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Making our UKCN democracy work: Elections to the UKCN board
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We are seeking Directors for UKCN (The UK Cohousing Network), a member-led organisation which acts as an advocate for cohousing and offers services to its members. It provides advice, raises awareness and helps to manage the Government-supported Community Led Homes work.
It has a sister organisation, the UK Cohousing Trust, which focuses on educational and charitable work, and these two organisations work closely with National CLT Network, Confederation of Cooperative Housing and Locality.
As a Director of UKCN you will have the opportunity to champion the cohousing movement and to shape the future direction of the network. These are very interesting and potentially exciting times in the Community Led Homes world. There is growing interest and support for grassroots-inspired solutions to the housing crisis and to the climate crisis. UKCN can play a unique part in how that community energy unfolds in practice. We are currently recruiting a new CEO, providing a firm base for that energy.
Following the change to our Articles of Association earlier this year, each Member of the Network now represents a cohousing group - either established or forming. Groups may put forward a representative to be considered for the role of a Director. Directors ensure that the Network speaks for all its members.
So now, please consider putting forward the name of a person to serve on the Board of Directors of the UKCN - we have vacancies to fill!
As well as member representatives, up to three of the 12 places on the Board of the UKCN can be co-opted, so, if you think you have the skills to help the Network, please consider putting your name forward.
Apply soon please to office@cohousing.org.uk. The deadline for sending in a possible name is the end of September 2019. UKCN Director Recruitment Packs with full details and election details will be sent out during October.
Jackie Carpenter, Director UKCN, 3rd September 2019
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Become a UKCN Membership Ambassador?
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The UKCN Board has been exchanging ideas about new roles within the Network and thought we should share our thoughts with you, our members, before taking it further. We have a small pot of money set aside for a role that we originally called the ‘Cohousing Living Coordinator'. We were going to employ someone on a daily rate but then thought there might be a better way of using this position to activate our Network - and that the title UKCN Membership Ambassador might be preferable . The following are our first thoughts - we would be interested to hear what you think of the suggestions:
- The task of this role should be to get around the various established and forming groups to link them into the network, share best practice (and avoid worst practice) and generally spread knowledge and understanding.
- This role could be best filled by members of an established or forming cohousing group on a rotational basis. Perhaps as a one year appointment (a sabbatical?) and should alternate between members of an established group and a forming group.
- The funding should cover about £100 a day expenses, plus travel and a donation to the group visited (say £50 for a day visit, £100 for an overnight stay with common house meals). We would expect a member of the host community (the post holder) to visit 25 to 30 schemes a year. (i.e. within a £10k budget)
- If the budget stretches to it, it should also include at least one overseas visit to cohousing elsewhere.
- The post holder should attend UKCN Board meetings and most cohousing gatherings.
- The post holder should contribute to the UKCN newsletter
- Participation in this scheme, and putting forward a candidate community for the post should be an explicit part of the membership offer (which we are currently reviewing).
- We should set up an independent panel to select the best candidate community each year - but no single group should expect to win a place more than once over a 10 year cycle.
- While we have funding to cover the first two years of this scheme, we should seek funding to make in a permanent aspect of the Network
We welcome all your ideas as members so please send them through to office@cohousing.uk titled ‘UKCN Ambassador recruitment’ by 30th September 2019 to help inform and shape this exciting role that will promote cohousing in the UK.
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Hello to all who have expressed an interest in cohousing,
What you may ask does Halton Senior Cohousing have to do with Climate Emergency? I have been thinking what better way to reduce my carbon footprint than to move to a more environmentally friendly home. Halton Senior Cohousing will be Passivhaus. We will link into the local hydro project on the River Lune for our electricity. We will have a car share scheme. That is just a few of the ways we will be doing our part to care for the environment.
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So if you have been thinking about taking steps towards a greener future now is your opportunity. We are preparing our planning application by meeting with our architect to put detailed design on our plans. If you are interested in becoming a member, we ask that you contribute £25 per year. I will send you our bank details upon request.
We have 3 workshops organised with our architects, Ecoarc. You do not have to attend all of them but as a member you can let me know which sessions you are able to attend. Some sessions will look at the Common House, others the one bed flats, two bed flats, or the 2 bed houses.
Workshops will be on:
Thursday 12th September
Thursday 26th September
Thursday 3rd October
They will all be run in 2 sessions on each day: 2pm - 5pm & 6pm - 8pm
With a break for some food between them.
We are not expecting everyone to attend all the sessions. But hopefully most people will be able to make at least 2 or 3 sessions.
Please let me know which days you can/cannot attend.
Thanks
Chris and Kathy haltonseniorcohousing@gmail.com
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Postlip Hall: ‘O’ is for October Open Days
As part of our 50th anniversary celebrations, Postlip Hall Community will be flinging open the proverbial gates this autumn and welcoming people from far and wide to come and see what we're up to. Come and join us to find out if living here could work for you - or just to find out more about cohousing.
The community is a ‘village under one roof’ based in 15 acres of ground surrounding the 600-year-old Hall. We are a community of eight households (currently 14 adults and 11 children) with our own private living spaces behind our own front doors inside the Hall, and we share the fifteen-acre grounds, pond, stream, woodland and kitchen garden. The community wasn’t founded on a single vision, but on a shared set of values, including friendship, tolerance, generosity, and fun.
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Come along on either Sunday 13th or Saturday 26th October to experience a Postlip Hall communal working day. It’s the perfect opportunity to meet like-minded people and talk about topics such as sustainable living and the challenges and benefits of living in an intentional community.
There will be plenty of tea, coffee and cake, a tour of the grounds, including the unit we have for sale, and lunch will be provided.
We'll start with a coffee at 10 o'clock for a meet and greet and then let the day, the weather and our infamous jobs list take us where they will!
Normally our working days involve a bit of gardening, a bit of moving things around, minor buildings work, herding the odd sheep - that kind of thing. It being October there’s likely to be a fair bit of apple-picking taking place too.
Basically, something for everyone, we hope! And, as always, a side portion of laughter and good cheer.
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We are asking for £5 per person to contribute to lunches and refreshments. Please bring wellies, gloves and weather-wise wear. Tickets can be booked using the links below, or you can email pha.cohousing@gmail.com.
Sunday 13th October- click to book
Saturday 26th October- click to book
To find out more about the community, please visit our website: www.postliphall.org.uk
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Progress update August 2019 - Converging gradually on Cannock Mill
'Everybody in existing groups warned us, the last few months before moving in will try your patience. How right they were! Because Cannock Mill is self-funded, we’ve had to sell our homes in advance of moving in. Some, foreseeing a tricky housing market ahead, decided to sell a year or more ago and have been renting in or near Colchester ever since. None of us expected it to be for so long, despite warnings that building projects always overrun. Ours was going to be different, wasn’t it? Perhaps everyone thinks that.
So we’ve ended up living in a variety of unlikely situations, using our ingenuity or the kindness of friends, sometimes strangers, to overcome the problem of a rental market geared to long-term commitment.
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Emma cycling along Wivenhoe quay
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There's an outpost of Cannock Mill in Wivenhoe, just down the river, where five Millers are enjoying the holiday atmosphere of riverside life, one in someone’s granny annexe, others sharing a friend’s fortuitously empty property, discovering the trials of house sharing usually confronted when a student.
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Two couples are renting in Colchester, one precariously at the mercy of the possibility of their landlord finding a buyer. Others have stayed in London, by hook or by crook or by camping out in the basement of their old home now mainly occupied by another family. One intrepid couple, faced unexpectedly with a few months to fill, have taken to house sitting for various friends, becoming on the way experts in the care of a flock of alpacas!
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Alfie, Basil and Winston!
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Throughout this period of waiting, we’ve all learned to live with less, to be more adaptable than we thought possible, to support one another and be tolerant of each other’s failings, and to make the most of this period of limbo as best we can – overall perhaps a rather good preparation for life in community.
Whatever the situation, the displacement and uncertainty are unsettling, and we are all looking forward to finally having a permanent home again. Oh, and being reunited with our possessions that have been in store for months. The cries of “Oh no, it’s in store!” will soon no doubt be replaced by “What on earth did I keep that for?” '
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Interested in joining us?
It’s always worth enquiring about membership of Cannock Mill, whether you’re interested in joining us soon or with an eye to the longer-term future. So if you’d like to know more, don’t hesitate to get in touch - contact details are on our website: http://cannockmillcohousingcolchester.co.uk/
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Member call out from Still Green
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Still Green Bicester and Milton Keynes are looking for new members! To find out more about the group come to the next meeting, which will be on Saturday 21 September. These are exciting times for the group and they hope to have more news about plans for a cohousing community in Milton Keynes. Come for an informal chat over a shared buffet lunch at 1pm and stay for the Open Meeting at 2.00 pm.
Visit the web-site for more information about the group: https://stillgreenweb.org/.
On 21 September the meeting will be at the Quaker Centre, 1 Oakley Gardens, Milton Keynes MK15 9BH. See directions here:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir//52.0540053,-0.7392018/@52.0540053,-0.7392018,17z.'
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New research on Placemaking
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Are you involved in the design and maintenance of shared outdoor spaces? Aimee Felstead (University of Sheffield) explains the significance of ‘place’ and ‘placemaking’ principles for cohousing residents and how this has formed the basis for her research on shared residential landscapes.
Read the full article here.
If you want to know more about the ‘Places in Common’ research project and how to get involved, you can send Aimee an email at alfelstead2@sheffield.ac.uk
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Sussex Street Cohousing - Open meeting in Norwich for prospective members
Sussex Street Cohousing in Norwich are holding an open meeting on Sunday 6 October at 12 noon to 1.30pm for anyone interested in find out more about our project. The meeting will be at The Stage, 52 St Augustines, Norwich NR3 3AD, just around the corner from the site.
If you can RSVP to Tony at sussexstreetcohousing@yahoo.com that would be helpful, but it's OK to turn up on the day too. If you are unable to get to Norwich but very interested in the scheme, then please email and they may be able to send you details.
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Community Led Homes training programme
Following the success of the London-based training, the Community Led Homes training programme to become an accredited Community-led Housing Enabler will be taking place in the North East during November and December. Detailed information will follow when the dates and venues have been confirmed.
If you would be interested in attending these sessions, please contact blase@cch.coop
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The most recent participants in the programme who finished the eight day training in August.
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Kent Cohousing is meeting this Saturday 7th September and invites visitors to join them at lunchtime 12.30 - 2pm at Sun Pier House,
Medway St, Chatham ME4 4HF
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Empty Homes Week 2019 will take place from the 23rd September 2019 until the 29th September 2019
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Every year local authorities, housing providers, community-led organisations and others see Empty Homes Week as an opportunity to organise events and put out information so that people know about their work to tackle empty homes. Empty Homes Week is also the chance to celebrate successes and reflect on what more needs to be done to bring empty properties back into use to help meet housing needs.
Please encourage your local authority to get involved in the week in 2019.
For more information contact info@actiononemptyhomes.org
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Self build survey request
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NaCSBA's quick VAT survey for self-build
the National Custom and Self Build Association is running its 2019 Custom and Self Build VAT Survey, and is asking anyone who has completed a Self Build, Custom Build or conversion to fill in the anonymous survey, and help it compile a picture of the size of the Self Build market. Helping NaCSBA with this data helps create more self-build opportunities across the country.
The data is vital as an accurate indicator of market size helps it in its work lobbying government to grow the Self and Custom Build sector.
Please give a minute of your time and complete the survey
Alternatively, forward this link to anyone you know who has self built in the last five years: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YDBQ26T
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North East Community-led Development Network 17 September 2019
The next meeting of the North East Community-led Development Network will take place on Tuesday 17 September between 1 and 3pm.
The venue is the Palace Hub in Redcar and the agenda will include:
- Presentation from the hosts on the Oxford House model operating locally and nationally
- Homes England funding update
- Hubs update
- Details of the Network conference planned for Monday 25 November
- Accredited training for Community-led Housing advisers
If you would like to attend the network meeting please follow the link below to book your place.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/north-east-community-led-development-network-tickets-70145987537
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UK Cohousing Ambassador, Maria Brenton, challenges the difference between co-living and cohousing as The Guardian compares the two models in a very interesting article, also featuring Marmalade Lane; “Co-living is purely a new way for developers to squeeze profit from an already broken housing market...” while “Co-housing in its purest form is about communities being control of their housing,” Hannah Wheatley, researcher on housing and land at the New Economics Foundation.
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Don’t forget to send us your news, events, tips or feedback about life in your cohousing that we can share to encourage others. That’s what the UK Cohousing Network is all about! Our newsletter goes out the first Wednesday of every month so please email through to us in advance at office@cohousing.org.uk and try to include images or links to video if you can.
Got questions about cohousing? You can contact us at office@cohousing.org.uk or use the resources available below:
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