Past, Present and FUTURE Dr Mary Davies from the Pilsdon Community talks to Seth Dellow By Fergus Byrne
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n the twelfth episode of his series of audio interviews for Past, Present & Future, Seth Dellow spoke to Dr Mary Davies from the Pilsdon Community in West Dorset. A new book, Living Life in Common: Stories from the Pilsdon Community has just been published which was co-written by Mary, Dr David Prior, and Professor Marian Barnes. The book brings together different perspectives on life in the community from people who have known it over its more than 60-year history. It also explores both the rewards and challenges of communal living for people whose lives have become severely troubled and explains some of the motivations and experiences of those who have taken on responsibility for running the community. Having previously been in an academic career, Mary Davies cites the need for closer human contact as one of her motivations for joining the Pilsdon Community. ‘I also wanted to be more connected to people’ she told Seth ‘and the academic life can be quite isolating and quite like a lonely experience of working in archives or with your head in the books or writing. Many parts of which I love, but I just wanted to be more interconnected with people and to be impacted by them I suppose as well.’ Now a full-time member of the community, Mary had looked at many Christian communities before coming to Pilsdon but found ‘something about it that really drew me in.’ She describes it to Seth as a ‘combination of a monastic rhythm—its simplicity, its acceptance and the kind of
18 The Marshwood Vale Magazine April 2022 Tel. 01308 423031
