tailored reflections for both established and emerging leaders to help them look at their own personal challenges. It has been very well received across communities in Scotland and by other organisations. If you would like a copy of the Guide please contact jennifer@camphillscotland.org.uk The next thing we did was design and deliver a course for emerging leaders. We used the Guide to Succession as a key text but also enlisted the support of an external consultancy to facilitate the learning. Animate Consulting are well regarded in the Scottish social care community, particularly for their work in the third sector. We knew they had already worked with L’Arche in the UK and other faith-based organisations in the United States.
would have had even more impact. After all, succession is a systemic issue rather than just an individual one. This got us thinking about how to design a learning and development initiative that would include both established and future leaders. We came up with the Camphill Scotland ‘Leadership for Succession’ course which begins in October 2017. An exciting and unusual feature of this course is that it is composed of two groups – a group of established leaders and a group of future leaders. Each group has its own facilitator and works on common issues. However, both groups are then invited into dialogue together about the key organisational and personal challenges around succession and leadership. For established leaders the learning will be prompted by reflecting upon such questions as:
•R emembering when we joined... what were our dreams? What was the difference we believed we could make for Thirteen emerging leaders joined the course Camphill, and Camphill for us? Camphill which took place over 6 days in 2015-16. for the world? It was very well received with comments •T he Values of Camphill – how were such as: they expressed 20 years ago? Now? 20 years into the future? How can you The course was well delivered and individual’s contribute to this? involvement was well facilitated. The course •M y desired legacy (and…what evidence leader had a good understanding of the do I have that I have been building it? Camphill context which was very helpful. What else do I wish to contribute to it?) •W hat is the leadership you imagine it needs for the next 20 years? Valuable experience. I feel I have been given a hat do you know about the community new set of tools to use in my role as a leader in • W at its best – what underpins it being the a range of settings. best it can be (doing and being)? •W hat has kept you awake at night (what Helped clarify my own inner processes by worries you, on behalf of the community?) giving encouragement through conversations.
best it can be (doing and being)? •W hat are your thoughts about the styles of leadership that most support your community to be its best? •W hat is the leadership you imagine it needs for the next 20 years? •H ow will you need to develop in order to offer this leadership? When the two groups come together they will be able to share some of these reflections. They will build a more detailed, inspiring and shared vision of the community at its best – and, crucially, get clearer about what supports the community to be the best it can be. This shared understanding should lead to a clearer sense of what needs to be done to take the community forward. The Leadership for Succession course will again be delivered by Animate Consulting. Joette Thomas delivered the 2015-16 course and she will be joined by her close colleague Jo Kennedy. Joette will work with the established leaders and Jo with the future leaders and they will facilitate the joint group together. We are glad to say that the course has been well subscribed with around 20 participants wanting to take part and roughly 10 for each group. A number of communities have put forward people for both groups thus making it more likely that, together, established and future leaders can carry on the learning into the community after the course is finished. At Camphill Scotland we are glad to provide any further information about these initiatives to friends across Camphill and look forward to keeping you posted on our progress through Camphill Pages. Neil Henery, Camphill Scotland
I was able to take back the knowledge I gained to real situations in my community. Participants, however, also suggested that if established leaders had also been part of the learning and development process this
For future leaders key question might be: • Why do you want to lead in your community? What is your leadership offer? •W hat do you know about the community at its best – what underpins it being the
All remaining unsold exhibits of the World Wide Weave Exhibition are now available to buy online at the new reduced price of £60 including postage. Please browse through the exhibits at www.camphillfoundation.net to see the amazing beauty and variety of textile art on offer and to make a purchase. Your interest and generosity will greatly assist the Foundation in its work. Exhibits are ready for immediate dispatch. To purchase one of these unique works of textile art, please contact Peter Bateson by email peter@camphillfoundation.net
www.camphill.org.uk
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NEWS Golden Garden! Tiphereth, Camphill in Edinburgh’s Garden Group have done it again! At the Gardening Scotland show at Ingliston (2nd - 4th June 2017) the Tiphereth Garden Group have won Gold for the Planter Garden, Gold for the Pallet Garden, and First Prize for the groups. This is a brilliant achievement for everyone involved because they have put in a lot of hard work and care, and it has been well rewarded. In addition, the baskets which were used in the displays were made by Tiphereth’s Basketry Group. A Parliamentary Motion has been raised by Gordon MacDonald MSP to congratulate the Garden Group on their achievement and recognise their success. The motion has been signed by several MSPs.
...they have put in a lot of hard work and care, and it has been well rewarded.
Congratulations to everyone involved!
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Facing the Future | Autumn/Winter 2017
PLUS
SCOTLAND
MAY 2017
CAMPHILL DIALOGUE
Dialogue Delegates assemble outside Camphill Newton Dee’s Phoenix Hall.
A Celebration of Diversity Personal Impressions of Camphill Dialogue 2017 In former years I was actively involved in the Movement Group and in the International Dialogue Steering Committee (1993-2007) and have taken part in eight of the eleven Camphill Dialogues. Now that I am no longer living or working in Camphill except as a trustee I was very interested to experience current thinking, to get a feel for the developing relationship between boards and communities and to get a sense of how Camphill as a whole appears today on the world stage. Many radical changes and painful crises in some Camphill communities and neighbourhoods in recent years have
Pages Plus - Scotland May 2017
caused great controversy and much personal suffering. It is difficult not to be disheartened and demoralized by such events and to look to the future with confidence. As I am now retired I am in one sense quite detached and unaffected by new developments, but after a lifetime in Camphill it still does matter to me. It was in this way that I approached this year’s Dialogue in Newton Dee, Camphill and Murtle, and I am happy to say that I felt very encouraged by the experience. I have the feeling that many of the precepts and principles of Camphill as they have been followed for the past 77 years are no
longer practicable in today’s world - for various different reasons, generational change being the main one in my view. Karl König predicted this himself. The deeper Camphill Impulse may need to find its way forward in different or newer spheres of activity. But Camphill Dialogue as a gathering of board members is primarily concerned with what is here and now - what we actually have as Camphill which is visible to the wider world. I experienced a new picture of Camphill, as something different, with a huge spectrum of communities and experiences, a celebration of difference and diversity.
There was no sense of tension or conflict amongst those parts of Camphill which were represented. All communities have accepted massive changes, and there is a greater understanding and tolerance of differences between regions and neighbourhoods than in the past, although serious challenges and issues were reported from some areas. In particular I thought that North America, Scotland and Norway presented a very strong picture of thriving communities. Continued Overpage >
The family home of the Williamston House.
The lord provost of Aberdeen, Barney Crockett addresses the opening of Dialogue 2017.
Musicians from the Newton Dee folk.
Continued from previous page > It was clear that Camphill is much more out there in the world, and embracing many more people and partnerships. There is tremendous serious and selfless support from an enormous worldwide circle of board members, their families and friends, for which we can only be deeply grateful. However, the most encouraging and even surprising aspect for me personally and from my current standpoint from the periphery was that in the many discussion forums the ideals and core values of Camphill were strongly articulated and were very clearly in people’s consciousness and hearts as they kept coming up throughout the Dialogue, in various ways and degrees of perception. Overall there was a feeling of opening up. Now there is more than one stream and level that people can engage with Camphill on. There is clearly a worldwide group of people working on enabling true decision making for people with disabilities. The new development of co-housing in various forms is an important and innovative aspect of this.
The civic reception hosted by Aberdeen’s lord provost in honour of Dialogue coming to Aberdeen.
As in all Dialogues, the sense of warmth, friendship and colleagueship was overwhelming. It was a true gift to be able to meet so many old and new friends. The ‘pilgrimage’ to Kirkton House where it all began (my first ever visit) was incredibly moving. How far Camphill has travelled since then! Warmest congratulations and thanks to everyone involved at Camphill Schools Murtle and Camphill estates and Newton Dee Community for a very successful and enjoyable Dialogue.
The visitor book at Williamston House showing Camphill’s founders.
Peter Bateson Trustee of The Mount Community and Camphill Foundation UK & Ireland Dunnotar Castle on the Aberdeenshire coast.
Inspecting the visitors book at Williamston House.
Pages Plus - Scotland May 2017
The new plaque presented by Dialogue to the owners of Kirkton House.
Kirkton House, where Camphill started.
An Interview with Bryan Zecca Bryan Zecca arrived at Murtle Estate 26 years ago as a 14 year old and attended school at Camphill Estate. Bryan learned “to do many things in the house; it was a new experience this Camphill life” After a year and a half Bryan moved to Camphill Beaver Run in the U.S.A., he then matriculated at Camphill Soltane. Next Bryan returned to his native California and joined Camphill Communities California.
Bryan Zecca outside Kirkton House with the new plaque. Bryan sports his Camphill Communities California t-shirt.
Bryan attended the Camphill Dialogue 2017 in Aberdeen and was asked to present the plaques honouring the beginnings of the Camphill Movement to the Buckingham Family, who now own Kirkton House where Camphill founded their first home, and to the benefactors of that house, the Burnett Family of Williamston House in Aberdeenshire.
Asking Bryan if he noticed any changes since his school days? “Of course!” he said, “new building and some of the older people were not there….” At the Dialogue Bryan learned that, “Camphill began in 1939, so more of the history and background; how it all came about, thanks to Karl König.” When asked about the Camphill Movement moving into the future, Bryan replied wisely, “We’ll see what happens in the future; things are continuing. Camphill is a special place, old, established, well known in Europe.” Was there a highlight? Bryan shared, “the old rail line helps everyone stay connected! Also, it was nice to go back and hear the presentations; to experience anew and the meeting of friends. I felt the essence of Camphill is living, seriously, living there especially in the older community Halls.”
Camphill Tippereth The Camphill Dialogue in Aberdeen was a great opportunity for local Board members from around the globe to meet and talk about common issues. The five of us who attended from Tiphereth, Camphill in Edinburgh, came back enthused after a really enjoyable few days filled with both topics for grappling with, time for in depth conversations and interspersed with wonderful cultural jewels. The true depth of this event is in the emotional bonding, harmony and friendships that flourished and developed over these few days spent in the sunshine of Scotland. On a more practical level, the Board members in our community appreciated their greater understanding of the international dimension of the Camphill movement and the common issues we share. This has percolated into many topical discussions in our community as we digested such nourishment and sharing and has been a valuable learning event. We look forward to the next Dialogue, when again we will find the funds to send several members to experience the multi-dimensional experience that makes a true Dialogue. Bruce Bennet
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Members working with co-workers in the new buildings we have created at Hoyland Hill. The work on the main house, Hoyland House, began in September 2017 and should be completed in June 2018 – this will provide six new homes for residents in three flats, new workshops - a print workshop, confectionary and kitchen workshop and a communication hub as well as a new hall and meeting space.
Dialogue Report “I thought I was coming to a meeting but I feel I have had a summer holiday”; that was the comment from a Norwegian delegate at the end of Dialogue 2017 in Aberdeen! There is no doubt that the sun’s blessing shone down on the gathering, adding extra warmth to that which lived in the hearts of all present. This was not a meeting where eminent speakers addressed the group with keynote lectures but one where “ordinary” Camphillers spoke of their experiences and offered their thoughts and questions for discussion; three people on each of the three mornings sharing the past, the present and a possible future. This led to lively conversation in the plenum sessions and – even more so – in small groups and between individuals over coffee and cake; whoever designed the landscaping round Phoenix Hall in Newton Dee to provide the wall ideal for sitting on had a stroke of genius! We found that the issues which face the communities are similar no matter where in the world we live – how to nurture the community where our traditional forms are threatened, where external regulations encroach on our understanding and where funding is limited to paying for basic individual needs to be met; how to care for our elderly community members; how to disseminate information about our work so that others may come to perceive and support the true needs of our friends whose lives are challenged in different ways.
During our time in Scotland we could make a number of visits. The gathering started with a Civic Reception in Aberdeen City Hall – accompanied by a pipe band in the street. A first for many was the visit to Kirkton House which was the first home for the community as they arrived one by one from Austria and to Williamston where we were warmly hosted for tea and cake by the descendants of the family who had welcomed Ita Wegman, Karl König and others as they made their initial visits to the area. We had meetings in Newton Dee and in Camphill Estate and a social evening with dinner in Murtle Estate – with more bagpipes and the traditional contributions from various countries which gave hope for the future of the Movement. On a personal level, as one who is no longer able to live in a Camphill community but whose relationship remains strong through participation as Chair of Trustees of a recently extended Camphill company I am grateful to say that the spirit of Camphill is strong and palpable; yes, changes have been necessary but perhaps that is not such a bad thing; times have been difficult but we have grown and if the atmosphere at Dialogue 2017 continues so will we all continue – individually and together. Rosie Phillpot
“ I thought I was coming to a meeting but I feel I have had a summer holiday.” Norwegian delegate, Dialogue 2017
Pages Plus - Scotland May 2017
MORPHOLOGY John Ruskin, Rudolf Steiner, Arnold Freeman & Karl König This exhibition introduces four pioneering cultural thinkers, their works in relationship to Sheffield and how creativity combined with nature gives rise to new educational methods, ecological models and benefits social improvement.
labour movement and worked together with the famous social reformers Sidney and Beatrice Webb, founding members of the Fabian Society and founders of the London School of Economics. After a period of research in 1912 at the Woodbrooke Rudolf Steiner: 1861 - 1925 was an Quaker Settlement in Birmingham he Austrian scientist and philosopher who was appointed as lecturer in history and studied the natural sciences in depth. economics at the Workers Educational Steiner edited the main body of Goethe’s Association in Sheffield and also lectured in writings for the Kurschner edition of Goethe’s works on natural sciences. He used University Tutorial Classes for Oxford and London in their Extra Mural departments. Goethe’s approach and method to further In 1918 he was appointed Warden of the develop morphological thinking into a At the close of the 18th century in Germany, method of perceiving the formative forces in Sheffield Educational Settlement where he Goethe developed the biological concept of stayed until his retirement in 1955. In 1921 natural processes. Steiner became the head morphology, the study of the form and the of the newly constituted German section of after reading an article from the Hibbert specific structural features of organisms. Journal on Steiner’s Threefold Social Order, the Theosophical Society in 1902. The term was independently arrived at by Freeman experienced what he called an Through diligent study, Steiner became the German anatomist and physiologist ‘instantaneous conversion’ and became a aware that there are several levels of Karl Friedrich Burdach in 1800. dedicated adherent to the ideas of Rudolf perception and he developed skills in Seiner. In parallel with his social and observing them. He described his approach morph | ology; from the Ancient Greek educational work for the working people of as a philosophy for Spiritual Science, out of morphé, meaning “form”, and lógos, Sheffield, he worked tirelessly to promote which he developed Anthroposophy. meaning “word, study, research”. Anthroposophy. This informed his many areas of interest As the sciences developed into specialised Karl König: 1902-1966 was born in Vienna, and echoed an insight that is often spheres of knowledge, Goethe reflected Austria, the only son of a Jewish family. understood in many spiritual disciplines; that the production of new knowledge He was educated at secondary school in how to bring spirit into matter. In 1912 the is inseparable from its environment and Vienna and at the University of Vienna, Anthroposophical Society was founded at subject. The Poet Scientist introduced the where he graduated in medicine in 1927. the Goetheanum in Switzerland. In his lifesubjective into an empirical study of the time Steiner published numerous books and His special medical interests were object, including imagination as one of the delivered thousands of lectures in Germany embryology, paediatrics, and homoeopathy. tools of observation. At this time, he also took a particular and Europe, giving the impetus for the renewal of various fields of life. Challenging interest in curative education for children In 19th century Britain we see Ruskin’s the current scientific and cultural paradigms with special needs. Following the Nazi nature observations, their relationship to annexation of Austria in 1938, König fled made Steiner a counter cultural figure. his art criticism and the rise of the Arts & to England and later to Scotland and when However, his life work resulted in Steiner Crafts movement. Whilst, in Germany at this education, biodynamic agriculture and new war broke out he was interned on the Isle of time, morphological thinking was further impulses for medicine, the arts, architecture Man as an enemy alien. After his release in developed by Steiner. late 1940 he established a residential school and social renewal. for children in need of special care on the John Ruskin: 1819 - 1900 was the leading Camphill Estate near Aberdeen, this was Sheffield played an important role in the English art critic of the Victorian era, also the beginning of the ‘Camphill’ movement. work of two of these practical thinkers, an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, In the early 1940s König travelled around John Ruskin and Arnold Freeman. social thinker and philanthropist. Britain lecturing and meeting teachers to Ruskin founded St. George’s Museum He wrote on subjects as varied as art, geology, explore the possibility of opening more and Farm, in part, because of Sheffield’s architecture, education, botany and political schools for children in need of special care. surrounding countryside and its artisan economy. In 1870 he was appointed the It was during one of his visits that König history of metal smithy. first Slade Professor of Fine Art, Oxford. In began discussions with Freeman about 1871, Ruskin established the Guild of St. opening a school in Sheffield but, despite Freeman established The Little Theatre George with the objective of purchasing land some promising searches for suitable showing productions of Goethe’s Faust, in ‘healthy districts’, providing education premises, the project never came to fruition ‘available to the mass of people, not just and employment to labourers as a way mainly because of economic and licensing the privileged few’. An exchange of letters of improving the conditions of the poor. between Freeman and König illustrate their difficulties. König returned to Germany in These aims were laid out in the booklet, 1964, founding another community near shared interest to establish a residential Fors Clavigera – a series of ‘Letters to the school at the outskirts of the city. Sheffield’s Überlingen. Today, the Camphill movement Workman and Labourers of Great Britain’. includes more than 100 communities in over legacy emerges as a rich ground to realise In 1875 he founded St. George’s Museum in 20 different countries. arts, craft and nature as methods of Walkley, set in what was then ‘magnificent education, community and social renewal. hill country’. Ruskin chose Sheffield as a Ruskin Mill Trust: Founded by Aonghus city famous for high quality craftsmanship, Gordon in 1986, the Trust is a charity Arnold Freeman: 1886 - 1972 was born filling his museum with an eclectic collection specialising in educational and residential in North London into a non-conformist amongst which were copies of Venetian provision for young people marginalised by family who owned and ran a cigar-making paintings, minerals and botanical studies. disadvantage, exclusion or special learning factory. Educated at the Haberdashers’ In 1877 the Guild of St. George, with needs. The innovative and experiential Aske’s School and from 1905 to 1908, Ruskin as Master, purchased 13 acres of curriculum combines education and he then studied history and economics land in Totley where St. George’s Farm was therapies, delivered through practical skills at St. John’s College Oxford. Freeman established for a small group of working men in traditional hand-craft workshops. These subsequently became involved in the www.camphill.org.uk
to cultivate the land. Today, his ideas and concerns are widely recognised as having influenced and anticipated interests in environmentalism, sustainability and craft.
activities support the students in creative engagement with positive challenges, meeting the world with confidence and enhances their capacity to act responsibly. Steiner’s insights are the foundation of Ruskin Mill Trust’s unique method, Practical Skills Therapeutic Education as it supports the unfolding of the student’s spiritual potential through an arts and crafts curriculum, which also integrates Ruskin’s work with craftsmanship and nature. Freeman College: Sheffield was opened by Ruskin Mill Trust in 2005. Reflecting the city’s industrial artisan heritage and entrepreneurship, metal work is a signature craft at Freeman College. Students are taught traditional crafts, horticulture and cooking by experienced makers. Education and therapies are embedded into a holistic learning programme that is deeply connected to land, building on the combined legacy of these four practical thinkers.
Sheffield Exhibition Shows Invitation by City for Dr König’s School Community At The AGM of The Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain in Sheffield in May hosted by The Ruskin Mill Trust’s Freeman College visitors were treated to a special exhibition where Dr König’s remarkable place as possible initiator of a Camphill Rudolf Steiner School in the city in 1945. It was not to be but the process involved a meeting in City Hall where 300 people including those involved in the Council with children’s welfare listened with interest to König’s proposals. It prompted Carole to trace the connection König had with Steiner in a city deeply influenced by John Ruskin and their common inspiration of Goethe’s writings. In a sense The Arts and Crafts Movement which had all but been by passed in new post war developments had a Renaissance in Camphill Communities with architecture, craft and artistic activity all reflected in the daily life of an adult community. This leads to a deeper appreciation of Dr König’s life and work fully integrated into the “folk soul” of the British Isles for this movement with William Morris as its creator embraces much including the garden city movement, guild socialism and through Ruskin seeds of a fairer society and social justice.
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CAMPHILL PAGES COMES Looking after Camphill Pages! It is certainly a privilege to be Editorial Coordinator. You get to ask all sorts of people involved in Camphill to write articles, send in news stories and pictures and I couldn’t do it without the help at Cactus Creative in Kendal, just down the road from where I live near Ambleside in Cumbria. I was on the PR Group of The Association when it began in 1996 and noticed how well Sandy Cox photographed the MF 230 tractor for The Massey Ferguson Magazine, we had brought with fund raised money, for Camphill Houses at Ashfield Gardens. He went on to help Andy Paton publish Pages in its unique A3 size, quite overwhelming at times but everyone could read or see the pictures and colourful layout that Julia created at Ideas for Print.
played in representing Camphill in the wider community. The place where the communities and society meet has become a very important area of both protection and openness, of welcome and invitation to see how a Camphill works. Pages seems to help this process with a peep into the daily life without prying and I have been able, as Editorial Coordinator, to visit and share the joys and frustrations that communities have as The Intentional Community Movement is under great scrutiny from inspection bodies, local authorities, parents and siblings. It was always the case really and as Editorial
Coordinator, I hope I have never shied away from the challenges that have subeset Camphill, as well as celebrating the joys that living in community can bring.
Snippets Section in the first Pages and now the excellent work with our designers Cactus Creative which disguises my hesitant editorial skills!
Any special memories? Well going to the New Lanark Conferences as Pages rep, asking for contributions on the changing nature of these gatherings, attending St. Paul’s Cathedral to hear Sir John Tavener’s Choral Piece at the publication of Shaping The Flame, where he wrote The Foreward with Robinswood Press to usher in a new century, writing The
I hope Pages can continue as long as it is needed and now that it has grown up, face the future, its challenges and opportunities as our theme suggests, with confidence! Thank you for your interest and support.
It was always the idea that Pages would be at home on the desk of The Director of Social Services as well as in the hands of Parents and Siblings of those living and working in the communities. It also became a news channel between the communities highlighting the unique role The Association of Camphill Communities
“ Pages... at home on the desk of The Director of Social Services as in the hands of parents, siblings and those living and working in the communities...” Vivian Griffiths, Editor 2014 - Present
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Facing the Future | Autumn/Winter 2017
OF AGE: 21 YEARS OLD “ It was a privilege to work with the fantastic team at Cactus Creative on a new look Camphill Pages. Many thanks to all who contributed over the years.� Tom Marx, Editor 2011 - 2014
A selection of Camphill Pages from 1996 - 2017.
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RESEARCH NETWORK Back to Bedlam: What kind of future faces people with a learning disability? The Centre for Welfare Reform has published a major review of public policy for people with a learning disability by the distinguished academic and researcher Robin Jackson. Jackson argues that policy in the UK is tipping backwards to an era of institutionalisation and of disregard for the human rights and basic dignity of people with a learning disability. Decades of slow progress, led by families, disabled people and their allies, is now in reverse as local government and the NHS increasingly rely on institutional services, often provided by large, private-sector corporations, with no commitment to human rights. This decline in public policy has been accelerated by austerity which has led to cuts in support and income that puts the UK in breach of international standards. These policies have been imposed without any significant accountability or discussion. 1. Ministerial leadership has been progressively watered down. Since 2010 there have been 6 ministers for disabled people: each inexperienced and inept, lasting no more than a year in their post. 2. Austerity has targeted disabled people for cuts in income and support; yet the Government’s response to their severe criticism by the United Nations has been arrogant and confused denial. 3. Talk of funding reform in social care has proved mere talk, while cuts to social care have been very real indeed. Some statutory bodies have begun investing in institutional solutions, rejecting the right to independent living that is defined by the UN’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
4. The regulator of health and social care, CQC, is out of its depth, completely unable to safeguard standards or to identify the abuse which is too often found in institutional care settings. 5. Too many charities have become passive, unwilling to speak out or criticise government, too dependent on funding or too eager to win contracts to provide services for the government. Advocacy bodies are likewise too dependent on local funding and unwilling to criticise the organisations that fund them. Independent academic research has become weaker as the research agenda is increasingly defined by government itself. The report makes a series of important recommendations • The government should promote and ensure the full realisation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons with disabilities which are set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. • The government should accord an equivalence of regard to a Ministry of Disability as to any other government department. • Charities representing people with a learning disability should be more assertive and challenge government policy when and where it is seen to be disadvantageous to people with a learning disability and their families. • Charities should avoid any arrangements with government agencies that have the potential of threatening their operational independence and functioning.
•T he practice of successive governments outsourcing social care provision to large companies should cease. •T he government should encourage local authorities, charities and private providers to explore and develop a new range of day and residential services for people with a learning disability. •T he government should closely monitor the introduction of technological developments within the social and health services which have the potential to threaten the wellbeing of people with a learning disability.
Robin Jackson, the author of the report, said:
Dr Simon Duffy, Director of the Centre for Welfare Reform, said:
“ My fear is that the current pursuit of the policy of austerity when combined with the likely negative consequences of Brexit will set in train an irreversible process that will adversely affect all people with a learning disability and their families. If something is going to be done to reverse this process then it needs to be done very soon as time is fast running out.”
“ The UK political system and the charitable and academic sectors are failing people with a learning disability. Along with other disabled people, people with a learning disability have become a target for politically inspired injustice and there is no accountability in the current system. The failure of the charitable sector is particularly concerning, for they are perceived to represent the interests of people with a learning disability to the general public. If the sector speaks no evil, then ordinary members of the public will hear no evil.”
• Advocacy services representing people with a learning disability should be financially resourced from central government and be given the freedom to operate free of external interference. • Social care should be treated separately from the National Health Service in order to safeguard its professional integrity and ensure access to adequate financial resources.
CAMPHILL PAGES EDITORIAL GROUP REPRESENTATIVES:
PUBLISHED BY:
Michael Hilary (Southern Ireland), Colm Greene (Northern Ireland), Tom Marx (Scotland), Steven Hopewell, Tim Davies (England and Wales) and Vivian Griffiths (Pages Editorial Coordinator)
The Association of Camphill Communities UK and Ireland.
Pages is published twice a year in September and March. Contact and contributions are very welcome and should come through to viviangriffiths@talktalk.net
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•A new regulatory body for social services should be established to replace the ineffective and discredited Care Quality Commission.
Contact Us: Camphill Pages Editorial Board, Wood View, 2 Pull Woods Cottages, Pull Woods, Ambleside, Cumbria, LA22 0HZ. Tel: 015394 22723 Email: viviangriffiths@talktalk.net Designed by Cactus Creative www.cactuscreative.com. Copyright©AoCC, and Contributors 2017.
Facing the Future | Autumn/Winter 2017
OBITUARIES friends, Dave helping with construction work at Pishwanton Wood.
Margaret Colquhoun Margaret Colquhoun, born in 1947, was a Yorkshire lass; she and wee brother Xenophon were raised in a big old red brick house in Ripon on the banks of the River Ure. Margaret’s mother Marika was a justice of the peace and Eric, her father, taught maths and music at Ripon Grammar School.
Roger Halpern Our Friend Roger passed away on the last day of July this year. He would have been 83 this October!
Eric was a keen gardener and bee keeper so no doubt this was where Margaret first got an interest in our flora and fauna. Margaret came to Scotland in the mid-1960s, where she gained a doctorate in genetics at Edinburgh University. Her extra-curricular activities included an overland trip on the ‘hippy trail’ to Kabul in Afghanistan and mountaineering and rock climbing in the Highlands. Through climbing she met the Edinburgh mountaineer Dave Bathgate and they were married in 1970. They bought a house in the country and lived happily with a cat, a dog, Daisy the Jersey cow and a fine Welsh cob. Margaret trekked up to Everest base camp, where Dave was engaged in an attempt on the south west face. They divorced in 1977 but remained firm
in Harley Street, London and was accepted as a 13year old in the Camphill Schools, Aberdeen. In Newton Dee, a House full of boys, Roger was shown how to dig in the garden, when after having had a fit, he used to hit out! In 1949, when my wife Christiane joined Camphill, she got to know Roger, because she had him in her dormitory of several boys. With Christiane Roger learned gardening and observing the weather. It was a joy to work with him.
Much later, in 1979-80, when we were establishing the work at William Morris Roger was born in 1934 on the 30th October. House, a former Workhouse, we received a call to ask if a Roger Halpern could join us. His mother Barbara Strachie Halpern was Well, he soon did join! part of the Oxford Literary Circle. Rogers Father was a Swedish Naval Officer. Roger Roger was a tall, good looking gentleman, met neither his real father, nor the man his mother married later. Mr. Halpern was an Air with polite speech and a taste for classical Music, especially Opera and for holiday Pilot and died in an air crash during World travelling! His mother took him regularly to War Two. Opera cycles in London; Vienna, and Verona. Roger grew up in the cultured background of Roger loved the journeys, the hotels and Opera Houses. He always looked forward to his mother. Because he developed epileptic his next trip and holiday! fits early on; he was schooled in a private special school. He was seen by Dr. K. Koenig
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Margaret was a founder of the business Helios Fountain in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket and involved in the conception of Peter Potter Gallery in Haddington before starting up The Life Science Trust in 1992. She also studied zoology and genetics with agricultural science at Edinburgh University in the 1960s and worked there as a research associate in the 1970s on questions of population genetics and evolutionary biology. Later on, still carrying questions into the reality and relationship of taxonomy and evolution, she spent four years in the Carl Gustav Carus Institute in Oschelbronn in Germany and at the Natural Science Section in Dornach, Switzerland, learning to use the Goethean scientific methodology. Since then, she has both taught and researched extensively using Goethean science in Britain with a special interest in landscape, medicinal plants and animal evolution. She was also the director of the Pishwanton Project of the Life Science Trust, an educational charity working on environmental issues in East Lothian. After her Ph.D. at Edinburgh University, she underwent a four-year training (in Germany and Switzerland) in the scientific methodology developed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Her special interest was in landscape, medicinal plants and animal evolution. This was a turning point in her life’s work, enabling her to develop a holistic way of practising science, which she carried, in collaboration with others, into many different spheres of work: science, agriculture, horticulture, medicine, landscape design, architecture, therapy, visual and performing arts and numerous crafts. In 1992 she founded the The Life Science Trust, a Scottish charity, whose aim was
the furtherance of this work. In 1996, the trust purchased Pishwanton Wood, at the foot of the Lammermuir hills near Gifford, which became the focus of Margaret Colquhoun’s work. Hundreds of people, both from the local area and all over the world, have come to Pishwanton to work and study there. The project still continues to develop, and on Margaret’s 70th birthday in May 2017 she opened the first residential chalet on-site. She herself described Pishwanton as: “A pioneer experiment in the sustainable and therapeutic integration of a variety of activities that might normally be seen as mutually exclusive, for example agriculture, horticulture, medicinal plant cultivation, ecological conservation and research, education, the arts, community living and business. The Pishwanton Project is thus an innovative, land-based project, which provides a pioneer focus for sustainability in the 21st century.” She was much loved by a large number of friends from all over the world and her wonderful collaborative work will continue for very many people to be a living inspiration. Margaret’s Obituary in The East Lothian Courier
Pishwanton
During the 1950’s and 60’s Roger lived for 18 years in the Camphill Botton Village in Yorkshire. He was one of the early pioneers! Then he moved around a bit to other Camphill places, as he had itchy feet and needed change. In the 1990’s Roger moved from William Morris house to the Orchard Leigh Community in the same village, where his mother had bought a cottage for him and others. He had become a knowledgeable Garden-Farmer and became a respected member of the community. On Sundays he always came to this Church to ring the bell for the service. In the last few years of his life Rogers’s strength declined, though he still worked in the Gardenshed. He had to use a stick to steady his walking. These years were accompanied by kind carers to help him along. His best years were in Botton Village; he knew everyone and was a loved member of the Village Community. Whilst we bury Roger’s body here today, we know of course that his spirit and soul is yonder with other
friends who went before him. All who know Roger will want to send their love and their prayers to him where he resides now. Michael Lauppe’s Tribute at Roger’s Funeral Gloucestershire August 2017
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CAMPHILL FOUNDATION Camphill Foundation UK & Ireland The Foundation’s recent AGM and Trustees’ Meeting took place at Corbenic Camphill Community, near Dunkeld, Perthshire, in one of the most stunningly beautiful locations of any Camphill place in the world.
remarkable in that a number of faithful and long-serving parent trustees have sons or daughters who were resident in Camphill for only a relatively short period, but whose unwavering love and support for Camphill has continued undiminished for years, even decades, after! Worthy of special gratitude in this respect are John and Finella Spens Drumour Lodge, Corbenic. (he a founder trustee, legal advisor and author of the Foundation’s Memorandum, only recently resigned as a trustee) whose the exercise was all encompassing which daughter was in Camphill a long time ago, In British terms it seems remote at first involved many of the villagers, co-workers, and Sandra Armstrong and husband Alan, but this is an illusion. The community has staff, friends and parents alike. Not only who have continued to be great friends and very strong links and constant interaction was it a great spectacle and platform to supporters of Camphill through William with the life of the locality, exemplified in display the work of their communities Morris, Templehill, St. Alban’s, ‘Families recent years by the lively shop and café to the general public and friends but it and Friends’ and Camphill Foundation since right in the centre of the busy town was wonderful for everyone within the their son was in Camphill many years ago. and the on-site Sculpture and Poetry Path communities to be united and proud of their Rob van Duin, a long-serving trustee, passed which is open to the public and becoming work and be able to express what they stand away recently at a relatively young age and a widely known regional attraction. for. It was very evident that there was a great is sorely missed. Others who have played an See www.corbeniccamphill.co.uk for sense of camaraderie amongst the members important role and had the Foundation close more information about this thriving and of the communities. to their hearts are Georg Schad, Michael innovative community. There is also a very Luxford and Mike Hailey, all founder interesting and engaging video of Corbenic members, John Durham, Ann Harris and (amongst other ventures) on the Foundation The exposure that the exhibition gave Camphill in the different neighbourhoods Christof König. David Cloughley, recently website www.camphillfoundation.net. of the UK and Ireland and in five other retired as a trustee, whose daughter lives in Camphill Foundation was founded in 1984 countries was tremendous, through the Mourne Grange, was a tremendous strength as the Thomas Weihs Trust, in honour of one various media channels and social media for many years through his professional of the much loved and respected founders experience and expertise in banking of Camphill who had died the previous year and the excellent venues. It engaged so many people in a discussion around and finance, and a stalwart champion (the name was changed in 1989). It was his Camphill. A real sense of achievement of Camphill. wish to support new and ground-breaking was evident with many of the villagers initiatives in Camphill and he and his wife and co-workers and on the other hand Rainer Reinardy is the longest serving Anke always had a far-reaching vision astonishment from visitors at the quality trustee/director, since the early years. for what Camphill’s development could of work produced from the communities all The current chairman is Simon Beckett and encompass. In fact, Corbenic was one of a other trustees are Sandra Armstrong, number of ventures inspired and pioneered over the world. Sally McCorquodale (son in Corbenic), by them during what could be called the From the beginning and right up until Helen Cherry (two sons in Loch Arthur), boom-era of rapid expansion in Camphill the present day the composition of the Nicola Swaffield (son formerly in The Mount during the seventies and eighties. Foundation’s board of trustees has consisted and William Morris) and Gillian Brand and almost entirely of a partnership between Peter Bateson, both long-term Camphillers. The World Wide Weave Exhibition project Camphill parents and long-term Camphill Camphill Foundation funds an everwhich was created to celebrate 75 years of co-workers in roughly 50:50 proportion. changing variety of projects which enhance Camphill in 2015 was conceived the year This has been a very strong feature and and enrich the lives of vulnerable people in before during the Foundation’s 30 year need of extra care and support. This is our jubilee. This was experienced by many to be characterisation which shows itself in a primary objective. Nowadays, independence the most creative and stimulating initiative particularly warm dedication to the tasks of the Foundation, which is a charity and freedom of choice are regarded as the carried out in the name of Camphill for registered in Scotland. This is all the more main aim and they are fine ideals, but they quite some time. The scope and breath of
can only be achieved with the right level and type of support, both financial and personal. The Foundation offers financial support which enables new initiatives to start and helps to create or improve facilities and vital opportunities for creative and fulfilling work. It also supports developments in the social, cultural and therapeutic life of communities. It often provides that extra bit of help for enhancing the quality of life where regular funding fails to reach. True quality of life means combining individual choice and fulfilment with social belonging and responsibility. That’s what we aim to promote.
The Camphill cafe and shop in Dunkeld.
Dunkeld marketplace.
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Online donations of any amount can easily be made on the website but most of the Foundation’s income is in the form of legacies. When people donate to a charity they want to know that the money is being well spent. All donations to the Foundation, large or small, can help to support more than a single project. Most of the funding provided is in the form of loans and when the money is repaid it becomes available to help with another project, then another, and so on. The Foundation works with all the member communities of the Camphill Association UK & Ireland so is the ideal place for those who wish to leave something to Camphill in general rather than to a particular community or group of beneficiaries. For information about how to leave a legacy, contact simon@newtondee.org.uk The number and variety of projects supported by the Foundation during its 33-year lifetime is enormous, ranging from seed funding to help get an initiative started, relatively small amounts needed for very specific purposes, and very substantial loans for major building developments. The beauty of what the Foundation can provide lies particularly in its very low interest rate (usually 1% above base rate), flexibility of repayment options and its ability to provide loans without needing to
Facing the Future | Autumn/Winter 2017
Continued from back page > Unfortunately, and because of a lack of financial resources and age, many of our buildings have fallen into disrepair and are in urgent need of essential renovations, in particular, our school buildings. Whilst the school does not have the reserves to undertake all the projects required, which are extremely costly, remedial building work on a priority basis, is underway to improve the learning and working environment, for all within our school. Last year we were fortunate to receive a generous donation from Thornage Hall and Mr David Gurney, to build a retainer wall behind the school building, to divert the rush of water from the mountain side. The elements have however taken their toll on the roof, wooden window frames, doors and paving and this essential work is one of our main priorities.
The start of the Poetry Path (top), and a sculpture found on the path (bottom).
demand security, which in this day and age is very rare indeed! In addition to loans, Camphill or Camphill-related projects can apply for grants of up to £20,000. Further information and application forms are available from simon@newtondee.org.uk Some of the current projects under discussion at the recent trustees’ meeting are as follows. Clanabogan has a social farming project which is a two-phase capital build with the intention to enable the sustainability of social farming in the community. They were looking for a grant towards phase one – a hay drier and storage barn. Tiphereth in Edinburgh requested a grant to support the completion of the Hoyland Hill House project. They have successfully raised funds for the capital refurbishment costs but are now seeking help with the fitting out of either the print studio or the kitchen. Alliance for Camphill has three areas where funding would be helpful to them: research, communication and campaigning. Simeon Care is working towards creating a co-housing project on the site of Caranoc and Whithorn houses. At some stage they will be looking for grant and loan money to further this project. Esk Valley Camphill Community requires support with both website design and the purchase of a new people carrier. Duffcarrig is currently receiving assistance with loan repayment issues. The Mount Community has requested help with the Pond House renovation project which will provide co-housing for six residents. This project has the strong support of The Mount trustees and East Sussex council.
www.camphill.org.uk
The Foundation is currently looking to find one or two new trustees, ideally one at least with expert financial knowledge and acumen. As almost all of us belong to the older generation it would be good to have some younger people. For example, if any younger parents or siblings would be interested and could imagine attending two meetings a year (usually in March and September over 2-3 days) please contact simon@newtondee.org.uk for further information.
Camphill Family and Friends in the UK has also made a very generous donation to assist with the construction of a new sports facility, which will serve both the School and Camphill Farm Community next door. Given the difficulties with excavation and services, this project has taken longer than expected to get off the ground. At this stage, the plans have been drawn and finalised, the costings are being obtained for the required works and hopefully, this project will commence in the near future. We are all looking forward to inviting our Camphill Africa friends to a friendly match or two! The continuing success and future of our school (in addition to adequate sustainable funding) is and will be influenced by the skills, abilities and experience, of all those who provide
education, therapies and other support to our learners, daily. In line with our registration and to provide our learners with the best opportunities, there is an ongoing requirement for properly qualified and trained employee (and volunteers). Without the support of the AoCC this would not have happened. Over the past nine years the AoCC has supported training for all departments and support functions within the school. This much needed and essential training has helped to improve the quality of service that we provide to our learners, in a safe, secure and therapeutic environment. It is an absolute joy to all of us to see how happy and self-confident our learners are, as they grow and develop, physically and intellectually, in a caring and affirming environment. On behalf of all involved in our school, our sincere thanks and appreciation is extended to all our friends within the Camphill family and beyond and we look forward to sharing our 70th anniversary celebrations with you in 2022. J M Botha, Principal
“ There can be no keener revelation of a society’s souls than the way in which it treats its children”. Nelson Mandela
Although the Foundation deals primarily with financial issues and support, in practice the whole ethos of the charity goes much deeper and encompasses an allembracing respect and love for the ideals and essentials of the Camphill Movement. One aspect of keeping this alive is the fact that meetings of the board constantly move round from community to community, throughout the UK and Ireland, and we always make a real effort to see the place and to meet the people wherever we are being hosted. Warmest thanks to Corbenic Community for hosting our meeting in September and we look forward to visiting Tiphereth in March 2018. Peter Bateson Trustee since 2008 and Development Coordinator 2011-17
Clockwise from top left: Jeanne-Marie Botha (Principal), Ald Nicolette Botha-Guthrie, Elma Young (Vice-Chair), Geoffrey Weir (Chairman), Gorgeous Mbali, and our 65 cake. 15
CONGRATULATIONS
Correction: Blair Drummond’s photos actually of Clanabogan
Our Friends in The Biodynamic Movement have been featured in The 2017 BBC Food and Farming Awards with The Seed Cooperative, born out of Camphill’s Stormy Hall Seeds in The Finalists for Future Foods Awards and Patrick Holden, Biodynamic Association Patron awarded The Derek Cooper Lifetime Achievement Award from The Radio 4 Food Programme for his work in sustainable and organic farming. Well Done from Camphill!
In The Spring Edition we featured an article from Camphill Blair Drummond where Sandra Savenson wrote of her work as manager. Inadvertently we published the wrong photos which for those who knew the communities seemed rather confusing. Apologies for the mix up.
Camphill School in South Africa turns 65 When the school was started 65 years ago by a remarkable mother, May Redman, who was determined and inspired to create a caring environment for her intellectually-challenged son, Robert, Dr Karl König, founder of the worldwide Camphill Movement, assisted her in this quest and together Camphill School Hermanus was established in 1952. In line with the founding principles of the Camphill Movement, the School to this day, maintains the ethos of loving respect for the dignity of the child and a desire to develop his/her unique potential. Located in the Hemel en Aadre Valley (translated as Heaven and Earth), on the outskirts of Hermanus, the school now caters for both day and residential learners, aged between 5 and 20 years. Our learners, many with multiple disabilities, receive high quality, individualised education, care and support, together with a wide range of therapies, to assist their development.
futures. From that the Camphill Africa Region (CAR) was re-established and today, the four Communities work associatively, meeting twice yearly to share experiences and plan collectively for the future of Camphill in Africa. For those members and guests that attend the Annual AoCC Assembly and AGM, many of you will have witnessed first-hand (in recent years), through the presentations provided, on behalf of CAR, the life changing difference the support, financial and other from the AoCC membership has made.
Nelson and his co-worker Johanna.
complying fully with the South African Education and other legislation. During the restructuring process and with the encouragement and support of the AoCC Co-ordinators Group, Geoffrey Weir (AoCC Co-ordinator Northern Ireland), was appointed as Chairman of the Camphill School Board. Over the past six years Geoffrey, with his professional expertise and knowledge of Camphill has helped guide us all through many testing and difficult processes. The School also recognise and acknowledge the contributions made from those ‘behind the scenes’, within and associated with the AoCC, who give of their time and knowledge unconditionally.
Due to financial struggles experienced in the years up to and during 2011, it appeared that the school would not survive and the doors would close. However, in the spirit of associative working, the Association of Camphill Communities UK & Ireland (“the AoCC”) came to our aid. The support made available to the school and the other Camphill Communities in Africa Camphill Farm Hermanus, Camphill Village West Coast (formerly known as Alpha) and Camphill Botswana laid the foundations for our survival, by working with the Communities and agreeing/funding essential capacity building and sustainability initiatives that have helped significantly in securing our collective
In relation to the school, and in addition to the direct financial support received, the AoCC has also provided expertise, knowledge, support and human resources to help secure our future.
Obstacle course creative class.
Whole school fun.
CAMPHILL PAGES
Pages is the newsletter of the Association of Camphill Communities UK and Ireland www.camphill.org.uk
A significant example was the funding provided to recruit and appoint a School Principal in 2011. The new principal undertook the great task of restructuring the entire school, implementing various structures, policies and the National Curriculum, which was adapted to our learners with intellectual disabilities, alongside the holistic Camphill Curriculum from Aberdeen. These changes enabled and equipped us to meet the current needs of our learners, whilst satisfying and
In recent years, the contribution of the school to the wider Hermanus community has grown significantly and is now fully recognised. This has resulted from all the hard work and effort invested by those within our team, families, friends, supporters and volunteers, who take an active role in what we are trying to maintain. The school has also invested time and energy in a range of PR, Marketing and Fundraising initiatives, to raise awareness of what we do and how Camphill can remain relevant. Within the school, 90% of the learners
come from the lower income areas and informal settlements (townships) around our town. The school provides and funds daily transport, proper wholesome meals and offers therapies, in addition to the education our learners receive, which is structured to meet their needs, in line with their individual Care & Support Plans. As a result of our efforts, the local community assist financially, make generous donation and support us in many other ways. Hopefully, this relationship will continue to blossom in the years ahead. In addition, our School is now recognised, not only in the greater Overberg Region, but worldwide and has become a beacon of hope and a place of love. Despite the times of hardship endured over the past 6 decades, these past few years have brought consolidation, growth, optimism and confidence. Without sustained support and encouragement from our Board of Directors, our employees and volunteers, the greater Hermanus Community, our Camphill family worldwide, the Association of Camphill Communities UK & Ireland, friends and donors none of this would have been possible. We have been able to achieve many of the goals we set ourselves and have strengthened our capacity for future growth. Continued over page >
Hermanus High School Interact Club with KG and Intermediate Class.