Arriving at Findhorn

GROWING UP AT FINDHORN

Jonathan Caddy was his mother’s seventh child. He was six years old when his family came to the Findhorn Bay Caravan park.

 

Jonathan remembers, “Soon after we came here, Lena Lamont arrived with her three children, so you can say we did not start as a family, but from the very beginning were in fact a small community. From that time the place has grown into this large community to which tens of thousands of people have come. In the early days the grey garage next to the caravan also functioned as a kind of community centre where we played together and enjoyed parties.

“It was a great time for us kids. As the inside of the caravan was quite small, we had to spend a lot of time outside. It gave me a great love of the outdoors. We boys went barefoot much of the summer and unlike many other children appreciated school meals as we often felt hungry.”

JOHN’S ARRIVAL

In 1967 John Willoner, a young teacher in Perthshire, received a postcard from his friend Dennis, sent from the Findhorn Bay Caravan Park. “I knew the message had spiritual significance and visited in February that year,” says John.

Dennis and John were friends from university. They shared spiritual interests and attended a group in Hull called Universal Link. Peter visited this group on one of his journeys around the UK and met Dennis who said he was looking for some hard exercise. “I can give you exercise!” Peter promised and Dennis spent a year preparing the ground for the first bungalows. When John visited it was quite a challenge to find Dennis at caravan 27. “The area looked more like a dump. I spotted Dennis and was introduced to Peter. They were working together on the foundations of a building and I started to help.

“The next weekend I was back again. There were six adults and the children. Peter gave me copies of Eileen’s guidance, and her words really interested me. I came again and again until eventually I gave up my teaching job to come and stay.”

Every day they would stop work at 11am for meditation. “The locals would have their piece of bread and jam at that time,” John explained. “So we decided to have our ‘peace’ then, to blend in.” As there was no Sanctuary they met in ROC’s caravan. Dorothy, Eileen and Lena would share their visions and Peter would discuss work for the next day.

In 1968 the Sanctuary was built. Peter, John and Dennis mixed the cement by hand and local builders came in for the construction. Eileen had received guidance that the dimensions needed to be 24’ x 24’. “Our small group wondered why the Sanctuary was so big, unaware of how the community would evolve.”

John Willoner interviewed by Christine Lines and Adriana Sjan Bijman