Camphill is an initiative for social change based on the principles of anthroposophy. Camphill communities are residential communities and schools that provide support for the education, employment, and daily lives of adults and children with developmental disabilities, mental health problems, or other special needs. There are over 100 Camphill communities in more than 20 countries across Europe, North America, Southern Africa and Asia. We have four in Northern Ireland and we had frequented the one on the outskirts of Kilkeel for many years only on Sundays for coffee savoury and sweet treats. We visited most Sundays when The Camphill Movement was founded in 1939 in Aberdeen Scotland. One of the key founders was iconoclast Austrian paediatrician Karl König; the son of a Jewish shoemaker. He was only in Aberdeen because Hitler invaded Austria; every storm cloud (or trooper). It was Karl König's view that every human being possessed a healthy "inner personality" that was independent of their outer characteristics, including characteristics marking developmental or mental disability, and the role of the school was to recognize, nurture and educate this essential self. Camphill is an initiative for social change based on the principles of anthroposophy. Camphill communities are residential communities and schools that provide support for the education, employment, and daily lives of adults and children with developmental disabilities, mental health problems, or other special needs. There are over 100 Camphill communities in more than 20 countries across Europe, North America, Southern Africa and Asia. We are fortunate to have four in Northern Ireland and we had frequented the one on the outskirts of Kilkeel for many years only ever on Sundays for coffee savoury and sweet treats. We visited most Sundays when not travelling certainly since our kids were little and they loved going here. Now they are all grown men. We got fed and we gave them much needed funds. Occasionally we bought the wooden toys and other gifts they sold. For reasons I can't explain we just stopped going pre covid. Then we forgot about it during and post lockdown. We drove by a few Sundays ago and as we passed by we wondered if it was still open for visitors so we doubled back, parked up, and had glorious coffee and cake served up by the kids. Certainly there were none of the old faces from past management and I never forget a face but little else has changed; timeless and dedicated to the betterment of, and the dignity of, human beings unable to figure it out for themselves in a truly selfish greedy world. They'll only ever get crumbs from the table of power while self indulgent billionaires spend millions to ride with their egos into outer space for a few seconds but perhaps the great unwashed should be grateful as it seems crumbs sometimes are just enough. We will continue to go for coffee and cake. read more

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