Apricot Centre Blog

Zero Carbon Bike Powered Movies!!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:46:00 +0000

Earth-based Insights from Arnold and Amy Mindell

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:02:00 +0000

Taken from the mindell's website...
"Good seminar and consulting experiences this September 09 have brought us several Earth-based insights. One is that everything that happens is part of this earth (or universe). Does this seem obvious? It is, and is not. If everything is nature, then, we need remember the importance of environmental activism –as many of us know– and also the importance of “recycling the bad guys,” that is finding the essence and importance of big business etc. Care for nature, i.e. all of nature to work together and make the most rapid ecological change."

Reskilling the Valley Interviews underway with local Mushroom Growers/Foragers

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:17:00 +0000

The reskilling the valley project is part funed by the AONB Sustainable Development fund. The Apricot Centre is spending the next 6 months researching the skills for sustainability in the Dedham Vale and Stour Valley area.

One of our first interviews is with mushrrom growers and foragers Mathew and William Rooney.

Firstly it is the ability to recognise what you’re picking... mushrooms come in 4 main categories, edible and non-edible, poisonous and unknown (not yet tested). Once you can recognise the species then you must gain an intimate knowledge of the area you’re picking and understand what climatic conditions will produce fruits... mushrooms come and go in a relatively small time frame so you must learn to be in the right place at the right time...

More information will appear on our Reskilling the Valley google map and eventually in our publication. If you wish to see a demonstration with William and Mathew we will keep you posted here.

What is Gravity?

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:15:00 +0000

I really love Arny's playfulness, it's so light and antigravity in many ways.

Gravity and Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:09:00 +0000

Dr Arnold Mindell is the founder of Process Oriented Psychology and his work inspired me to study Process Work during the past 18 years. He and Amy Mindell are currently running a workshop on the East Coast in the USA on Process Work and the Environment

Ripening Pear!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:18:00 +0000

22/08/2009
Originally uploaded by popmoc

What a fruitful summer it has been!

Prometheus

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:10:00 +0000

prometheseus-blurb[1]
Originally uploaded by popmoc

Anyone feel to join me at this event on the 2nd october in Cambridge. Should be great.

The Great Food Swap at the Manningtree Beach Bash - 5th Sept 09

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:52:00 +0000

The Great Food Swap was a great success with people coming from all walks of life to share their harvest and foods they had made such as cakes, crumbles, jams, glutney chutney, elderberry cordials, and more!

Members of the community with produce were invited to register when they received a number to put on their food and also the same number to display on their shirt. About a 1/2 an hour later the bartering was opened and wonderful interactions took place with adults and children discussing what they might exchange their foodstuffs with others. Conversations like a young boy saying "how many eggs will you give me for my large baking potatoes?" "Who will swap me this bunch of carrots" and so on.. The bartering, exchanging, discussions about food, jokes, observations about the warm dry summer and it's effect on growing fruit and vegetables took place for the next half and hour or so.

At the end of the event there was no produce left on the table and many people remarked what an interesting community event it had been, and how they had made some good swaps and were taking their new goods home with them.

This was a particularly interesting event for it's community interactions and sharing, as well as the way it made young and old think about the value of what they had grown and produced.

Several younger children have afterwards expressed an interest to create a similar event for swapping toys with other young people. The Great Toy Swap will take place in nr. Manningtree either October or November.

The Great Food Swap is tomorrow! - Manningtree - Saturday 5th September 10.30 - 12 noon

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:38:00 +0000

22/08/2009
Originally uploaded by popmoc

The Great Food Swap - Manningtree - Saturday 5th September 10.30 - 12 noon

We hope people will come and help or swap food tomorrow at theGreat Food Swap. We will be there on or near the beach with a stall by 10 am. Registration happens from 10.30 and then the real swapping takees place between 11 and 12.

The Great Food Swap will be taking place in Manningtree as part of the Manningtree Beach Bash. You will find us near the centre of Manningtree.
Swap - Come along and bring the produce that you have made, grown, picked or found to swap with others.
Made - Preserves, Pickles, Jams, Cakes, Yoghurts, Breads.
Grown - Fruit and Vegetables
Picked - Herbs, flowers, berries, eggs, nuts.
Found - Mushrooms, wild food, fish
We look forward to seeing you there.

Alan Turing

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:47:00 +0000

Thankyou to Emily for writing this.. "a friend told me that there is currently an online petition to the government to request that they make a formal apology for the conviction of Alan Turing for Gross Indecency (i.e. homosexuality) which most likely led to his untimely death in 1954.

Turing was one of the foremost scientists of 20th century Britain who developed the concepts which underpin artifical intelligence, was the main figure behind the cracking of the Enigma code during WW2, and is regarded as the father of all modern computing. Following his conviction for Gross Indecency in 1952, Turing was underwent forced hormone treatment (i.e chemical castration) to avoid going to prison. His security clearance was revoked and he committed suicide in 1954 aged 41. However his conviction was a common fate for gay men at the time, while aversion therapy (including use of hormone, emetics and electric shock) was used to 'treat' sexual and gender minorities up until the late 70s and early 80s. An apology to Turing should perhaps be extended to all these people but it would at least formally recognise that these things happened and that we give a monkeys.

If you are interested in the petition, follow these links:
BBC article on the apology petition:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/08/alan_turing_an_apology.html
The petition itself:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/turing/

and for more information on Alan Turing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing
and aversion therapy:
http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/aversion_therapy.html"

Earth Healing seminar with Gary Reiss - Fri 27 - 29 Nov 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:15:00 +0000

Gary's upcoming seminar in late November 2009 is an important event in the Apricot Centre calendar. This video is an interview with Gary Reiss to give a sense of what will be involved in the seminar.

The Earth is there for us as a source of healing and nourishment if we know how to open to Her. We also need to be there for Her, as she has suffered from our neglect and abuse. Our relationship with the earth can help us in healing trauma; connect us to earth-based sensuality and earth-based spirituality. This seminar is for therapists, group facilitators with an interest in psychology/environment, and for the public with interests in personal development/ spirituality/ ecology. This is an experiential workshop.

Reskilling the Valley - Mapping out skills search

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 08:42:00 +0000

Mapping out skills search
Originally uploaded by popmoc

Reskilling the Valley project is now officially underway. This article appeared in Friday 21 Aug Manningtree and Harwich Standard inviting people to come forward and let us know about skills for sustainable living within the Stour Valley and Dedham Vale region. We are also interested in skills outside this area in the Valley region as a whole.

If you search Reskilling the Valley on google maps you will gradually see the linked skills appearing on the map. This map can also be seen on www.apricotcentre.co.uk

Preserving Peaches and Plums

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:31:00 +0000

DSCF6118.JPG
Originally uploaded by popmoc

Just thought we'd share with you pictures of preserving peaches and plums... yum! yum!

Gary Reiss' Earth Healing Seminar - Process Work, Deep Ecology, and the Role of the Earth in Healing Trauma, Depression, and Sexuality

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:05:00 +0000

At the Apricot Centre, Lawford, Essex. CO11 2LY www.apricotcentre.co.uk
Friday 27th (7.30pm - 10pm ), Saturday 28th (10-5) and Sunday 29th (9.30-4) November 2009

The Earth is there for us as a source of healing and nourishment if we know how to open to Her. We also need to be there for Her, as she has suffered from our neglect and abuse. Our relationship with the earth can help us in healing trauma; connect us to earth-based sensuality and earth-based spirituality. This seminar is for therapists, group facilitators with an interest in psychology/environment, and for the public with interests in personal development/ spirituality/ ecology.

Gary Reiss Ph.D www.garyreiss.com Has taught and practiced Process Work for 28 years worldwide. He lives in Eugene Oregon, and comes annually to the UK to give specialised workshops. Specialities include Mid East, family therapy, comawork, addiction work, and anger problems.

Hosted by the Apricot Centre for Sustainable Living www.apricotcentre.co.uk. You can email Mark O’Connell for more information info@apricotcentre.co.uk £180. £160 if £60 deposit received by October 1st. (Cheques payable to Apricot Centre) Apricot Centre 83 Hungerdown Lane, Lawford, Essex. CO11 2LY

The Transition Movement comes to the Stour Valley!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Many people are concerned about ‘Climate Change’ and ‘Peak Oil’ (the end of cheap and plentiful oil on which our economies are based). We may feel frustrated or alarmed about the way the world is changing. We may not be able to continue to live in a way that depends so much on fossil fuels. What can we do that both motivates and enables people to adapt and develop local ‘resilience’? This is a term coined by The Transition Town Movement that has been inspired by some pioneering communities in the UK, Ireland and beyond. These communities are taking an integrated and inclusive approach to reduce their carbon footprint and increase their ability to withstand the fundamental shift that will accompany the increasing scarcity of fossil fuels.

In the Stour Valley, a group has started by having meetings and is setting up a core group to take forward the initiative and to adopt the Transition Model. At the first meeting we had two people from the Ipswich group who explained the process and we saw videos of some other groups around the country. At a recent meeting we identified the skills of those within the group and found we had a wide range of really very useful people! Everyone has something to offer in this process and it is all about recognising each other’s abilities and developing and sharing skills. It is also about having fun, meeting people and developing a ‘resilient’ community.

The next stage is to raise awareness and to engage a significant proportion of people in the Stour Valley community to kick off a Transition Initiative. Meetings have been held at Lawford and East Bergholt and future meetings will be held in other villages around the Stour Valley

If you are interested in getting involved-our events and meetings are on the events page and more information is on the movement can be found on www.transitiontowns.org.uk

(text from Celia)

Transition Stour Valley

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Over 30 people were set to come to the first meeting of Transition Stour Valley at the Apricot Centre, on Monday 2nd of February, which turned out to be a day of snow and cancelled everythings.

Many rang unable to make it and we rang others to let them know it was cancelled, and then a hardcore of 9 people turned up and so we had a meeting anyway. Thankyou Alan and Dan for a great introduction.

The Transition Stour Valley Meeting has now been rescheduled to Monday 23rd of February from 7.30pm - 9-30pm.

Transition Town Initiatives -

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:39:00 +0000

Transition Town initiatives are springing up throught the UK (and world) in a positive and pro-active response to Peak Oil and Climate Change.

Transition addresses these global issues at a local level by working towards resilient communities which are able to function through times of great turbulence and change.

"The Transition Movement is an attempt to design abundant pathways down from the oil peak, to generate new stories about what might be waiting for us at the end of our descent, and to put resilience-building back at the heart of anyplans we make for the future."
(Rob Hopkins, Founder of the Transition Movement)

See our Transition Town Videos at

Pervasive Developmental Trauma in Adopted or Cared-for Children

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:35:00 +0000

When we think of trauma and it's effects we often think of one or several traumatic events. Neurological research is showing that some children experience a kind of ongoing ambient trauma which impacts and feedbacks through different stages of their development from conception, in the womb, at birth, and in their earlier childhood years. My understanding of brain theory is that such complex and pervasive trauma is thought to become layered in the archeology of the brain throughout development. Behavioural symptoms reflect the levels of development which are affected. For example, if language is that main system under development at the time of trauma, then language is affected.

Various psychologists are currently lobbying for Pervasive Developmental Trauma to be included as a disorder in DSM-V, as such children meet some but not all of the criteria for PTSD. This is important as there is a large tendency for adopted children and children in care, who can display a wide range of disturbing behaviours, to be seen as 'bad' rather than as experiencing a challenging life process.

However, as well as having it's advantages, there are also disadvantages of thinking in terms of 'disorders'. Such state-oriented thinking can have the tendency to become deterministic i.e. that through such developmental disturbances the child is damaged goods, destined to behave badly or become a destructive citizen. That such states are seen as static, rather than as life processes with inherent mystery and potential for unfolding.

Transition (Stour) Valley Gathering: Films/Talks/Discussion 8pm Mon 2nd February 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:34:00 +0000

We are interested in the Transition Town Initiative which is beginning to spread throughout the UK and beyond. People interested in how communities will adapt to the changes we will collectively face in a situation of peak oil. We are inviting local people to meet for initial discussions on the potential of a Transition (Stour) Valley Initiative, at the Apricot Centre 8pm on Monday 2nd February 2009.

Please come if you are able and interested.

Dan Wheals & Alan Caig Wilson who are involved in Transition Town Ipswich will be giving introductory talks, and there will also be Film/s and a general discussion. If you can let us know if you are coming, we have limited parking, and need to know how many buscuits to make. 01206 230425 If you can share a car with someone please do, we have parking for up to 10 cars only.

The Wisdom Deep Within Hatred

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:38:00 +0000

I was contemplating the nature of hatred and self-hatred in myself and in others, and then I found this quote from Arnold Mindell on the aamindell.net website.

"the one thing that works is to help people to get deeper inside themselves while they are in conflict, and to say to them 'Trust your feelings. If you hate somebody, don't put it down. Go deeper into it. Why don't you like the other person? We understand maybe it's transgenerational. Perhaps you hate the other person in part because of your own history. So, kill them in the sense of stopping their behaviour in yourself. Affirm what you think, affirm what you feel, and then have courage and go deeper into your feelings of anger or desperation, take them inside and recognize what part of you is behaving like the 'enemy', and stop that 'enemy'. That's how to make change."

When you have powerfully strong feelings about somebody else it is an incredible discipline to be able to do some innerwork in that moment.

It is also an incredible principle that deeper down below our most violent and hurtful impulses may be found an important source of wisdom.

How do I behave like my nemesis (An opponent that cannot be beaten or overcome)? I can continually be so disparaging and loathsome towards myself. Slice!

Making a Clay Oven at the Apricot Centre

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:18:00 +0000

A few years ago Marina and I ran a course called the HNC in Sustainable Environments - The Ecology of People and the Land, in which we explored various approaches towards sustainability. It was a magical time in many ways, and many of the students still remain in touch.

We became particularly interested in how people relate to and cook food. And during one weekend we invited Reinhardt von Schlock and Wendy Cook to run a course on cooking and preparing food.

I can highly recommend making a clay oven as a superb way of exploring your relationship to the elements; fire, earth, water and air.

Children and adults alike enjoy puddling clay with our bare feet! The clay, sand, earth and water need to be thoroughly mixed, and later straw added to make a cob-like mixture.

But prior to this an upside down hazel and willow woven basket (reminscent of a pregnant belly) is constructed and placed on the oven base. This will be the interior of the oven. This structure is covered with a thick layer or rich moist pig dung until it looks something like a very large Christmas Pudding.

Then follows three layers of clay mixture, with the final layers including straw for a binding quality.

A doorway is cut through the clay and through the pig dung and interior basket (You can see that in the picture). And a chimney hole is also cut into the top.

Then when the clay is leather dry it is possible to light a hot fire inside the structure and to burn the basket and pig dung out of the middle, leaving you with a beautifully convex oven interior.

There are some great oven building courses around, and I can highly recommend them. We hope this summer to construct an oven with an internal copper coil which will heat water to feed a hot tub. Come and join us if you feel inclined. www.apricotcentre.co.uk

It’s very unlikely that you will feel stressed after making an earth oven.

Mark

Reflections on Worldwork in London - April 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Fri, 23 May 2008 11:56:00 +0000

During the last two decade or two Worldwork, the idea of facilitating and processing world or collective issues in a large group setting, has evolved from the process-oriented facilitation methods developed by Dr Arnold Mindell. At the end of June Worldwork (www.worldwork.org) took place in the centre of London with 400 participants from 35 countries around the world.

Not just a conference of people talking about theories and issues, but rather a forum within which issues are raised, discussed and the emotions, and conflicting perspectives and experiences are welcomed and facilitated. The underlying attitude is one of Deep Democracy which to me means a kind of eldership attitude which knows the value of bringing the light of awareness to all voices, viewpoints and perspectives behind any conflict, and encouraging them to hear, see and feel one another's perspectives and also to know the 'other' as an aspect of your self.

Sounds pretty scarey doesn't it? Well Worldwork is truly an intense experience, but it also very carefully facilitated, which means to make things easier. The participants meet at many levels, in a large group forum, in daily small groups, one-to-one with trained facilitators, and in interest and network groups. Worldwork is as much and inner as an outer experience. Collective issues are inherently happening inside us all the time. The colonialisms and oppressions which continue to recycle in the world, happen within us, in our families and relationships, schools and organisations, and so on. So sustainable solutions lie in addressing all of these levels.

Big shifts occur when people who are part of a system or nation which has been oppressive or traumatising, are accountable for this history and listen carefully to those who have suffered and been traumatised. The Worldwork forum allows many of these interactions to take place.

For the first time this year I was part of the facilitation team at Worldwork. It was a tremendous experience of working and learning at your limits. Not having time to get stuck in your self-doubts and inner criticisms, but needing instead to stay engaged in what is happening in the individuals and groups which you are contributing to.

Much will be written during this year about WW 2008 in London, theory and stories and multimedia recordings will be presented on the Worldwork website.

Worldwork is an event, but it is also a daily opportunity and life attitude. Every interaction you have with another human being, or with yourself, or with the Earth, is an opportunity to enrichen the wellbeing of all sides. My relationship troubles are worldwork opportunities. Struggles within the organisations I work with. My relationship to my cat and chickens. Bringing awareness to what is happening in each of these interactions, and not only staying stuck and identified with your own position and point of view.

For me Worldwork was also a huge celebration of humanity and diversity. Things will always be left to resolve, but I am moved by the willingness and committment of everyone who participated.

The Creation and Destruction of Spit Castle - Narrative from a Short Film

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:02:00 +0000

This short film explores the making of a puppet musical with the children at a residential school in Suffolk, UK and specifically explores working with processes of creativity and destruction. The puppet musical involved working creatively with 12 children between the ages of 10 and 15, described as having educational and behavioural disorders or special learning difficulties, and with a team of educational staff, during a 4 month period from September to December 2006. The initial question behind the project was: ‘Is it possible to address a sense of stuckness which we, the project organisers, experienced in the school during the Summer of 2006?’ This question evolved to include: 'What is the relationship between creativity and “destructivity”?’, and ‘How can we work creatively with destructive behaviours?’

To start the project the organisers chose four key words which the children were asked to associate to, and this resulted in the development of the entire plot and performance. These words were: ‘Stuck’, ‘Castle’, ‘Key’, and ‘Secret Room’. The film highlights the importance of accompanying and engaging children in their urges to create and destroy.

Creation of the Short Film - a Narrative

Part 1

A young girl comes into an early puppet musical session and spits at me. I say, 'Spit at the paper on the wall and then turn it into a castle.' She spits and then draws a castle around her spit. During the next 10 minutes she writes the entire main plot of the story. 'A princess is locked in a cage by a wicked witch in Spit Castle. Only the intelligent professor can save her, but he is is locked in the secret room. There is a wild bear roaming through the castle, and they will need to deal with the bear, and kill the witch.'

A boy with severe learning difficulties describes the sub-plot 'Neptune Class find a map of the castle. There’s gold there. They go to the castle. Find the secret room. They take the gold.' He spontaneously writes 'Horses of the Cattle', a song they sing as they travel to the castle.

Part 2

The Puppet Musical Project emerged from a conversation I had with a colleague in the school grounds last summer. It felt to us a time of low morale and a pervading sense of stuckness in the atmosphere. Keys were frequently being stolen from staff and used to gain access to various parts of the building. There were regular incidents of bullying and other hurtful and damaging behaviours.

We became interested in a process-oriented project that would address this atmosphere in some way. We aimed to work with the interplay between creativity and destruction. We wanted to explore some core themes within the school at that time, and to invite the children to weave them into a story of their own, hopefully finding unexpected resolutions to the problems within the school.

We developed an approach to bullying incidents which involved quickly attending to and engaging children who appeared to be looking for trouble. We also expected that a project on the theme of ‘stuckness’ would at some point reach its own ‘sticking point’ and that we would have to deal creatively with that when it arose.

The puppet musical was an ambitious project to create a full-scale production from the imagination of the children using their words and images, puppets, a puppet theatre, props, and backdrops where their stories could be performed with a pre-recorded narrative and mostly with songs which they had written.

The final outcome was a successful performance, but in many ways the most valuable experience was the process of getting there. This was full of highs and lows, times of heartache and distress, and magical moments when everything seemed to come together.

Part 3 - Master Keys

Just before the making of the puppet show there had been several months during which master keys were being stolen from staff and then being used to gain access to all manner of areas in the building. The key motif introduced at the beginning of the project was chosen for just this reason, to see if it would be possible to explore the process behind the taking of keys. A boy who was one of the main ‘key takers’ wrote a song called ‘The Master Key’, a moralistic spoof based around the thoughts and enjoyment of a boy running away with a manager's key.

Part 4 - Engaging Trouble – Inner and Outer

When I started the project in September I became physically unwell, with painful and undiagnosable pains in my back and stomach. This lasted throughout the project, and over time I came to realise that the outer project was also very much an inner project. There was a relationship between the ‘challenging behaviours’ we worked with, and the disturbing processes in my body. Towards the end of the project I had reconnected to a period of loss in my youth, when I lost the slow and careful attention of my father to my own creative process.

My body experience and the behaviours of the children, were disturbing forces seeking awareness. The children seek our attention through their behaviour, challenging us and pushing for our reactions, needing parenting and eldership, but often expecting neglect or abuse.

The children entered this project with a huge energy. The very first session was characterised by an enthusiasm to make puppets during which some of the children started turning their creative imaginations towards inventions to hurt or disturb one another. We quickly realised that these behaviours were not to be endured, but rather they needed to be effectively engaged with, responded to. The children needed attentive feedback, limits and creative options. This responsiveness is no small thing, and I think it would be one of the most valuable of things to make an active study of in the future. An important feature of this ability to respond is when staff are able to stay flexibly engaged with their own creativity especially when faced with challenging behaviours.

Destruction & Transformation of Spit Castle

In the middle of the project a boy with Asperger's is destroying the buildings and keys he has made. He tears open a dust bin bag emptying the contents onto the floor. His suggestion is to literally burn the castle down (in the school grounds) at the end of the show. He then builds the set so that it can appear to be burnt down and then transform into a magical castle, and this scene becomes the pivot point of the entire show. He himself has an inner fortress around his bad moods and negative behaviours, the walls of which need to come down, so transformation can occur.

Bullying

Bullying is a problem throughout the project, but we manage to adopt an approach of attending to bullies and supporting them in finding their creative or destructive direction, rather than initially excluding them or condemning them. We become increasingly aware of the subtleties of bullying, and that often the more overt ‘bullies’ are emotionally goaded or encouraged by more invisible bullies before they act out. Over time our supportive approach leads to a culture in which children seem to feel safer to explore their creativity, and a period of focused calm descends over the project.

Pink Love Hearts - Heartfelt

One small boy comes into a session wide-eyed and looking for trouble. He has a tough and puffed up body language, begins to break things other children have made and is intimidating his peers. A colleague and I firmly engage him. Telling him we won't let him destroy others’ work, and ask what would he really like to do. After awhile he sits down and begins to cut out large pink love hearts from felt.

The Destruction and Transformation of the Spit Castle Show

Towards the end of November the project suddenly enters a low dream. There is a confrontation between some staff and children and several boys completely destroy the magnificently constructed and painted puppet theatre. They also destroy many puppets. We lose the ability to hold and engage the children. They feel less safe, and incidents of bullying rapidly rise. Staff work overtime to repair the physical damage.

I dream that a member of staff is peeing freely in the air, and through working on this in supervision I connect with expressing my feelings of fear and unhappiness more openly.

One week before the final performance, we still haven’t properly rehearsed the show. I express my unhappiness about how children are hurting one another and damaging each other's work. I have a confrontation with the girl who is central to the creation of the project but who is continually hurting children and staff. Finally I reach my limits and walk out, saying I refuse to go any further unless things change.

Sitting with colleagues outside under a tree a boy comes to me and tells me he really wants the performance to happen. I ask his advice, and he tells us to only work with children who are not destroying the production now.

Four smaller boys enthusiastically volunteer, but I have to refuse the girl who has been central to the project, as she continues to intimidate the others. It is an important point for her and me when that evening a colleague spends time with her to discuss the situation, and she decides to ring me at home to ask to be in the production and promises not to hurt anyone. During the days that follow the children work solidly in their rehearsals, and the final performance to parents and children is a great success.

Summary

In our work with children it is common to become polarized in policing or judging children for their behaviours, labeling them as 'good’ or ‘bad’. The Puppet Musical Project developed an approach of engaging and attending to creative and destructive processes. The ability of staff to respond effectively with children is deeply rooted in our ability to respond to and work with an awareness of our inner creative and destructive processes, both inner and outer.

Mark O'Connell Dipl FT (Plymouth Unit) Dipl PW (Zurich).

I have worked for eight years in residential children's homes in the UK. I am very interested in the broad range of applications of process oriented approaches to many aspects of this work using music, puppetry, film, and games. I have learnt to trust the inherent creativity within each child, and ever seek to work at the cracks and creative edges of children who have suffered abuse, trauma, or attachment difficulties.

My wife Marina and I have developed the Apricot Centre for Sustainable Living in Essex, and work closely with Creative Partnerships in delivering workshops and supporting creativity within schools.

Athletes to Zucchini : An A-Z for Manor Gardens Allotments by Juliette Adair

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 23:47:00 +0000

ABCs -Lea Valley Allotments, Hackney, London

A is for Athletes, Architects and Aspiration

On July 6th 2005 the London Olympic Bid is announced to have succeeded. There is dancing in the streets. Lots of people are happy. An urban wasteland, a toxic site, will be regenerated. There will be new transport, new energy and wonderful new sports facilities. Property prices will shoot up. This is a cause for dancing. In particular it will be good for local kids. It will inspire them. The world’s athletes will be coming to Hackney. Perhaps there will be a local hero(ine). That would be something.

And for Allotments

The next morning, at Manor Gardens Allotments, Hackney, Hassan is making an omelette.

He picks chives and marjoram to flavour it and throws rice to the pigeons and the magpie which watches from the fence. His friend, Reg, brings spinach and some ripe tomatoes. Together they chop the veg and put out some plates on the table under the vine-covered arbour. As Hassan starts to cook the egg, Julie arrives from the plot next door. They do not speak as usual. Hassan throws the egg shells on the ground and the birds peck at them.

Have you heard the news?

B is for Bombs, Bridge, and Bulldozer

The Number 30 Bus had its roof blown off. The Hackney bus. Hassan listens to the news on a radio powered by a car battery. He came to London from Cyprus. He does not wish to live with violence again. Everyday he cooks lunch for his friends, and some extra in case there are visitors.

To get to the allotments you turn left off Waterden Road just after the bus depot. There are two gates. You have to unlock and relock each one behind you. The second is high and laced with barbed wire. No parking, it says, including Sunday. Then you cross the bridge. The River Lea flows underneath it, its banks black and printed with the feet of moorhen and mallard. Sometimes there are swans or cormorants and, just occasionally, the blue flash of a kingfisher’s wing.

On the far side of the bridge is another kind of world. Bluebells and later red hot pokers surprise you with colour in the high grass. The old gravelled track has grass down the centre. You can leave your bike in the hedge and no one will take it. It reminds me of my childhood in Dorset. The birdsong and the wind in the plum trees along the bank and the wide sky, all these things and something else: the air of quiet industry, the sound of a spade hitting a stone as it is sunk into the earth, the smell of a bonfire. A place distant in both time and space is brought into the present here.
Manor Gardens Allotments is on the east marshes in Hackney. It is right in the middle of the proposed site for the 2012 Olympics. It is to be levelled to make way for a concrete footpath: a glittering white motorway for pedestrians entering the Olympic Village.

I am to be given a plot and a mission to make it as beautiful as possible in the time left. Perhaps then, it will be just a little harder to bulldoze.

B is also for Blossom and Beating the Bounds

In spring the plum trees which completely cover the steep bank down to the river are covered in blossom. The season is short. I missed it, just catching the last blooms on the last tree. Perhaps I will get to see it next year. It will be the last chance. The London Development Agency is planning to take ground level right down to the water: it’s about twenty feet, perhaps more. The plum trees will go, every one.

In May, The Green Party encourages people to Beat the Bounds. This is the old ritual of beating with sticks on the margins of common land to reassert the public right to use it. They walk the boundary of the Marshes. It feels poignant now, important and ineffectual in equal measure. This year it rains like it used to – heavy all day. But they still go ahead.

C is for Cauliflower and Compulsory Purchase Order

The notice is up on the gate at the back of the allotment. It’s a gate out into the wilds of the nature reserve. The grass is already high. There is no sign that anyone makes the effort to undo the wire holding the gate shut or that anyone has a key to the rusty lock. Still the notice is there. Is anyone aware of it? Does it count as Notice? We have to be given notice by the end of April or else it cannot be served until September, the end of the growing season. We have one year from the time notice is served. So it makes all the difference. Everyone is hoping for an extra summer here. (Later I am told that Reg often goes out that way walking to the bus stop on Ruckholt Rd through Bully Point nature reserve. He reports on the number of rabbits in the warren out there. The rabbits seem to be closing in on the allotments as their land is gradually bulldozed and the foxes, normally good at keeping the rabbits in check, have vacated altogether.)

Julie shows me a cauliflower grown by Reg. I take a photo and when I look at the print, I notice how tenderly she holds it – as if it were a small baby and she’s moving aside the leaves as you would a blanket hiding a delicate face. What a beautiful cauliflower. The leaves are generous and stiff, the heart clean and firm.

D is for digging.

We get our allotment on Easter Monday. It used to be worked by an old man in his 80s called Sam. It’s a beautiful plot. The fruit tree is white with blossom that day and old roses climb across the green house roof and over an archway into the plot. I want to say garden, but I don’t know if anyone calls a plot a garden. The paint on the fence and the greenhouse is layered: turquoise, lime, dark green. It has an unassuming beauty. It needs a bit of shoring up and the glass in some the panes and on half of the roof is broken. We pull out the broken panes and put them in a crate to take to the dump later. We replace them with corrugated plastic. I would love to do it in glass but for such a short time, it seems too expensive. We also mend a hole in the roof of the shed. On this first day there are five adults and two children working. The children spread seeds randomly before we’ve got the beds ready, but maybe the plants will come up anyway. We dig about half the plot, pulling out clumps of grass that have established themselves amongst the marjoram and the wild rose, trying to trace the bindweed deep down and pull it out. Matt tackles the nettles behind the bean netting and makes an amazing difference. We are all happy. Digging makes us content.

E is for Eviction.

F is for Feverfew, Flowers, Forage, Football and Fig Trees

When the rain stops and they decide that it is really summer, Hassan and Reg will spread towels over the reclining car seats and lie under the fig tree. For now they prune the lower branches so that one can walk underneath without spearing an eye.

It’s the last time, Hassan mourns. We’ll be out by next year.

And will it be worth planting a new one on the temporary site? asks Reg.

Fig trees take their time about getting established. Like people.

G is for Grow Your Own Food Campaign

Reg is famous for growing his lettuces early. He knows a lot about how to grow vegetables, having come here as a boy with his father. Now he is in his 70s. He has had his plot for fifty-three years. He brings some young lettuce plants for Julie to plant in her plot.

The Mayor, in acknowledging that transporting food over long distances increases Greenhouse Gases, has promised to support schemes to boost locally produced food. East London is apparently a Food Desert when it comes to the number of people growing their own. He says, ‘I want London to set a standard for other cities around the world to follow in reducing its own contribution to climate change. How we deal with food will play an important role in this.’ Quite. But, Ken, phrases about left and right hands come to mind.

H is for Hands, Heartsease and Harvest

I is for Involvement

Also, Identity, Immigration and Integration

J is for Jerusalem Artichokes

It’s possible that we have too many cooks. Iona and I plant sunflower seeds along the south-facing fence. Two weeks later there is a row of plants at least a foot high. Wow! I say. They did well. It turns out that our neighbour Ali gave Matt some Jerusalem Artichokes and he planted them, having no idea that we had put in the seeds. They will be high and beautiful with nasturtiums sprawling at their feet. Fartichokes, says Matt – which the children love.

K is for Kite Flying and Kohl Rabi

L is for Laurel and Lammas Land

At the front of our plot, among the Chinese lanterns and the mombresia, a laurel has sprouted. I wonder whether to pull it out. If I don’t, in a short time it will overwhelm all the other plants and even the fence. The Olympic plant, its likeness will be stamped out in gold, silver and bronze to decorate the winners. And in this guise it will dominate this plot whether or not I pull it out now.

One of the places the LDA is thinking of moving us to in on Lammas Land in Waltham Forest. Lammas Land is land held in trust by the council for public use. The new Lammas Land Defence Committee has formed to protect the marshes from changes of use. No one would win from moving the allotments onto this land. Apart from the fact that the proposed new site is currently polluted with asbestos and rubble from WWII, our move there would be temporary. Open space which is currently a wonderful green amenity for everyone would be lost while its value as allotments is limited as well.

L is also for Lollo Rosso, Leeks, Lemon Balm, Larkspur and List

Julie sends me a list of all the vegetables, flowers, herbs and wildlife that she has on her plot. Such diversity on one small patch – this list has a beauty of its own. You can find it at the end of this piece.

M is for Muck

At one time Hackney was crammed with horses. There have been large stables in the area for hundreds of years. The Lea Valley Riding School sometimes trailers manure up to the allotment and gives it out for free. I was tempted to put this under U for Urban Regeneration, because what better symbol is there of recycling, reuse and reinvigoration? Muck into veggies and harmonious multiculture. Certainly more productive than a concrete path. It puts me in mind of line from a poem by WB Yeats – surely the laureate of the plot holder – ‘Love has built his mansion in the place of excrement.’ For the next line, see under S for Sheds.

N is for Newts and Nature Reserve

On the far side of the allotments is Bully Point nature reserve. It is a remarkably peaceful, litter free and relaxing place. Mown paths allow one to wander through it and admire its wildness. There has always been a pond there with a large population of Great Crested Newts. When the Stratford/Channel Tunnel rail link was built, the pond had to be moved. Great care was taken and English Nature’s guidelines for relocating these protected animals were followed. A grant was obtained and volunteers mobilized to do the work.

What will happen now? I have not, as yet, heard what the LDA plan to do with the newts. Will there be another nature reserve established? Will English Nature’s (extensive) guidelines be followed this time?

O is for Open Days

The open day in May is wet wet wet. It rains hard, almost non stop all afternoon. Still, nearly 100 people come. Lots of people have made food using produce from their plots. Elif makes traditional Turkish borek: a pancake cooked on a metal plate using spinach and spring onions. There are barbeques and cakes and herbal teas. The local paper reports how the visitors are amazed that it is all free. The atmosphere is warm and relaxed despite the weather.

Matt has got a generator and set up his telly and DVD in the community shed – for the purpose of showing a film made by St Etienne about Stratford, Hackney and featuring Manor Gardens, ‘What Have You Done Today, Mervyn Day.’ It shows an area rich in history but a bit of a ghost town. There is a shot of the bridge to Manor Gardens over the River Lea and close ups of some sunflowers, but no shots of people. It is beautiful but elegiac. I feel that it kills off the allotment community prematurely. Apparently it was made quickly, almost casually, after a brief cycle ride through the area. Happily, the makers want to do another now that they know more of the people involved. Places and communities take time to reveal themselves. The architects of the Olympics need to bear this in mind.

Our next open day on July 2nd 2006. This time we have food cooked by the Moro Restaurant owner, Sam Clark, who is also a plot holder. The plots will be that much more luscious than they were in May.

And Omelettes

The LDA told us: to make an omelette you have to break eggs.

This community is one of the eggs.

P is for Pathways, Perpetuity and Peas

My daughter, who is six, doesn’t like peas. Or she didn’t until Sunday. She moans about going up to the allotment, but we persist. We take some fish with us to barbeque and go to see what the hot weather has done to the plants. As soon as we arrive, she is excited. Everything has grown so much since we last came up – and she hasn’t seen it since the Open Day in May. Spinach, beetroot, sunflowers and calendula are all doing wonderfully. Our sole surviving pumpkin has quadrupled in size and seems rabbit-proofed in its water-bottle tube. She suddenly claims to have planted everything herself and no-one wants to contradict. We find some strawberries. The strawberries really were planted by the children just after Easter when we first got the plot. Now there is a small bowlful of ripe berries: the first fruits, literally, of her labours. And then there are peas. We have a crop of about a dozen mange tout. For beginning veggie gardeners, this is exciting in itself.

I’m going to take some round to Julie, Iona says.

On the allotment, a six year old can roam alone. The joy of this is felt all round.

A few minutes later, she returns, twice triumphant. One, she has found the way to Julie’s plot and back. Two, she has tasted peas fresh from the pod – and loved them. Julie has made her a present of a good handful of pods. Iona carefully opens one each for us and eats the rest herself.

Later I show these paragraphs to Julie. She tells me that they made her cry.

She says, I can’t tell you how honoured I felt that Iona came by herself and brought me some of her precious crop. This is what it’s all about for me and I saw it so often when we used to grow veg at Grazebrook [School].

Q is for Quiet

R is for River, Reed Bed, Restaurants and Robins

A robin is nesting in an old dustbin on Adile’s plot. One by one we creep in to look at the chicks. The mother follows Adile around because she does so much weeding and turning the earth. Hassan nicknames the bird Adile.

Now the six chicks are flown but she still takes food to them in the tree.

S is for Sheds, Seed Swapping, and the Speaker of Hackney

‘For nothing can be sole or whole, that has not been rent.’ WB Yeats.

An unsympathetic eye saw Manor Gardens as little better than a shanty town. Our sheds are colourful and composed of reclaimed timbers and other materials that no-one else considered useful. Each one is different; some, indeed, are held together by little more than faith and the plants they support. But this is what the French collage artists called Bricolage: things put together in an immediate, trial and error way – creative and resourceful. We are bricoleurs; we are sole and whole because we are rent.

T is for Toxic

Also for Tree Nursery, Toads and Treading

I have heard that Hackney Tree Nursery is also threatened by the Olympic upheavals. The travellers’ site on Waterden Road may be relocated there. Clearly, a new site must be found, but on green marsh land? And where will the tree nursery be allowed to put down its roots again?

U is for Urban Regeneration and Urtica

V is for Villages

W is for Wheat, Walking and The Wick

Ali tells me about his first gardening joy. His grandfather had a farm in northern Cyprus. All the ploughing was done with oxen – everything by hand. When Ali was five his grandfather gave him a little bag of wheat and let him plant it himself. He dug the ground and raked out the rows. Then he threw down the wheat. He gestures now, showing me how abandoned he was. He covered over the soil and went back to Nicosia for the winter with his family.

The next spring he returned.

I was amazed, he says. The plants were so high, I got lost in them.

They harvested and ground the corn into flour. They made cracked wheat – bulghar – and bread. For several months the family ate the food that five year old Ali had grown.

His plot hints at his early experience. It is teeming. Among the potatoes and onions, jerusalem artichokes, carrots and everything else, is a profusion of self-seeded fennel, poppies, and a mass of fragrant coriander. His sister-in-law also has a plot and he often helps her when she’s too busy to get up there. He is still feeding the family. In the week he drives a lorry transporting biscuits. Sometimes he brings Jammy Dodgers for tea.

Albert is 86 and has lived all his life on Hackney Wick. His dad sold fish on a stall at Ridley Road market. When he was six his mum sent him from the The Wick up to the market to do the shopping. He paid for the groceries in fish from his dad’s stall. He got two large bags full, heavy things like potatoes, and set off home. But the buses were on strike. Instead of telling his dad about this, he walked. It’s a good way from the market to Hackney Wick – I’m not sure of miles; they always seem difficult to calculate in a city – but for a six year old it was a marathon. I wonder if the strike he remembers was the General Strike in 1926. The timing would be right. For Albert, the story is mainly about the row that his parents had when his dad got home: a row that happened in the 20s still blazing in Albert’s memory.

X is for Exodus, Excavate, Ex.

Y is for Yarrow

Milfoil, Thousand Weed, Bad Man’s Plaything. And it has many other names. Good for staunching wounds and stopping nosebleeds. Reputed to help with measles and baldness. Also used as snuff.

And Youth

Our Olympic legacy – what will it be? What sort of landscape will we leave and what will it say about our values?

Z is for Zucchini

Barbequed by Hassan, one of Rick Stein’s Food Heroes, zucchini concludes this A-Z and leaves a lingering sweetness on the tongue.

For enquiries about Manor Gardens Allotments or suggestions for the campaign to save the site from development, please contact Julie Sumner. Email: Aireyworld@aol.com

This article copyright Juliette Adair. For permission to quote from it, please contact Juliette Adair, juliette.adair@dial.pipex.com

Welcome to the Apricot Centre Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mark O'Connell) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 16:31:00 +0000

I'm excited about the blog technology as a way of reflecting and researching ideas and approaches to sustainable living. As a process oriented facilitator and therapist I will be bringing alot of Processwork to this blog. Over the next month you should beging to see blogs around Worldwork 2008 taking place as this international conference will be taking place in London this year.