Click here for email version of the newsletter, packed with photos and short stories
Friends and Family Newsletter – with full version of all articles:
Number 1: Life Under Lockdown and Celebrating Summer
Sally McCorquodale, Parent and Trustee
I am delighted that Corbenic will now start to send us all a “Family and Friends” newsletter. This is very good news and particularly at this time when we are all at home and have a great need to connect with other parents.
Missing the Friends summer weekend especially for Camphill’s 80th Birthday was extremely sad so it will be so nice to hear from everyone within Corbenic and from parents too. Congratulations to Jon for his update and to everyone for all the difficulties Covid has given you. You have been amazing!
Best of luck for this excellent idea. I am delighted as I am sure all other parents will be too and feel sure they will all contribute.
Sally McCorquodale parent of Euan in Ossian
An Invitation … to walk the Poetry Path
Despite storms and global pandemics Corbenic’s 3.5km poetry path continues to offer a space to wander and reflect. Whether you are walking the path for the first time or the fiftieth we hope you will find fresh inspiration in the poetry and the ever changing scenery that the path meanders through.
For more information on the Poetry Path https://www.corbeniccamphill.co.uk/poetry-path
Hector, a Corbenic Resident for 16 years, reflects on life under lock-down with Betty Stolk
Hector has lived in Corbenic Camphill Community for 16 years, he lives in Lochran house.
Hector was used to visiting his mother, who lives in Crieff, almost every weekend, but when the lock- down was announced in Corbenic on 23rd of March, the visits had to stop.
I ask Hector how he has experienced this time in lock down. Hector said it has been a bit difficult and sometimes boring because I can’t go anywhere. I have missed my mother, but I have spoken with her on the phone quite often. My mother is also a bit fed-up that she is stuck in her house. Hector is looking forward to meeting his mother next Tuesday for an outside meeting at Corbenic. He will bring his coffee and his mother will bring her coffee!
Before Lock-down Hector was working in the Craft workshop in the morning and Farm workshop in the afternoon. That has been changed too, as all house-groups are working together in one workshop. I asked Hector how the change of workshops had been? He replied that he likes the new cooking workshop very much and that he likes to continue doing that. He said he has become very good at peeling and cutting vegetables and is almost as good as Jamie Oliver! In the afternoon he is working with the horses, which has been good too, but he likes to return to the farm at some point.
I asked Hector to talk about other his free time and weekends , and Hector said that he has missed the weekly Hill-walking very much and that he was happy to go walking again yesterday. In the evenings he listens to music or is relaxing in his room. In the weekends he goes for walks with Laszlo or watches a film in the house with the others and they have coke and crisps. Hector said he is looking forward to his Birthday in the end of July and hoping that he can see his mother and invite some friends to his birthday table.
Hector and his mother are planning to move to England later, this year, to be closer to his brother and sister. Hector will be moving to another Camphill Community, called Milton Keynes. This will be a big change for Hector, after nearly 17 years in Corbenic. Hector has visited Milton Keynes twice and he says he likes it, but he also feels that will be a bit sad to leave Corbenic.
Thank you for talking about your experiences and your future plans Hector! Interviewer Betty Stolk
Toni, a Day Participant, reflects on life locked down at home
In lock-down I walk my dog Tess. I did lots of baking, scraping wallpaper and I made chocolate cake and fairy cakes. I did jigsaws, I put the washing out, I face-time my boyfriend Daniel, I tidy the kitchen and I lie on the hammock with Tess, love Toni
Amanda, a co-worker from Brazil, reflects on life under lock-down
Amanda is a 23 year old Brazilian, who has been living in Corbenic Camphill Community since March 2019. Amanda shares Ossian House with 10 residents, support staff and a house co-ordinator and four other co-workers who, like her, are there as volunteers.
I support the residents in the house with all of their basics daily needs, such as brushing their teeth, showering, cooking and eating, laundry and cleaning, going to the workshops and most importantly, making sure they are having fun.
Each one of our residents is unique and in need of different levels of support. Outside of the house, our community offers workshops which we all join according to our needs and abilities. For six months I was part of the Horse Group, where I learned so much, gaining experience with residents and co-workers from the other houses. Following this, I became a support person for one of the residents who lives in my house and needs someone with him to go to the workshops and carry out other activities with.
I love Ossian and this community. It’s like one big family and I feel lucky to be part of it, helping people every day. It’s not always easy though, I have had challenging situations and difficult relationships to manage. It’s evidently quite intense living and working in the same place with the same people, but it is one of the things that makes it all so special and you need to just work through any issues that do arise.
My volunteering work here has given me the opportunity to learn so much and I believe I’m a better person for it. From navigating a different language to the ever changing weather and learning about the varying disabilities that we have to deal with and the multiples cultures that we share living in this community. It makes you think just that little bit more and put others first.
Little things make me smile. I like the way someone loves music, or how someone else tells stories and speaks the words in their own dialect. Or how someone loves Bridget Jones movies, and another always want to carry anything with wheels, or the person who always says ‘good morning’ when I go to the kitchen. It’s so nice just having the meals together, it makes being here a different way of seeing life.
I’m not really sure how I ended up here, but I know why I am here now and that I would like to stay longer, especially with Covid-19 around. If anyone here needs care I want to be here to help, because I care so much for everyone here and I want to be doing something useful in this moment when the world needs help.
House and Garden Workshops under lock-down
The decision was made during lock-down to combine the two workshops to work dynamically together. Both Juan and Sue, the workshop leaders had ambitious plans in place to develop the space, including upping the production of biodynamic and organic fruit and veg. This would enable the community to become more self-sufficient and move away from using multinational corporations.
Juan, the House Gardens workshop leader, said they’ve been really happy since the amalgamation, planning, developing, expanding and thinking progressively together. There are always jobs for everyone, some having their favourite tasks e.g. Finbar, who loves feeding the 50 new chickens.
Others enjoy weeding, watering and tidying up poly tunnels and streamlining raised beds to maximize growing potential. Juan has been incubating eggs and has two new chicks to add the growing numbers! (picture of Juan and Thelma showing me the newly hatched chicks)
It’s a hive of activity, with bees buzzing around, chickens clucking, clippers clipping and pruning under the afternoon sun.
The team are now producing enough salad leaves for the community and soon there’ll be enough eggs to supply all the houses. There are plans for a duck pond, therapeutic pigs, more chickens and enough veg to keep costs down, reduce carbon footprint due to no plastic wrappings and great quality produce throughout the year.
Fundraising for our new Community Hub
Fundraising is underway for our new £3.3 million Community Hub. When complete, the Hub will provide a wonderful place for us to gather as well as a venue for us to meet with family and friends. We are grateful that our landlord, Camphill Central Scotland Trust, is underwriting almost half of the cost. This leaves us with £1.8 million to raise. The good news is that we have already raised £148,235 or 8.2% of the total. Just £1,651,765 to go! Every penny and pound moves us closer to our target.
If you have a fundraising idea please share it with us by e-mailing fundraising@corbeniccamphill.co.uk. All donations are gratefully received and can be made on the virgin money-giving site linked from the bottom of our homepage or click here to give online now.
Life under Lock-down at our Dunkeld Shop
Despite all the difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic Vicky and the team have kept the Corbenic shop open albeit with restricted opening times. They are looking forward to increasing the hours and starting to offer take away coffee and cake.
Exclusive Offers for Friends and Family available at our Dunkeld Shop
OFFER 1
10% off our beautiful Mosaic Chopping Boards made in our woodwork shop.
Background to the Mosaic Chopping Boards
The mosaic chopping boards are made from around 70% oak, beech, birch and ash. The smaller woods that make up the mosaic pattern are from recycled bits of mahogany, tulip, American black walnut, padauk (the red) and purple heart (the purple).
The residents that work in the woodwork shop saw, sand down, glue and clamp the help assemble the boards.
Over the years the wood workshop has sold about 2000 mosaic boards. They also make a variety of other chopping boards and smaller items such a candle holder, bowls, pen holders and much more. These items can all be seen and purchased in the Corbenic Shop.
OFFER 2
10% off the book ‘Poetry Path’ packed with photographs by James Millar
Background to the Poetry Path
Corbenic Poetry Path is a meandering 3.5km path around the grounds of Corbenic Camphill Community. The path was built with the help of many of the residents and volunteers for whom Corbenic is home. Some of Scotland’s finest contemporary poets have given their words for to the path and many of these have been complimented by sculptures, some of which have been created by students from Budapest School of Fine Art who come and spend their summers in Corbenic.
Despite storms and global pandemics, work on maintaining the path has continued and the team here look forward to welcoming back the many visitors we have grown used to seeing along the path when lockdown restrictions ease.
The path, the sculptures and the poems have been captured by photographer James Millar and are now presented in a beautiful book available from The Corbenic Shop in Dunkeld or The Watermill in Aberfeldy. A limited number of copies are available which include a copy of a previously unpublished poem titled ‘Meanwhile’ which has been written about the Corbenic Community. Get your copy from The Corbenic Shop while they are available. There is lots more information on the poetry path https://www.corbeniccamphill.co.uk/poetry-path
OFFER 3
Free tray bake when you purchase a coffee to go. This will be available from September when our café at the Dunkeld Shop is up and running.
Cut out and keep or simply show your friends and family newsletter to the staff in the shop on your mobile device to receive your special offer.
