Fri, 01 Dec 2006

Building inclusive communities: third New Lanark conference on community building and social renewal

By Christian von Arnim

NEW LANARK (NNA) – Ways forward for community life and work will be explored at the next biennial conference on community building and social renewal to be held in New Lanark, Scotland, next spring from 1-4 May.

This is the third time that this conference has been held and the diverse presentations at next year’s event range from “Do we meet and understand each other enough to bring about change in ‘Community’?” to “Spirituality and Health” and “The older person in community”.

Other intriguing contributions will include “The Man Who Planted Trees”, “Poetry of Ireland by Seamus Heaney” and “Roman Judiciary and the Golden Ring” alongside a wide spectrum of discussion groups and artistic activities within the unifying overall theme.

The biennial conferences were originally inspired by the centenary of the birth in 1902 of the founder of the international Camphill movement, Karl König, and his insight into the significance of the pioneering ideals of Robert Owen on social renewal for Camphill and community building.

“The range of activities and themes and the beautiful location will all contribute to making the conference a creative community building experience,” the organisers of the conference say in a statement.

“Both contributors and participants helped make the first two conferences positive and dynamic experiences; we hope that likewise the third will be as lively and memorable, enabling further community building and social renewal,” the statement adds.

It was at New Lanark with its cotton mills, now a UNESCO World Heritage Village, that the social reformer Robert Owen put into practice in the early nineteenth century a model for social endeavour that evoked great interest in his lifetime and has shown itself to be of enduring value in a number of spheres for later generations.

The last two of these international gatherings were attended by participants from Britain, Ireland, several European countries and the USA and were fully booked out. The organisers again advise early booking since there is a maximum of 200 places.

They also aim to provide a number of bursaries and sponsorship, for which fundraising is currently underway, to enable lower income communities and individuals to participate. As part of this effort, the organisers are encouraging centres and communities to sponsor “someone from a particular background or more distant country who would not otherwise be able to take part in this valuable experience”.

END/nna/cva

For further information, conference leaflet and booking form please contact: Jack Reed, Camphill Blair Drummond, Blair Drummond House, Cuthil Bræ, Stirling, FK9 4UT. Telephone +44 1786 841573, fax +44 1786 841188, email: newlanark@camphillblairdrummond.org.uk

Links: www.camphill.org.uk, www.newlanark.org

Item: 061201-01EN Date: 1 December 2006

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