The landscape partnership project that I am working on has just completed its delivery phase. I am looking to do some research around the social and economic benefits derived from the partnership model that we used as compared to working in isolation.

Does anyone know of any good research organisations in North East England, or wider that could carry out this work?

Hope all is well with you all.

I met Stephan Harding from Schumacher at a Values in Nature and the Environment (VINEPROJECT) conference earlier this year. Hopefully I will be returning to the college for an Exercises in Reconnection - guided visualisation session as part of VINE in July.

Tony

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Prior to meeting with Mairi I had turned down a promotion (this is an extension to Tina's not wanting jobs ploy) so that I could stay on the Mineral Valleys Project and partnership working. This ploy is obviously a good one as they have now promoted me in-situ into Project Manager!

I am currently trying to develop up two new partnerships in NE England:

1. One to co-ordinate environmental volunteering and training across the region.
2. Develop a model of landscape-scale partnership set up on a 'Natural Area' scale which is both scalable and portable to other parts of the NE region and national. Hopefully we will kick it off with a future search conference (I am currently investigating futures techniques and I would appreciate any comments that any of you have as to which would be best to use in developing a sustainable partnership around 'Common Purpose').

Meanwhile I hope all is going swimmingly with all you 'Creative Partnership' gurus...

I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Love, peace and mazes

Tony

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Steve,

Well done on being so quick off the mark to set up this Creative Partnerships Wiki and on the openess of your 'reflections'.

I am only now coming out of the Schumacher Calm that I left with on Friday. A week away left me with an overfull in tray. However, I am dealing with it in a different way than I would normally have done, and keeping stress at bay.

'Profound' is the word I would use for my experience with you all, and I have already started to discuss how we will implement creative partnerships at White Design.

If you want to see more of our work click onto:

http://www.white-design.co.uk/

Speak to you all again soon,

Craig

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Hi Craig, Tina, Steve, Pete, Susi et al

like everyone the backlog of work arrived on monday morning, however I have managed to remain serene in the face of adversity!

Good to hear that you are on the mend Pete.

I am busy trying to work out an equivalent to the schumacher maze, so that my 'air quality break' meditative wanderings are more focussed and less random.

One of my colleagues has been on a partnership working course at the same time as us, however his course seems to have been delivered in a mechanistic manner (entirely on PowerPoint) in a hotel in London. We are going to sit down and compare notes before working out who are the key audiences within the organisation and what messages they need to be fed.

On my return there are a number of jobs that have come up that seem interesting and would probably be long-term ways of embedding partnerships in the region. I will now struggle with my conscience as to whether I am better off seeing through the Mineral Valleys Project to completion and having the satisfaction of completing the work I started - with no promise of my next job being as satisfying. Or move on to a new challenge which I would like but without the satisfaction of completion. I will probably apply with only half a heart (not quite the full hearted "I don't want this job" approach that Tina applies. I will keep you all appraised of my progress.

Till later

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To Steve for your vitality and your so enjoyable sense of humour despite some political incorrectness!!. You proved that imagination, creativity and bricolage is all we need to start the journey.

To Tony for your wisdom and your thoughtfulness. Your commitment to the maze really inspired me.

To Tina for being such a wonderful connective tissue to the group. Our mindful approach to cooking made all the difference.

To Pete for your sensitiveness and your caring approach to others. Now is your turn to receive. Your body might show you the way forward.

To Craig for your ability to transform meaningful ideas into worthwhile realities and for so passionately taking us with you in such a creative journey. Your gentle support encouraged me to spread my wings at the soirée evening.

To Anne for your openness and commitment to the group. Thanks for showing us the way to the labyrinth in that dark night of spring.

Thanks to Mee for your determination and yet sensitive approach to work. I was very impressed by your wise and resourful ability to navigate in such a hostile work environment.

To Claire for your honesty and courage. Your presence set the dept of the experience.

To Maaikee for your resilience and strength of spirit. Thanks for caring so much for us and for sharing so openly in the night when male and female energies understood each other and found common ground.

To Mairie for your commitment to empower us and your determination to get the fish out of the deep waters of the unconscious.

To Kip for your tenderness and humility. Your presence was truly calming and very inspiring.

To Cyntia for your deep commitment to all of us and for showing us the way to change in such a compassionate and deeply inspiring way.

Lots of love to all of you

Susi

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Who says that the grass is too tiny to contain great love in its heart?

It can reward the sun with a magnificent Spring.

Shi Bo




Dear Shumacher college mates,

I have been thinking of you a lot since I returned from Shumacher College.

I am so glad to hear about your experiences.....Thanks Steve for taking the initiative to create a “container” for our communications. In a way hearing from you reminds me that the experience I lived at Shumacher was real not just my imagination!!!

I spent Friday evening and Saturday at Dartington Hall wandering around its beautiful gardens as if I were walking the labyrinth of my own life. I needed some space to land and process the experience before attempting to articulate what happened at the Old Postern.

It was truly inspiring to meet you all and to realise how much of a source of growth was for me to learn about the diversity within each of you. It was truly empowering to discover that connection with each of you beyond our differences and from where that sacred circle was drawn.

Thanks so much

To Steve for your vitality and your so enjoyable sense of humour despite some political incorrectness!!. You proved that imagination, creativity and bricolage is all we need to start the journey.

Susi

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I was able to stay on for a few extra nights after you'd all left. A little of the illusion went with you all and the college seemed to lose it's "soul" - the door closed, there was no meditation, morning meeting or meals and it even rained! This was probably due to the fact that is was the weekend and few of the staff live on site. Despite this I had a wonderful time being a tourist. I took the river boat from Totnes to Dartmouth on Saturday and it was just the most perfect evening to glide tranquilly up the Dart with the egrets wading and a seal basking on a rock. Arriving back in Totnes I took a walk through town and saw a lot of men in smart jackets entering a church to give an all male voice choir performance so I thought I'd go and listen. There was still half an hour to go before it started so a walked a bit more up the town and on the way back saw a lot of people going into another church for what turned out to be a concert of songs and stories and I decided to go there instead. It was a fantastic performance of professionals - one had worked with Elton John, Bryan Ferry, and others; one was a professor at the Royal college of music; one had done some of the commentary on the Planet Earth programme. At the beginning of the performance, a woman stood up to give some info about the Totnes Early Music Society - and I knew her!! We talked and as I went later to say goodbye to her at the end of the concert, who did I meet but Matt Harvey!!! I told him all about our soiree and all you converts to his poetry! It turns out I'll see them both in a couple of weeks at the Swindon Festival of Literature. Not quite so amazing but still synchronous - the next day I took the steam train to Buckfast Abbey. On the way a family on bicycles passed me and we all looked at each other in recognition in that instant of passing. After a moment I remembered we'd met at the Resurgence summer camp last year! Anyway, great that this site has been created. Love Tina xx (I am over 13!)

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