This is a series of 7 modules – each one can be taken independently.

In each module we explore one of the central themes of our collective autobiography. We facilitate a range of activities including group work, conducting interviews as well as diving into historic materials (paper as well as digital), creative expression in writing, drawing etc. and above all we will have lots of fun!

Where: in the Park Ecovillage – details will be shared with attendees following booking.

Workshop format: (timings approximate)

• • 1st hour: Introductions (both personal and subject)
  • 2 hours of Generative free flow space – research, interviews, creative explorations, writing etc.
  • Last hour: Reporting back and next steps

How to sign up: Booking is essential – Click here to contact us to book your space.

Costs: Give as you feel moved in the spirit of “gift economy”. Participation is more precious to us than payment.

This workshop series is designed by Lydia Pappas (Community Archivist), Laura Pasetti (Artistic Director of Theatre of the 7 Directions), Janet Shaw, Sylvia Robertson and Cornelia Featherstone (researchers) and delivered by members of the team and guest presenters.

We will re-advertise once we have a new date.

In an informal environment we engage deeply with our personal experience and curiosity – through the group we discover more dimensions and perspectives leading us to new ways of seeing, of sharing our stories, and co-creating the new together. Whole systems design is what weaves the four dimensions, Social, Economic, Ecological, Worldview, together— not as a checklist, but as a living, holographic way of thinking and planning. As we address complexity and uncertainty, we heed the advice Howie Firth gave at the Enterprise Fair “LEARN TO NAVIGATE!” (click here to watch his talk) And this is where we come full circle in our series and apply the 3 core practices of this Community:

• inner listening
• love in action
• co-creation with the intelligence of all life

Booking is essential as spaces are limited – register here.

This is the last workshop in the series for 2026 – as it was such fun we will likely offer more in 2027.

(The COIF Team were part of the CHI Tenders supporting Ekopia in this storyfest.)

Fasil Bogale, Ekopia CEO writes: CHI’26 StoryFest: Thank You, Community!

Three days of stories, dreams and first steps at the Moray Art Centre, 22–24 September.

From 1st September Ekopia took over the lower ground floor of the Moray Art Centre (MAC). Rather than arrive with a fixed plan, we asked you: what does our community need? Over three days you answered with memories, visions, food and a great deal of heart.

The seven threads around the new CC

“The how and the where might not have been
consistent, but the what was absolutely there.”
– Pip, who witnessed the journeys to 2031

What’s next? The first steps are already moving: a regular
Friday potluck, a monthly pop-up restaurant, a warm
community living room, and work on the MAC’s acoustics.
Alongside this, planning begins for a new community centre
on the old CC site, built together, in stages, by 2031.

Want to help? Many champions are needed. Get in touch!

With deep gratitude

The CHI-Tenders met many times between 31st July and 21st September to design and hold StoryFest. Massive appreciation to our powerhouse visionary and project manifester Cornelia Featherstone, with support from Marilyn Hamilton, Pip Lee Meer, Lora Wedge, Sylvia Robertson, Barbara Swetina, Fabien Barouch, Romany Buck, Jane Duncan Rogers, Jen Bell and Cintia do Godoy.

Thank you to Bridget O’Donnell for coordinating the Empathy Tent with facilitators David, Jyan, Romany, Mona and Christine; to Hugo Klip for sharing his wonderful photos of the old CC; and to Samuel Nye for looking after the MAC behind the scenes.

And thank you to everyone who came, shared a memory, recorded a story, brought food, or dreamed with us. Every story was a gift. The full Ekopia StoryFest report, with what we heard and what comes next, will be shared soon.

Submitted by Fasil Bogale, CEO, Ekopia

Click here for more information about the MAC Hub.
Click here for the report on the Ekopia website with lots of photos from the event.

At the heart of regenerative culture lies a transformation of consciousness — a shift away from the disconnected, extractive worldview that underlies so many of our current crises, and toward a more holistic understanding of what it means to be human. In the original diagram this was called ‘spiritual’.

This workshop was a live expression of inspiration and manifestation. 24 hours before it started there were no bookings but the team decided to hold it anyway as the conversation had fired up their imagination and they were doing it just for the fun of it. In the end there were 12 participants and the vibrancy of the stories and sharings was palpable and a gift to all involved.

Watch this space for the summary report of the workshop – coming soon.

In our collective autobiography there are already many stories gathered for those aspects – click on the hyperlinks to explore further: Spiritual Principles, Arts, celebrations & rituals, Consciousness and Education.

This module focused on The Community Centre (CC) – the social heart of our community culture. We gathered stories in the intimate space of our workshop in preparation for the first day of the CHI26 Storyfest 22-24th Sept which looks at the ‘Old Community Centre’. After recalling our personal connections to the CC in the whole group, we had Open Space conversations about the CC Over the Years and the ‘Gritty Bits’ (or Warts-and-all) sharings about difficult aspects, including the destruction of the CC by fire in April 2021.

Click here for stories about the Community Centre in our collective autobiography.

Click here for the summary report of the workshop.

Fourteen citizen-historians gathered on 6th Aug 2026 for a four-hour workshop to explore the Community’s evolving relationship with money, business, and financial sustainability as it transitions away from its historic “ashram economy” toward conventional incomes, pensions, and hard currency.

While discussing practical solutions like mixed-tenure housing and local currencies, participants examined the deep spiritual reframing of money as an energetic tool, connected childhood patterns of scarcity and abundance to collective risk-taking, and engaged in candid conversations about the personal financial costs and pension gaps associated with long-term community living.

In our collective autobiography there are already some stories gathered under the category Economy – and there is so much more to research, share and celebrate! The Topic – Community Economy gives an overview with lots of references for further research.

Click here for the summary report of the workshop.

A Community Consultation to Help Shape the Community Archive Project Together

Uncapping Sixty Years of Shared Heritage and Stewardship
— a lively, interactive afternoon preserving the memories,
stories and hopes that make this community what it is.

Click here for the report of the event.

Nature Spirit drawing by Frances Ripley

On 5th July 2026 participants explored Ecology in a number of ways: through storytelling, performance, art, movement and embodied connection with the subtle realms.

They also discussed what Co-creation with Nature meant for them both in the past and how it might be in future.

Click here for the Summary Report of this workshop.

Stories about our founders came alive on 14th June 2026 as Jonathan Caddy gave a tour to the Original Caravan and shared very personally about the early days, formative influences, core principles, vision and purpose.

In our collective autobiography we have gathered stories under the category Our Roots.

Click here for the Summary Report of this workshop.

To whet people’s appetite, we created this short promo video with fabulous historical footage:

Romany’s mandala

Cansu’s collage

In this workshop on 13th June 2026 we explored our personal story asking each other “What drew you here? What did you learn? What are you doing with what you learned?” Some of the most fascinating conversations start with these questions.

Click here for the Summary Report of the workshop.

We played with some fabulous historical footage and created this lovely short video:

These kind of stories form a crucial part of our collective autobiography – click here to explore them.

On the occasion of COIF’s 5th Birthday we organised a Film-Night.

The Film-Night worked better than we could have dreamed with lots of amazing coincidences. The film schedule was a bit of a stab in the dark but it turned out that each film flowed into the other rather well, covering a lot of ecovillage aspects over the decades, and with a sense of humour playing through it all. This aspect only became clear when watching the whole programme in one sitting. This synchronicity gave us a sense that is was ‘intended’ on a ‘higher level’ rather than just orchestrated by us, thus making it much more meaningful and precious. And, in the tradition of Experience Week, the evening ended with a practice that can be applied by each one of us in our daily life – Personal&Planetary Transformation in practice.

This is the whole programme and if you have 3 1/2 hours to sit through it all you may capture that same magic.

Mainly Magnus (1973)

Findhorn Original Garden Peter Vallance (2012)

Turning Point (2009)

Going Green CNN (2016)

Growing Up Green (2021)

France24 (Oct 2025)

Robert Holden Tea Meditation (2017)

For the 2026 Easter Conference Economics As If Life Matters Laura Pasetti of the Theatre of the 7 Directions organised a special edition of the Artist Hunt entitled The Stories that Took Root. COIF Team member and storyteller, Sylvia Robertson, told the story of how COIF came about.

Click her to listen to her story and read the responses participants gave to the question “What does the Community mean to you?”.