AN AMBITIOUS four-year programme of self advocacy conferences is being planned by Camphill in England and Wales following the success of the 2008 conference held at Hartington Hall, Derbyshire.
Organised by Camphill residents for Camphill residents, the last conference brought together more than 100 people from 18 communities in England and Wales plus guests from a similar community in Iceland. Those attending said they wanted more conferences where they could exchange experiences and ideas, and discuss topics relating to their lives as members of Camphill communities.
The conference, titled ‘Our Lives, Past, Present and Future', was supported by Camphill Families & Friends which is now making an application to the Big Lottery Fund's Reaching Communities programme. If successful it will allow a programme to go ahead which will include two national Camphill residents conferences, a number of regional day conferences and weekend retreats, and a national seminar/study group meeting regularly in different regions.
The Lottery grant application is being prepared by Julie Woods who has led the Camphill Families & Friends person-centred-planning project. She supported the planning group of Camphill residents in the organisation of last year's conference. Preparation work for the bid, including a major consultation exercise with all Camphill communities in England & Wales, is being supported financially by the Camphill Village Trust following a presentation to the trustees earlier this year by members of the Hartington Hall conference planning group.
"Those attending last year's conference made a specific request for more conferences in the future," explained Julie. "We are applying for funding from the Reaching Communities programme because we believe this project meets its criteria of improving people's life chances and helping people work together to solve their problems. The grant will allow us to employ a national co-ordinator and regional co-ordinators to support Camphill residents in organising the programme of conferences, retreats and seminars."
Last year's self advocacy conference was the most recent in a series that grew out of the Camphill self advocacy project and was then taken forward as part of the Camphill Families & Friends person-centred-planning project. It was the first in which the whole conference, including the programme of discussion groups, workshops, outings, evening activities, meal choices and conference venue, was organised by a planning group of Camphill residents.
Their aims for the conference were to enable people with special needs living in Camphill communities to meet and make friends, exchange news, exchange experiences, to have a variety of activities to suit all tastes, to learn new things, to talk about important issues and to have fun. They achieved this through a busy and vibrant conference with an atmosphere of energy and enthusiasm. Delegates left the conference looking forward to including more of their fellow community members in future events, which is exactly what the planned programme aims to achieve.