Nominee Summary
Loch Arthur, established in 1984, is a working Camphill Community in the SW of Scotland, which includes men and women with learning disabilities. Loch Arthur is a shared way of life in a modern rural Community. There are eleven houses in which altogether more than 75 people live, including about twenty-eight people in supported tenancies. There is a farm, large garden, creamery, bakery, craft workshops, and thriving farm-shop and cafe. They have now been operating for 40 years and presently have 120 people either living or working there. There is a strong sense of peace, contentment and gratitude in evidence.
Overcoming Challenges
Their Funding comes from 3 sources – 1. Social Care funding via supported tenancies and day placement payments from Gov and local authority. 2. Trading Activities – from farm shop and café. 3. Charitable grants and donations – from private individuals and trusts. Challenges have come from the tight economic climate and increasing costs. The farm shop has a massive workforce of around 60 employees (40-45 FTEs). It is a challenge to maintain an ethos of shared living in a changing world. Brexit has made it more difficult to recruit volunteers from Europe (visas are expensive and difficult to obtain). Europe was the biggest source of volunteers – many came and stayed. Costs of Employers National Insurance and the Minimum Wage have increased disproportionately and keeping good people is expensive. However, they say – Our positive influence spreads far beyond the physical boundary of the Community, just as the strength and health of Loch Arthur rely on the contributions of our many friends in the area. We are looking at ways of developing to include more people in the life of the Community. All the developments we have achieved so far have depended on donations large and small. We are very grateful for all the support we have received and will continue to need such support into the future. Every step makes us stronger and helps us, gradually, to do justice to the full range of what Loch Arthur Community can offer.
Supporting the community
They say - In addition to those with disabilities who make their home here, there are the people with a variety of experience who carry the on-going responsibility for the households, the working life and the general running of the Community. There are also a number of young volunteers who join the Community for a year or so. Loch Arthur is a working Community with a thriving social enterprise. We run a farm and a garden, care for our woodland, make cheese and other dairy products and produce bread and crafts. Loch Arthur is a working Community with a thriving social enterprise. We run a farm and a garden, care for our woodland, make cheese and other dairy products and produce bread and crafts. There is also all the usual daily housework of cooking and cleaning. Our farm shop and cafe create a popular outlet for our own and local produce, as well as a wide range of organic products, crafts and books carefully sourced from other suppliers. Our working life matters to us because it answers a fundamental need to be useful and active. It offers challenging opportunities for meeting and engaging with other people and it gives us a shared purpose, helping to create a sense of community. People really enjoy coming to Loch Arthur and there is a sense of gratitude for it from the people who live or work there and its customers.
Ethical/environmental standards
They say – None of us who live at Loch Arthur are paid directly for our work – why do we try to keep work and money separate? Well, we hope that if we can feel we are a part of the community, then we will want to contribute with whatever abilities we have. Feeling a part of something that has a purpose gives us a sense of responsibility and satisfaction, even if our individual contribution may not seem very important on its own. As far as money is concerned, we don’t want what we receive to be a measure of what we have contributed. We do not go without things or without money. The aim is to encourage us all to become more responsible for each other. We want to avoid turning work into something which values one person more than another because of individual ability. Work is about collaboration, not competition. Caring for the Land Camphill Community farms and gardens have always been committed to organic agriculture, to the welfare of the animals, the quality of the food produced and the health of the natural environment. The particular approach we follow, known as bio-dynamic agriculture, sets very high standards and is a practical expression of our deepest convictions about our place in nature. The estate is 550 acres which includes a 70-acre loch and 60 acres of woodland. We run a mixed organic farm, with a dairy herd as well as beef cows, and sheep.
