The Advent Blog

As usual in Camphill, there is a lot of preparation for advent. Wichtels are sneaking around, houses are going mad to get the Christmas shopping done, and the decorations are in place.
Although I do not normally go up to Grangebeg, last night I did. In Ard Glas , Fergus shared a Christmas story, which was followed by two birthday celebrations. In the weeks to come there will be music and more stories...but I will let you know about them later.
-Siodhna

WE ARE LOOKING FOR YOUNG COUPLE OR FAMILY

We have an immediate vacancy for house parents in our community. The placement will come available at Christmas. Are you feeling up to the challenge? Contact Ben, Nicola or Mischa

October Holiday

Sunday evening, Annamaes threw a party for everybody who did not go home for the Holiday. It was very nice and everyone had fun!

Monday, Brida and Noga prepared a delicious brunch for everybody to enjoy. We were very full afterwards.

(Anna enjoying a mug of hot chocolate)

Tuesday was Nicola's Birthday and we went to a party up in Grangebeg that night.

For Halloween Noga, Debbie, Brida, and I dressed up and went for a walk around Kilcullen. Joel and Jung Soo joined us for an evening of celebration.

(Noga and Brida)

(Jung Soo and Noga)

(Debbie and Joel)

Thursday we went to the Camphill's coffee shop in Thomastown.

Friday, Soo, Anna, Brida, Sebastian, Kevin, Siobhan and I took the train to Dublin! We walked around then went to the cinema. Afterwards we did some shopping. All in all, it was a nice day!

Kevin took me to the theater on Saturday. Once we got out of the bus, I was shocked to see Sara Lee running towards me! I had no idea she was coming!!

Today it's monday, and as you can see, I am back to work!

-Siodhna

Siodhna's First Blog

Today our new time tables were put into place.
Now, my Monday afternoons are to be spent writing this blog and getting my hands dirty in the bakery with Brida. I know what everybody is thinking, "So, what about Manna?" Don't worry. Pauline hasn't disowned me. I still work there in the mornings and one or two afternoons each week.

I still get regular visits from Kevin and letters from Sara Lee.

Last week, Noga and Michelle moved into Brigheen with Brida, Jung Soo, Sirrka, and Colm. Everybody seems to get along well!

In Isserin , we painted the kitchen this past weekend.

Also, we await the arrival of Sara Rose, Toby and their little baby Finn, next Tuesday.

Further, Congratulations to Micha, who is now able to drive the villagers!

Two new Familys Join our Community!

We would like to welcome our two new familys .....Rita and Fergus with their two sons Conor and Mourice and the other family Cliona and Mark with their two daughters Siomha and Iseult.
Rita and Fergus are in Ard Glas in Grangebeg and Mark and Cliona are in Anamaes in Kilcullen.
We hope they have an exiting experience here in The Bridge Community!!!
Tara :)(:

Michaelmas Celebration

The community has recently had a Michaelmas celebration in Grangebeg, on Friday we did different workshops, such as two baking workshops, one making the harvest table and another harvesting fruit and vegetables!! On the Saturday we had discussion groups talking about the future of the community in the afternoon and in the evening we had a large bible evening with the whole community and there we also an opportunity for everyone to say something about the future of the community!!
Tara :)(:

Portacabin learns to fly

Recently the portacabin that used to be the somewhat first impression standing in the carpark was moved to the back garden of Isserin house in an operation that involved a gigantic crane and the ESB to cut off electricity for half the town (for a short time).
The pictures for this move can be seen on flickr
Click here

Congratulations Pilvikki

Pilvikki who was a coworker in the Bridge community about five years ago has got married to Mikael in Helsinki on the 28th of June.
Pilvikki will be fondly remembered by everyone in the Bridge. She was here for two years and helped us in a time of change.
Congratulations!!!

Goodbye and hello!

Lena & Hannah

We like to say goodbye to Lena, who has left the community.
And and a huge welcome to Hannah!!!

Goodbye Ross

We will miss you!
You have been a great friend!
Please keep in contact with us!

Tara and the rest of the community.

Eamonn Nolan passes away

It is with sadness that we would like to share the news of Eamonn Nolans Death on Sunday the 8th of July.

Eamon is Justines father and he would be very familiar to many people in Camphill in Ireland.
he worked over many years as part of the Dublin parents and friends of Camphill through fundraising and will be sadly missed most of all by Justine, who was able to see him still on the day of his death in the morning and share some very special moments.

New additions to Grangebeg

The farm is starting to grow bigger. We have acquired four pigs recently that add to the atmosphere of the farm. Four all pink pigs two males and two females all of the Land Race variety. They are helpful additions for they will eat a large part of your kitchen waste, being fed twice a day by Dan Hughes and Ross Townsend.





In addition to the pigs we also have twenty new chickens, Around the age of five to ten weeks old, still quite small but we can expect eggs in a few more months. Coming from a small organic free-range farm just outside of Dunlavin we acquired a few white sussex hens and a few Rhode Island Reds. An old caravan which was used to go on holiday has been turned into a very handy chicken house by the farm team here. Annie Shiffer does a great job looking after the chickens.

Justine finishes her Life Book

Wednesday last week was a special day. Justine and Noga gave a presentation to the community about a project that nearly took 6 months from the first idea to the finished product.
We often think about our life in terms of memories and it is those that form us and are precious to us.
Well Noga and Justine made the attempt to collect all of these memories, the special moments, the people and faces that have been part of Justine's life and also the events in the Bridge Community that Justine has been a part of over so many years and to capture them in a unique life book that includes pictures and photographs.
They started on this journey through time by writing letters to all the past co-workers that have been important to Justine over the years asking for memories and photos that they might be able to share. It took a while to unscramble Justine's old and much loved tattered address books and gather all the important addresses.And then they interviewed many people who are still around as well as Justine's parents. Old childhood photographs were unearthed and special moments relived. The biography of the Bridge Community became visible as a parallel timeline that has a close connection to Justine's own life.They gathered nearly 300 photographs and together wrote nearly 25 pages of small print text.
In the end all these photographs and memories were compiled into a giant lifebook, which we all saw on Wednesday.I can't help feeling that Justine's life has truly been a special life, lived to the full with all the good and not so good moments and that it is well worth celebrating this achievement.
Congratulations

An inside look at Grangebeg

Here it is:
Grangebeg. As you can see when the rain stops we are actually able to do some landscaping.


This a shot of the half finished barn across one of the fields.


A few of our cows enjoying the nice day. Ard Keen house and our view in the background.


A shot of the garden in the sun, getting a little a weeding done.

Although now nearly two months ago I just could not resist from posting these pictures from our cast of the "Good Friday Play ".
they were taken before the performance, as we did not allow any picture throughout the performance.

Whitsun

In what was a very special event (no photos were taken) the whole community gathered in our new hall to celebrate whitsun.
Everybody received a bell and we explored the universal language of music together and practised listening to each other. And then we passed a bowl of grapes around the circle and whoever had the bowl shared (if they wished) with the rest of the group how their last year has been how they are and what was special, after which they passed the bowl to their neighbour, having of course taken a few grapes for nourishment beforehand. it was wonderfull to hear most people express themselves (even some who rarely do) and to see that we were able to listen and to create a space where that was possible.
Thank you all

Mischa

Grangebeg takes to the water

What has now become a regular weekly outing at Grangebeg the Ard Keen household has decided to flee the muck and go canoeing. We head to Avon Ri adventure center on Blessington Lake for a couple of hours of great fun. After the hard work of putting on the wetsuits some of us get into single kayaks and others use the Canadian canoes and paddle down the lake. Come and join us!

Annie, Ross, Emily

Ascension Outing To Powerscourt

The Bridge Community went to Powerscourt Waterfall for this year's Ascensionday outing.
As planned we met up with Greenacres and Duffcarrig Camphill Communities and had a great barbque. It was a wonderful sunny day and everything just fell place for this great outing in this beautiful location. All 130 people were well fed (sausages and burgers were plentiful) and had fun being with each other playing games and exploring this beautiful place through walks.

It also happened to be Sirrka's birthday and Sirrka together with groupies Siobhan Maria and Ayelen sang her whole repertoire of songs containing all time favourites like "Swing low sweet chariot" or "When the saints go marchin' in" and many others to a highly entertained audience

Mischa

The early days of the Bridge Community

This photograph was taken before the coffeshop was renovated in 1991.

The building was a simple two up two down house at the time with a very narrow staircase and a spookycellar that had a door to the rear.
In the picture you see Diane Glynis and Anne who at the time had set up a tempory kitchen upstairs and were training to make scones and provide a lunch for the lads who were out the back chopping firewood and clearing the rubbish and debri that was at the back of the building.
Anne at the time had never before gone up or down a staircase and was kind of scared at the time, but managed remarkably well.

Well life was simpler then... but I wont go on about that

Mischa

Leonard becomes uncle

Back in march Leonard became uncle for the first time.
This picture shows him holding his niece Anu for the first time.
Congratulations also to Leonard's sister Louise
and her partner Anthony.

A Picture from the Past

I just came across this picture from the early days of our community in 1991. At the time all of us in the pioneering group were still living in Dunshane and commuting from there to this interesting new and unchartered territory.
We had just bought the land and the shop on the main street and temporarily opened a shop over christmas before the big renovations started in 1992.
It was only then that the building and shop became known as "An Tearmann" which was a name that was recommended by the then parish priest father Supple meaning safe place sanctuary or place of piece.
I will try to see whether I can post some other pictures from the past over the next weeks.
Mischa

Isserin House Visited The Altamont Gardens

Today (May 7th) Isserin House went to the Altamont Gardens for a Picnic together with Chris` parents who came to visit him. (On Saturday was Chris` birthday.)

In the Altmont Garden we watched the plants and the animals. There were ducks and a lot of different birds. We had chicken and sandwiches for lunch, und fruit salad for dessert.

It was a nice day and all of us are happy.

Heinz, Tara and Shiodhna...

A Warm Welcome To Our Two New Co-workers

We would like to welcome Heinz to our Community.

He is originaly from Germany, worked as a librarian, and has worked with people with special needs before. Heinz came to Ireland because he wanted to learn better English (although his English is pretty good) as well as experiencing life in a Camphill Community!



Hye Soo Chang is from South Korea. Soo wanted to have an experience before she started working and she found Camphill on the internet having heard about it already before.



Heinz and Hye Soo are both living in Isserin house. They are both fitting in very well and both are very good at English!
Tara

Going Away Party or Cyrill and Julia

Having a great disco, dance competitions and a little fun a as we have a great party in Isserin to say goodbye to a couple of great co-workers.

Cyril and Julia who were both coworkers in the Bridge Community for longer than a year.

They both move on to bigger and better(?) things.

We'll miss you.

Path completed!

Patrick, James and Cyrill have recently completed building the path from Isserin House's laundry to the soon-to-be-completed drying and recycling shed in the back garden. They built it with coloured bricks, with an arched surface in order to allow for Ireland's 12-month rainy season.

This is what this Blog could look like!

For many years parents, brothers and sisters as well as ex-coworkers have asked us whether we could post a regular newsletter so that people can stay in touch and know what is going on in the Bridge Community as well as more recently up in Grangebeg.

So we hope now to involve people here in the Bridge in writing this Blog and share moments like in the pictures below with all our friends near and afar!

So watch this space and check regularily what is happening!

Greetings to all of you

Mischa