Mission and Vision Day

On Wednesday 13th June, there was Mission and Vision Day at the Chrysalis Theatre in Camphill Milton Keynes. The aim of the day was to review changes that have taken place over the years and to envision what the future of Camphill would be as a community together. The event started in the morning with the Vision Day song led by Joan. Then there was an introductory film from Tim with slideshows illustrating some of Camphill MK’s history and its achievements. The ice breaker was led by Julia, people worked in groups and discussed their favourite colours. At the end of this activity, a new colour was chosen for our community. After that, groups discussed what the values of our workshops and our community were, produced posters and presented their findings in front of everybody. There was also a short film about Camphill Workshops made by our Newsletter team. Just before and after lunch, participants were invited to join a craft activity by finger painting a large collage and colouring small pieces of cards which were later incorporated into the collage. Lunch was at half past twelve and we had pizza, salad with fruit, prepared and served by our bakery and café team. In the afternoon there was a presentation about life in the houses by Csilla, and a discussion of possible new names for different parts of the community, led by Anke. There was also a discussion about who’s interested in our community in a wider context –social service, the public, friends and families, health professionals… just to name a few. Again groups presented their results in the form of posters. A short film of the Joseph play, which was performed earlier this year, was shown to celebrate our achievement in drama production. At the end of the day there was a summary and exploration of the initial findings, with many residents, coworkers and staff speaking fondly of what the community meant to them. The finished collage was presented on stage with a few residents putting on the final touches and the Vision Day song once again sang together accompanied by hand bells, drums and full audience participation. This successful event demonstrated once again our values, our togetherness and our individual uniqueness. A big applause and huge thank you for everybody who contributed to the day!

Alex Fox and Lee Surridge