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www.tiphereth.org.uk tiphereth is a residential and day service offering adults with learning disabilities the possibility of living and working together to realise their potential autumn 2011 newsletter

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community news it has been a surprisingly mild october and november up here on the hill and we have taken full advantage of this with walks and outdoor activities however today it is cold windy and wet and the barbeque planned for philip s farewell celebration has been shifted indoors most readers will know philip from the pentland group where he has worked over the last five years bringing rich inspiration and creativity to the entire community more recently he took up the post of tiphereth co-ordinator he will still be in touch with tiphereth as he is involved in the new lanark conference planned for may 2012 the community will miss him greatly and thank him warmly for everything sadly we also recently bade farewell to fran macdonald who was housemother at torphin and then part of the day activities team see the article below on the play fran directed other changes at tiphereth include welcoming our new house parents in the hollies rachel and mikey craig and their two daughters poppy and kiera they have taken over from bruce and sandy who will still be fully involved in tiphereth sandy as residential manager and bruce in his role as director and consultant we also welcomed several new foundation students including doireann johanna laura lennard jenna and thomas gill and brenda are bravely surviving the noise and upheaval next door to torphin house as bluebell cottage rises from foundations and is on schedule to open as a new residential house in early 2012 our struggles to get the may open continue and readers who have been here recently will have seen for themselves that the road has been dug up and the water pipes finally laid the community welcomes eilidh borland as day activities co-worker and daniela coronado as pentland garden group co-worker ranhild hillebrand who is currently working residentially will join day activities in december and share the position of day activities co-ordinator with kerrie mcgibbon tiphereth people interview with richard davies day service co-worker the scene is lunch time at brigantia and one of the famous bags of reject biscuits from a visit to the local biscuit factory has just been passed round ailie richard how long have you been at tiphereth now 2

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richard since summer 2010 although there was a bit of a gap jonathan what do you do here richard i work in pentland garden group or day activities depending on where i m needed daniela what do you most enjoy about tiphereth richard spending time with all the people here philip how did you experience the recent parsifal play richard good i was the main role the lead actor ailie do you have plans for christmas richard yes i m going on a special holiday to borneo in south east asia exploring the rain forest and the national parks david r when are you going to get married richard i need some time to think about that david r what do you do in your spare time richard play football cycle read go on day trips at this point the interview was temporarily interrupted by everyone breaking into song he s a day tripper yeah yeah yeah ailie what did you do before you came to work at tiphereth richard i taught english as a foreign language did environmental education and lots of office jobs jonathan what is your favourite holiday richard the northernmost island in japan i stayed in a wild place not wild in a partying way but very isolated ciaran who is your favourite superhero richard someone who can fly yes spiderman i think mitch at this point said that he thought richard should choose the hulk philip boxers or briefs this question created some uproar and richard wisely decided to terminate the interview at this point for the big fellay by scott beaton before nathan died in july i had managed to get a place in the bupa great edinburgh run 10k road race i have ulcerative colitis so had taken part in the race the previous two years in aid of crohn s colitis uk this year i had just planned to take a leisurely jog around the course enjoying the atmosphere and sights once nathan passed away however i saw it as an opportunity to make a gesture to tiphereth a place nathan had loved going in nathan s memory nathan had become a real inspiration to me especially in recent years he was always laughing and always happy everyone who ever met him loved him immediately he was also despite my many protests a hearts fan who went to the home games at tynecastle with his dad derek upset as i 3

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was at his passing it was important to me to do something positive for him the support i received from people in the lead up to the race was truly humbling and showed just how much nathan meant to so many people my mum liz nathan s mum trish and granny janette took sponsor forms around with them and organised donations my wonderful partner jacqui organised my t-shirt for the day using a picture of nathan that derek had picked out along with the phrase for the big fellay my nickname for nathan and also took a sponsor form to work my sister amanda helped my niece megan make a banner for the day but i wasn t allowed to see it before the day as it was a secret my training for the race went pretty well until the tuesday five days before the race when i started to get some pain in my achilles tendon that was an end to the training as i frantically began resting and icing the problem a bit of googling told me i should be resting it i.e pulling out of the race but that was never an option for me i was determined i was taking part no matter what the day of the race and i d managed to get the soreness in my achilles to ease up a bit as we left to make our way to holyrood the rain was coming down fairly heavy but like a lot of runners i quite like running in the rain so i was quite happy about that got to the start line in time for a mass zumba-like warm up and then we were off the sore achilles didn t help me much but i did my best to ignore it by the 3 kilometre mark running down the pleasance i was feeling it a bit going through the meadows at 5 kilometres it was getting sore and by 8 kilometres at the foot of the mound i admit i was in pain but the big fellay and i weren t quite done yet as i rounded the corner at the foot of the canongate i saw a sight that will live with me forever my cheerleaders and a rowdy bunch they were too in my mum my sister jacqui nathan s mum and granny my brother in law jim nathan s sister cara and his niece lili all in matching nathan t-shirts like mine roaring at me as i shuffled the last half k megan and lili were holding the banner saying go uncle scott which everyone had signed that was all the push i needed and i stumbled across the finish line the time wasn t great at 1 hour 2 minutes but i d done it and in the process raised £800 which should rise to nearer £1000 after gift aid is applied after the race i gave the medal nathan s medal to nathan s mum some photos were taken and then i limped home for some much needed beans on toast i plan on getting nathan s t-shirt out once more in march when i m running in the olympic park run in london which ends in the olympic stadium no sponsorship this time i m just taking nathan along for the company 4

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colinton community compost most of you will already be familiar with colinton community compost ccc which was established in 1995 as an activity for the day service back then the group collected garden waste from a handful of local residents who gave donations to cover the cost of our fuel and the composting was all carried out in the garden of torphin house from these humble beginnings ccc grew to collect from around 200 households all over colinton still on a voluntary opt-in basis long before edinburgh council even thought of city-wide kerbside garden waste collections the inputs outgrew the space available in the garden so in 2001 tiphereth secured a lease on part of torphin quarry and the composting activity was relocated when the council rolled out its brown-bin scheme in 2005 we thought our endeared tuesday compost run was doomed to our surprise the council was very supportive in ensuring our established service was not squeezed out altogether and we were awarded a service level agreement to collect from the streets nearest to torphin 530 households so finally we were receiving a set income from this activity rather than having to rely on donations to help cover our costs now we are processing nearly 400 tonnes of garden waste per year and turning it into great compost which is available to the public edinburgh council has continued to be supportive and more recently increased our tonnage fee and also extended our contract to include council leaf collection and parks and gardens vehicles ccc has continued to be the responsibility of the pentland garden group pgg and the composting activities have dominated much of our weekly routine under the banner of tiphereth trading we are now embarking on developing ccc into a self-sufficient social enterprise increasing our inputs and outputs mechanising some of our processes and providing further employment and training there will still be a role for the pgg in the composting operation in maintaining our regular compost run and supporting deliveries and special uplifts the pgg will also continue all the other great activities including gardening log-cutting and pentland hills countryside jobs 5

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although there is still a level of uncertainty with the possibility that edinburgh council will outsource its waste services to a private company we are confident that the strength of the relationships between tiphereth the council our customers and the local community will stand us in good stead for any future changes tiphereth community and organisation quality assurance audit on thursday and friday of august 25-26th tiphereth underwent an audit process to assess the way we manage the quality of our organisation and community two auditors bob ballard and eva heathcock came from ways to quality united kingdom to meet with the community look into the way our organisation works observe meetings and ask questions about our life and work together it was an intense time of preparation for and undergoing the audit after the audit and the auditors initial sharing of impressions we continued with reflection on the audit experience reflection is key to quality management and quality assurance as we come to know and respond to what is needed or happening within our community and to learn from all that happens we have since received an affirming draft audit report with positive recognition of the quality we have achieved and maintain it also presented indications and recommendations as to how we might develop in nourishing ourselves and our core values at the heart of our work this is currently being attended to by the community a ways to quality audit will take place each year in continued learning and accreditation of our quality management tiphereth parents and carers forum this forum meets every three months usually there are between ten and twenty people attending we have refreshments and some social time and then catch up on tiphereth news and developments sometimes we have a slide show of recent photos parents carers families and friends are all most welcome and can either attend the whole meeting or just pop in for part of it the forums are very informal the forum dates are sent out well in advance there is a meeting on 25th november so the next one will be scheduled for late february 2012 please feel very welcome to attend and suggest topics for discussion 6

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harvest festival with the garden group 7

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tree planting at swanston on monday 21st november the pentland garden group ventured forth to help friends of the pentland hills to plant 200 trees including beech birch rowan oak and hawthorn our planting efforts should raise up a woodland on the slopes of our near hills within a decade the fresh air view of the city friendly people and passers by a fine morning s work tiphereth festivals st johns day most photos and text from jonathan mcbreaty to mark and celebrate the height of the summer on june the tiphereth folks gathered for an afternoon of story singing around a blazing fire and barbeque 24th everyone had a bbq i had two burgers and juice drink very nice burgers with salads and onion very good bbq by 8

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angelo and we sing everyone and philip talk story about st john day everyone we pick up the twigs we are walking to the quarry and we [throw the twigs in the bonfire and ciaran and tony light the bonfire goes up to the blazing of fire everyone singing in the quarry and we finished and we outside we singing far away home was last day two ladies vivien and pauline left we missing you lots everyone at torphin parsifal a play for michaelmas by richard davies it seems like a long time ago now but we began rehearsals for our michaelmas play back at the beginning of august thursday afternoons took on a different feel after we came back from the summer holiday for several weeks the day service turned its collective creative attention to the challenge of staging quite a complex tale the play chosen for this year was parsifal based on the 13th century poem by wolfram von eschenbach this is an epic tale set in the days of arthurian legend and so we simplified it with a little help from an adapted version to suit our purposes i.e so that our play didn t last several days preparations for the performance which took place at st cuthbert s church hall on the 6th october began in earnest after the summer holidays everyone was involved and in all sorts of ways from overall direction to making props from paper mache that s right they weren t real swords the red 9

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knight s helmet was the real thing though which david warren and i can both vouch for designing and making costumes to creating stage decorations the whole of the day service played their part rehearsals were fun despite the challenges we had to overcome in particular learning our lines and all enjoyed the opportunity to be kings queens knights and maidens for the afternoon come the day of the performance we faced further challenges including transport difficulties thanks to a flat tyre on one of our minibuses the cast arrived early at the venue for some final rehearsals and after a quick lunch we were all transformed into characters from the middle ages and then settled in backstage to wait for our moment in the spotlight there were some understandable nerves on show but once we came onstage for the opening scene the play got off to a ripping start literally the performers really took on their roles and everyone concentrated really hard to try to put on a good show judging by the response of the audience we managed to do exactly that so well done to all who took part in the play and many thanks to those of you who came to watch our performance back in early october finally a special thank you to our director fran mcdonald for all the hard work she put in to make the play happen 10

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all souls day on 2nd of november the community gave remembrance to those we love that passed away we gathered in the garden shed dark and softened by lyre music there was a table of leaves and moss at the centre where each one of us lit a candle we remember emma steven and nathan who are no longer with us martinmas as we enter the dark cold of winter charity or sharing may well be a virtue worth celebrating martinmas is such a story one who tore his cloak in half to share with a near-frozen man in that moment it is said that martin `saw the light in his own soul as that which shines in all souls we gathered together sang songs painted jars and lit candles to the story of martin followed by the finest mug of hot chocolate 11

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advent now follows through december and the darkest time of year custom has us anticipate and celebrate the birth of light into the world that which is beyond the ebb and flow wax and wane of the world the messenger that shows us the ground at our feet and reminds us as to who we truly are as we give so we receive and in receiving no less we enable this nourishing flow of sharing in the world forthcoming festivals advent and christmas december epiphany 3 kings play jan 6th candlemas february 2nd lent holy week and easter 12

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raise funds for tiphereth while you search the web and shop online are you one of the 6.4m people that use a search engine every day do you shop from retailers using the internet if so then why not raise money for tiphereth while you search http tiphereth.easysearch.org.uk combines the results of several search engines such as yahoo bing and ask to ensure you can always find what you re looking for but the fantastic thing is that every time you search half a penny is raised for tiphereth you don t even have to buy anything almost 17 million searches have been made using easysearch and each one has raised money for good causes if you shop online then check out the list of over 2,000 retailers such as next argos john lewis comet itunes ebay or hmv normally you shop directly with the retailer but if you sign up to http www.easyfundraising.org.uk/tiphereth for free and use the links on the easyfundraising site to take you to the retailer a percentage of whatever you spend as much as 15 of the cost of your purchase will come directly as donation to us at no extra cost to yourself better than that joining easyfundraising will even give you access to hundreds of exclusive discounts and voucher codes so not only will you be helping us you ll be saving money yourself so just sign up for free to http www.easyfundraising.org.uk/tiphereth to raise money while you shop so we can start raising funds for tiphereth simply by shopping and searching online the next time you need to search for something online you could bookmark http tiphereth.easysearch.org.uk as your preferred search engine and or sign up to http www.easyfundraising.org.uk/tiphereth to do your internet shopping final thought only the help from person to person the encounter of ego to ego the realisation of the other person s individuality without judging his confession beliefs world view and political education simply the direct and one to one encounter of two personalities is able to create this kind of curative education that is able to meet the threat to the inner human being in a healing manner however this will only be possible on the basis of a thorough and heart-felt wisdom from camphill letter föhrenbühl and saint prex 1965 13

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to all members of our community families and friends please consider being part of this event if you have any connection to or any interest in community building and social renewal this is a truly inclusive event the starting point for the first new lanark conference held in 2003 was the centenary of karl konig who had profound admiration for the life and ideals of robert owen and his endeavours to create a compassionate and just society the impulse of the first four conferences arose through the work and commitment of jack reed supported by a steering group this impulse has now been passed to camphill scotland and tiphereth is leading on the planning for the fifth conference in the series a small group is working with shsc events to bring about new lanark 2012 the new lanark village has provided an inspiring and beautiful setting for all four previous conferences the village has been awarded world heritage village status by unesco and has a dramatic setting at the foot of a steep valley by the falls of clyde the fast flowing and deep river generated the waterpower needed for the mills around which owen created his new lanark community the three day conference will offer inspiring talks discussion groups and artistic activities as well as social events on every evening previous conferences have been warm memorable and creative occasions so please note the dates and contact richard shscevents contact details above for any information or queries 15

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