News & Events

Julie (right) presents the cheque for £527 to Maria.  Julie's brother-in-law Brian lives at Mourne Grange and was the inspiration behind her fundraising.

The 38th B.R.A. Sponsored Walk took place over the Cave Hill during early April raising a total of £11,155.12p for four chosen charities; Camphill Community Glencraig, NI Cancer Fund for Children, Shelterbox and the School's own Malawi Project.  Heather Semple of the 'Friends of Glencraig' and our Fundraising Officer, Maria, attended a cheque presentation, together with representatives from the other charities, at B.R.A. on 28th June.  The funds will be used to support our new Biomass Heating Project.

If you walk into Finlieve on any weekday you will find a hive of activity.  Michael greasing the tins in the bakery, Ned kneading the dough and Pauline keeping everyone's spirits up with her radiant smile.  In the laundry you will see Hilary proudly ironing, Ian pressing the sheets and Caroline sorting the clothes into tidy piles.  Upstairs there's a Toddler Group and classrooms for the Village School; downstairs there is a workshop devoted to 'Tools for Solidarity' - here Conor and James repair tools and send them to communities in Africa.  So the influence of Finlieve is not just felt locally but across the world too!

We need your help to continue this wonderful work.  It brings joy and purpose in life to so many but, unfortunately, Finlieve itself was not designed for this purpose.  If it is to continue serving the Community it must be brought up to the standards required today.  It needs an expanded lobby and communal space, new doors and windows, indoor toilets, a ramp for wheelchairs, more storage and a school extension (quite a list!).

Mourne Grange Community has been working hard, alongside our Fundraising Officer Maria, and Friends to raise the money needed and so far £161,000 has been raised.  This is wonderful but we still have some way to go to raise the £230,000 needed.

If you would like to support this vital project by making a donation or by helping us to fundraise, we would be so grateful for your kindness and support.

If you would like to make a donation/find out more about how you can help please contact our Fundraising Officer, Maria Kinney, on 028 9076 8741 / E: maria@cctni.co.uk .  Thank you.

Congratulations to Catherine and Stephen (pictured above 5th & 6th from the left) who recently celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary.  Catherine's brother, Christopher (pictured on far right) lives at Mourne Grange and, instead of receiving presents, the couple kindly asked family and friends to consider making donations towards our Finlieve Appeal and ended up raising a grand total of £220!

On behalf of everyone at Mourne Grange we want to say a huge thank you to Catherine and Stephen and all their family and friends for their kindness, generosity and support.

We were delighted to welcome Councillor William Humprhey MLA and Margaret McKenzie (former Councillor and High Sheriff of Belfast) to Glencraig for a visit on 25th May.  Camphill Communities Trust (NI) was the chosen charity of the Deputy Lord Mayor and during his term of office he hosted our hugely successfull Fundraising Ball in Belfast City Hall.

Our thanks to Tommy Mulholland and everyone at Belfast & District Golf Clubs who recently raised funds for Glencraig.  Pictured at the cheque presentation, which took place at Knock Golf Club on 19th May, are Maria (our Fundraising Officer) and Tommy Mulholland.

Some 260 guests, including representatives from our four NI Communities, parents, corporate supporters and friends enjoyed a Drinks Reception and welcome music by 'Banter', five course meal and dancing to live band 'Sugartown Road'.

Auction lots, including a painting by leading Ulster Artist Tom Kerr, went under the hammer of Auctioneer, Kieran Harris, raising £3,725 whilst the ballot raised £1,395.

The event has raised just over £12,600 - a big 'thank you' to everyone who helped make this possible.

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A grant of £1,000 from NIE Staff & Pensioners Fund has funded the production of a new leaflet and information banner stands for CCTNI.  Pictured at the launch of the new materials which took place in Camphill Holywood Coffee Shop in December are:

Standing: Alexis Totten (Secretary, NIE Staff & Pensioners Fund), (L-R) Maria Kinney (FR Officer CCTNI), Jacqueline Mitchell (NIE) and Roger (Camphill Holywood Cafe).

On the 17^th November the building work started on The Glencraig Biomass Project. The aim of this project  is to help reduce carbon emissions at Glencraig and is part of the Low Carbon Community Challenge funded by the Department of Energy and Climate Change in London.

To have the latest information about the progress of this project please go to the following Facebook page: 

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Andrew Byrne (Brother of Paul from Clanabogan Community) has raised £1,900 for Camphill Clanabogan this Summer by taking part in the Chicago Triathlon!  Andrew completed the Olympic distance event on 29th August.  Tweet

Pictured above: The Down to Dingle Team present the cheque to Vincent and Liam at Glencraig on 25th August.

A huge thank you to Peter Rafferty, Dervla and Patrick McGrann, Shane O'Neill, Brian Thompson, Conor McDonagh, Tony & Therese Rafferty and John & Rosemary McGrann for their wonderful support.  Thank you also to everyone who sponsored and supported the cyclists.

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Dare to be Human in the People Professions

On Tuesday 24^th November 2009 a group of twelve Camphill staff, health and social service and education partners attended the Social Pedagogy Conference in Edinburgh.

The conference was a result of Camphill Scotland's energy and drive to keep the momentum of a national dialogue and to inform stakeholders of the place of social pedagogy in the personalisation agenda by exploring the potential and challenges of human relationships in caring and lifelong social learning and development.

Interestingly, the BA in Curative education which has been developed between Camphill and the University of Aberdeen is shifting towards being called a BA in Social Pedagogy.

Social pedagogy is about social learning, learning in groups, learning through living, learning through daily activities, making ordinary activities shared and enjoyed. There are many people across organisations using social pedagogy but they don't necessarily use that term. They are doing what they think is right by the people they live and work with.

The conferencewas all about sharing practice, working across professional boundaries and true collaboration. There was a huge range of presentations from real experts who had carried out research and had experience of working in the field. It was about the benefits of integrated working for ourselves and the people that we work with. There was a lot of emphasis on personalisation and choice.

Another way of framing social pedagogy is that it's about putting the heart back in social services. There has been lots of changes, some of them for the better but I think some things we have actually lost and the challenge is for us is to try and find some of those things and put them back in to what we are trying to do.

This was a very worthwhile conference to stimulate the conversation around some of the policies and practices which are stifling the very essence of what we do. It was also refreshing to listen to a wide range of contributors who had different takes on the whole area of social pedagogy.