The Open Community was the title of the organisation set up by the Findhorn Foundation in the second half of 1994. It was set up after the recognition that many people had moved into the area after having done workshops in the Foundation and decided to move in order to be nearer to the community. For a variety of reasons, the Associate Membership option was not suitable for this group.
The lack of acknowledgement of this group of people was becoming more obvious over time, and some Foundation members and ex-members resident at the Park considered this to be an oversight that needed to be addressed, although there were voices that were against any formal recognition.
Although the group was set up in the second half of 1994, it didn’t formally meet as a group until January 1995. Registration for the Open Community was £25 per annum and held within the Visitors Centre department.
The first meeting was held in the Family House and was attended by around 14 people and focalised by Elisabeth Tonsberg (ET). After the Family House, the group began to meet in the Upper Foyer in the Universal Hall. This then changed to the Upper Community Centre for the remainder of the time when meetings were held.
In its heyday, there could be as many as thirty people attending, and it became the best way for newcomers to feel welcomed and be a part of what was going on. There were a couple of times we went to visit places such as Fairy Glen on the Black Isle with Brian Nobbs and Cawdor Castle. We also had guest speakers who would come and talk about their own experiences as long time members. The Foundation tended to benefit most from having a bigger number of volunteers once there was formal recognition, and a resource rather than an intrusion from outside. Change was here.
After a few meetings in the Upper CC, ET suggested we appoint a focaliser from the group as she felt it needed to be held by the members and decide its own agenda and direction. The first and only focaliser from the group was a lady by the name of Amanda Gamley.
One problem that arose was a lack of continuity in the membership and it became more of a drop-in group with people only turning up every now and then and a few die-hards trying to hold it together.
Another issue was that formal registration and fee payment wasn’t being insisted upon so the fees became less and less as time went on and the meetings were becoming less well attended. In the end it became just an occasional social Friday afternoon for a dwindling number of people and eventually the meetings stopped and the whole endeavour became moribund and ceased to exist.
After this, people would say when asked what their status was, `I’m Open Community’. It became a catch-all term for anyone not in the Foundation or ex-member. Even Associate Membership no longer existed.
This doesn’t mean the Open Community was a waste of time and energy. In my opinion, when I arrived here in 1994 before the Open Community, it was easy to feel like an outsider and somewhat of an alien, although I hasten to add that many established people were also welcoming.
In 1998 Mo Willet tried to fill the void left by the demise of the Open Community by creating an organisation named the Findhorn Bay Community Association (FBCA). It had a written constitution and a social agenda but failed to get the formal recognition of the Foundation’s management for the purpose of cooperation between the groups. Though I do remember, the Foundation Trustees recommended that the Foundation formally recognise them. I can’t say anymore on this subject as I’m not sure of the timelines and activities of the group whilst it existed. Hopefully somebody might want to write more about the FBCA who was more involved than myself.
Very shortly after the FBCA came the New Findhorn Association (NFA).
Born 1947 in Manchester England worked mainly in heavy engineering until coming to Findhorn in 1994. Retired from formal work in 2005 to contemplate the mysteries of the Universe etc.
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