History
The history of Camphill Dialogue
by Peter Bateson
In 2025 it will be eight years since the last Camphill Dialogue took place in Newton Dee in 2017, by far the longest gap in its 37-year history. In Spring of 2020, the conference was ready to start in Hermanus, South Africa, and it did in fact have its opening speeches and an address by Christo Brand, the former gaoler of Nelson Mandela. Unfortunately, it closed again immediately because of the looming threat of COVID and imminent lockdown. This was a huge blow to everyone concerned and created a hiatus which at last can be repaired in 2025.
Camphill Dialogue began in 1988, and for many years was simply called the International Camphill Board Members’ Meeting. This has remained its essential character. However, the concept of dialogue was very much at its heart from the beginning. There was a growing feeling that something needed to be done to improve the understanding between Camphill and the board members who served the communities. Board members offered a great deal of expertise from their various professional backgrounds, and even more importantly, their general outlook as men and women of the world from long life experience and their own cultural, social and economic communities. For many of them this was not enough, and they had a longing to know more of what lay beneath the surface of Camphill, its deeper spiritual and social development.
There was also one overriding and unifying factor in the minds of boardmembers and Camphillers alike at the time: that Camphill should have greater recognition in the world and that its binding unity as an international movement should become much more of a visible and effective reality. They wanted Camphill to have a voice. Ultimately, there was serious talk for many years about aiming to create a Camphill World Organisation, most likely with its headquarters in Geneva. In the end, the ‘United Nations of Camphill’ never came about, but the idea did live on in smaller ways in different regions and countries, to help Camphill find a voice in the wider public domain, most notably in Camphill Scotland.
A sizable majority of board members were parents of pupils and residents in Camphill communities and their deep sense of gratitude for what their sons and daughters were receiving in Camphill underlay their great commitment and enthusiasm to supporting the organisation in any way possible. This profound sense of personal and human connectedness and warmth has always been a powerful force. To complement that stream, there has also been a long succession of extremely prominent people in their own fields of social work, education, special education, finance, law and administration who have become friends of Camphill and supported its endeavours on a very high national level.
This powerful mix of resources was palpable at the inaugural Camphill International Board Members’ Meeting in Ringwood in 1988. The second gathering took place just two years later in 1990 at the Camphill School Aberdeen, and then proceeded with a three-year rhythm ever since, prepared and guided by an international Steering Committee representing most of the regions, a group which for many years had a stable core-membership. This gave it the ability to really reflect each time on the successes and failures of the different Dialogues, to learn from them and make progress and further steps in how the Dialogue should best be handled. Needless to say, whatever the themes and content of such a meeting might be, all participants would go away with a deep sense of satisfaction in having met so many other people from all over the world with similar concerns and responsibilities, and lifelong friendships were often forged.
Full List of Dialogues
1988 Ringwood, Hampshire, England
1990 Camphill School Aberdeen, Scotland
1993 Perceval, St-Prex, Switzerland
1996 Beaver Run, Pennsylvania, USA
1999 Glencraig, Northern Ireland
2002 Föhrenbühl, Überlingen, Germany
2005 Hermanus, W. Cape, South Africa
2008 Orion, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2011 Sylvia-koti, Lahti, Finland
2014 Soltane, Pennsylvania, USA
2017 Newton Dee, Aberdeen, Scotland
2020 (Hermanus – cancelled)
2025 Hermanus, South Africa
Throughout the history of Camphill Dialogue, there has been a succession of notable people who stood out as particular champions of its aims and aspirations. Firstly, one should recognise the contribution of the North American board members as a whole group, who for many years were really the driving force behind Camphill Dialogue. Also, the same could be said for the representatives of Camphill Norway, who have always remained extremely faithful to and active in the process.
Justice cannot adequately be done to all the many individuals from all the regions who have dedicated themselves to Camphill Dialogue over the years but a few examples spring to mind whose names deserve to be taken note of:
North America
Alton Marshall, Morrison Huston, William and Betsy Herman, Molly Finn.
Scotland
George Morgan, Ian Smith
Ireland
Kevin O’Kelly, Michael Hilary
Northern Ireland
Dr. Arthur Mitchel, John Frost, Richard Stewart, Geoffrey Weir
Middle Europe
Ruth Freifrau von Ledebur, Alfred Heinrich
England
Lambert Bignell HMI, Alan and Sandra Armstrong
Long may this wonderful and powerful initiative continue to serve the worldwide Camphill Movement and all its members!
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