Owen Jarvis: Cohousing is on the rise
Diggers and Dreamers
Owen Jarvis is the Chief Executive of the UK Cohousing Network – an organisation which raises awareness of cohousing; supports developing groups; and lobbies government and other bodies. Owen describes his own journey from an urban community in his student days to five years at Findhorn and now... prmoting cohousing – a very particular type of intentional community. UK Cohousing Network UKCN Members at Diggers & Dreamers LILAC Chapeltown Cohousing
info_outline
Paul Sedgwick: FAmilies BY Choice in Kew
Diggers and Dreamers
Paul Sedgwick was three years old when he joined his first community... FAmilies BY Choice (known as FABYC) in south west London! He describes his own experiences and the evolution of that community over the decades that have followed. Now – at retirement age – he and his wife are members of Still Green, a project which is planning a senior cohousing community in Wolverton – one of the old towns within the new city of Milton Keynes. Still Green at Diggers & Dreamers Still Green
info_outline
Lakshmi Piette Walker - In Search of a Dwelling Place
Diggers and Dreamers
Lakshmi Piette Walker began her communal "career" at Lyn's House Community in Cambridge. But she didn't stop there. Now she's exploring the concept of Christian community at a global level and through her blog and podcasts is bringing those ideas to a much wider audience. Lakshmi's Substack UK Intentional Christian Community Directory Lyn’s House
info_outline
Bridport Cohousing: a developing community that never gave up
Diggers and Dreamers
Monica King and Lin Scrannage describe the long journey that has finally led to the successful creation of Bridport Cohousing Community in Dorset. Despite all the legal and financial obstacles that they faced they never gave up. Their living units are now all occupied and their community house is very close to completion. It's an inspiring tale. Bridport Cohousing at Diggers & Dreamers Bridport Cohousing School of Natural Building Hooke Park
info_outline
Pilsdon Community: A life centred on prayer, hospitality and work
Diggers and Dreamers
Kirsten chats with Mary Davies and James Newman who are both long term members of Pilsdon Community. They're joined by Helen Lynch who has just become the new Warden. They talk about the original inspiration for the community and its founding members back in 1958. Nearly seven decades later the place is still going strong as a radically inclusive community which offers struggling people an opportunity to find a way through their problems. Pilsdon Community at Diggers & Dreamers: https://diggersanddreamers.org.uk/community/pilsdon-community Pilsdon Community: https://www.pilsdon.org.uk/...
info_outline
Matt Holland: Lower Shaw Farm - Oasis in Suburbia
Diggers and Dreamers
Matt describes how he was born into a Bruderhof Community in England which then moved to... South America! Back in the UK as a young adult in the 1970s he chanced upon Lower Shaw - an old farmhouse with a bit of land that was fast being surrounded by the expansion of Swindon. His story then takes us through the various stages that Lower Shaw Farm has gone through in the intervening decades. Lower Shaw Farm Bruderhof Communities Spaceheads:
info_outline
Barbara Sanders And Chris Coates: Lives In Common, Part 2
Diggers and Dreamers
Barbara Sanders and Chris Coates continue the story of Burnley-based People in Common. This episode covers the move from terraced houses to Altham Cornmill and the many creative ways in which this move was facilitated. A big thank you goes out to the dozens of volunteers who contributed their labour... and especially an informal organisation of the time that was called "Rapid Transformations". All RT needed was a bottle of whisky and a site for their sauna! People in Common A Life in Common Spaceheads:
info_outline
Barbara Sanders and Chris Coates: Lives in Common, Part 1
Diggers and Dreamers
As another 1970s commune heads for its fiftieth anniversary we interview Barbara Sanders - one of the founders - and Chris Coates who joined later but lived at People in Common for a couple of decades. In a surprising turn of events some cheap and cheerful terraced houses in Burnley became the test location for pioneering co-operative model rules that remain important to this day. People in Common A Life in Common Spaceheads:
info_outline
Mary Inglis – Findhorn Community: a long and illustrious history
Diggers and Dreamers
Mary joined the Findhorn Community back in 1973 so she has a really good overview of all that's happened there in the intervening decades. It seems that recent events may be making the place far more "intentional" than it once was. Findhorn New Findhorn Association Findhorn Foundation Trust (SCIO)
info_outline
Nancy Thompson – Growing up Hippie
Diggers and Dreamers
Nancy spent her early years at Shrubb Family in Norfolk. In this podcast she tells us just how inspiring it was to grow up in the alternative East Anglian culture of the 1970s and 80s. Nancy's Substack Shrubb Family Albion Fairs Global Village Trucking Company (BBC documentary) Spaceheads:
info_outlineIn this episode host Kirsten Stevens-Wood interviews David Harris, who is a resident and archivist from an extraordinary community called Whiteway Colony. Whiteway was founded in 1898 by Tolstoyan anarchists, and has been going strong for over 125 years. David shares some of Whiteway’s most interesting stories, including intrusions from spies, accusations of “beastly morals”, and sharing taken to the next level! He also explains how Whiteway residents live together today, and how he is archiving Whiteway’s rich history.
Whiteway Colony:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteway_Colony
Utopia Britannica:
https://www.utopia-britannica.org.uk/pages/whiteway.htm
Whiteway Colony: Social History of a Tolstoyan Community
Joy Thacker 1993, ISBN 13: 9780952176008
Spaceheads:
https://spaceheads.co.uk/recordings/a-new-world-in-our-hearts/