Where were you in summer 2020, when you realized that you could only associate with the people in your household and when outside the home you were required to wear a mask and distance yourself 2 meters??!! Fast forward to 2022 when Findhorn Community celebrates our 60th anniversary.

How has The Park Ecovillage Findhorn (TPE Findhorn) survived the impact to our economic life –  faced with closed FF trainings,  B&B’s, Phoenix Café, businesses,  cultural activities of all kinds – no singing, no dancing, no film, no theatre?

How ever did we spread the updates about the pandemic when we were being kept isolated by design? With perfect timing, the Findhorn Angel inspired several brilliant cultural responses to cheer the soul and connect the community. We wrote in another story about David Robinson’s Zoom Taizé – now let’s appreciate 3 initiatives manifested by Laura Pasetti, that are still inspiring vibrant connections: the Town Criers, the Artist Hunts, the Red Ball.

How Long Covid Infects TPE Findhorn with Love all the Way to 60 Birthday!

Early in the lockdown, a Volunteer Action Group (VAG) sought ways to keep in touch so that we knew people were okay behind their closed doors. Quickly VAG imagined a “modern” version of the Town Crier. Laura Pasetti, TPE Findhorn’s very own animateur of EcoTheatre literally jumped on her bicycle, added a top hat and unfurled a script. Then she pedalled around to 11 neighbourhoods with the key headlines that everyone needed to know. But although covid updates were urgent and important, perhaps the most vital prescription for wellbeing became Laura’s tag line for the Town Criers: “Allow yourself to be infected by Love!!”

Laura was soon joined by Annie Crawford and Roy Miles alternating as companion performers, on Tuesdays and Fridays (delivering 220 minutes of performances per week!!). These performances arrived at their 11 “EcoTheatre stages” in a variety of versions over the next year plus (eventually shifting to Fridays only). They spawned such audience devotion that certain neighbourhoods created Friday night gatherings that continue to this day (especially at the Barrels and Soillse).

And this contagion of Love looks likely to re-infect the 60th Anniversary celebrations that Laura is now energizing. Rise again Town Criers and join the celebrations for 60.