Newsletter 08 March 2017
Nissan Leaf
Milltown Community are proud to announce the arrival of their new electric car. After much painstaking research by Andrew Plant and an inclusive meeting - which was attended by tenants and co-workers - Milltown voted in favour of a trade in for a new Nissan Leaf. Our Nissan is 100% electric so produces zero emissions as opposed to our thirsty diesel cars and is a pleasure to drive. It has a good range on full charge and co-workers are learning how to drive it in an economical way, and where it can be charged up whilst out in the wider community. We have also had a dedicated charging point installed at Milltown so that we are always ready to go. Our Nissan has proved to be a big hit with both co-workers and tenants and is now the default car for most outings.
We feel that it has been a very good move and hope that other Camphill communities will be inspired to look into getting their own electric vehicles.
Milltown House 06.03.17
Newsletter 03 May 2016
MILLTOWN DAY WORKSHOP CELEBRATES 20 YEARS
On 15th April the Day Workshop at Milltown Community held a celebration to mark its 20 anniversary. The invitation had gone out, the cakes had been baked and many old and new friends came for the day, including local Councillors and the local MP, Stuart Donaldson.
Before the celebration cake was cut Richard Firth welcomed everyone and told the story of when the Day Workshop had first begun in 1996 with just him and Andrew Irvine. Richard spoke about the main motive behind setting up the Day Workshop – a motive that is still valid 20 years later. He said that everybody wants to feel appreciated, have a laugh and have some useful work to do that gives them a sense of achievement.
Milltown Day Workshop has come a long way since the early days when the emphasis was on sawing firewood to keep the stove going and restoring donated hand tools for Tools for Self Reliance. Over the years there have many developments. There is now a large greenhouse, a polytunnel and cold frames for growing plants and a small shop for selling the plants, restored garden tools and wood work items. There is also a new purpose built workshop for the wood working enterprise. Among all the things they make there, the wood working group have made sets of storytelling chairs and seats for two local schools.
There is a Community Garden with raised beds for small scale vegetable growing; willows are grown for making living willow structures, and there is a clay oven for baking pizzas and bread. There is a yurt for taking shelter in bad weather and for the occasional drumming session. Some local potters built a wood fired kiln in the Community Garden that is just beginning to come into use.
In addition to all of this the Workshop people spend time in a neighbour’s woodland harvesting firewood for the Milltown stoves and taking part in woodcraft activities
And, as a sign of this success, later this year there will be another celebration as the 100th Tools for Self-Reliance tool kit is completed and dispatched to Malawi for the use of men and women with disabilities.
As Richard said in his speech, ‘provided we can stick to the values that have brought us this far I don’t think we will go too far wrong and I hope that in 20 years time someone else is here talking about the years 20 to 40.’
Newsletter May 2015
Hello and welcome to the May issue of Milltown day workshops newsletter this month has been a little quieter than most but we’ve still been had at work.
We had the family day on Saturday the 30th and it went very well and was enjoyed by all.
We also had a car boot sale that went very well and we sold £69 worth of tools.
The woodwork shop has been hard at work most of May making art screens unfortunately we don’t have any pictures but we made 10 8ft x 6ft and 10 4ft x 6ft screens which took a lot of work.