On the 12th & 13th January the Kindling team met for our strategy weekend to both share our collective vision for the organisation and to plan future steps.
Nearly all the Kindling team were able to make the weekend with Helen, Kirstin, Nona, Alan, Katie, Chris, Debs, Chloe & Emily spending Saturday and Sunday, sharing ideas and previous experience, discussing and planning our next steps.
Our venue, the Middlewood Ecological Study Centre was just an hour & a half drive from Manchester and seven of us crammed into our new Landrover, with bike and baggage strapped to the roof rack.
We got to Middlewood that evening at 9 and woke the next morning to a view of a valley crammed with fruit trees and a low-impact study centre over looking the River Roeburn:
The Middlewood Trust runs the study centre to promote environmental courses that would address the growing concern about long term damage to the environment. Ecological buildings,low impact dwellings, alternative energy systems, and woodland crafts provide the basis for human and environmentally friendly living systems which form the main core of the courses. The residents and Middlewood Trust use these resources as a focus for sustainable development and through education help to create a future with a future. Permaculture principles and ethics act as the background for this project.
After a walk of the site, for some inspiration, we got down to meeting about what exactly Kindling was trying to achieve and how each of our projects can help both bring about a sustainable food system for Greater Manchester and help Kindling reach is ultimate aim of purchasing and running a sustainable farm.
We had some great ideas about how we raise our profile, build credibility and ultimately get our hands on some land to make our vision a reality.
The second day, the Sunday, was dedicated to looking at how we make decisions, consensus decision-making techniques and how we can nurture a supportive and challenging working environment.
The weekend provided an opportunity for everyone at Kindling to help shape our organisation and our future work. The ideas and actions that came from the meeting will form the basis of our annual action plan.
So in 2013 expect to see more of us working on our vision of purchasing a farm near Greater Manchester and Kindling asking its friends and supporters to help us raise our profile - because we think we have a lot to shout about.