Our Being
Consultation & People trainings for conscious community living
Work of 2005 to 2008 in a few words and images
The Creation of the Friends of Stanmer Park (FoSP). 
Stanmer Park is a 5000 acre, 1300 year old estate on the northern edge of the city of Brighton & Hove,
owned and managed by its Council. It contains one of the only closed village in the UK In 1998, the B&H Council conducted a highly biased and numerically unrepresentative survey of users to create a Vision for Stanmer. By 2000 it obtained a DEFRA grant of £15,000 to commission a survey of the Park with a London based Landscape Management consultant, Colston-Stone, whose Stanmer Report recommended a highly impractical return to the 18th century design of the Park. This in order to gain Historic Park Grade 2 listed status which would give access to national government funding. The Park's user's community on the other hand, had enjoyed since the 1950's when the land was bought by the Council, a very democratic, free access, community driven relationship with the Park.
In 1998, the B&H Council conducted a highly biased and numerically unrepresentative survey of users to create a Vision for Stanmer. By 2000 it obtained a DEFRA grant of £15,000 to commission a survey of the Park with a London based Landscape Management consultant, Colston-Stone, whose Stanmer Report recommended a highly impractical return to the 18th century design of the Park. This in order to gain Historic Park Grade 2 listed status which would give access to national government funding.
However, the Stanmer Report also called clearly for a single Management body based in the Park and for the creation of a Friends organization. When the Council tried to bring in a centralised paying car park at the entrance of the Park, it was clear the two visions clashed, and the FoSP was formed as the outcome of a protest Public Meeting in the Park's tearooms, called by resident villager Jamie Hooper, now Chairman of the Friends.
Since its inception the FoSP have
- grown to 50+ committed members
- carried out its own traffic management survey and lobbying to finally dissuade the Council from creating a centralized entrance car park (the car parking remodelling using existing small scattered traditional use car parks has now been built with bunding along the access road in line with FoSP's wishes and in joint work with the Council officers)
- researched, wrote & published a 70 pages Plea for Stanmer Park
- promoted links between the 15 disparate organizations and groups who are stakeholders in the management of the Park, (the Stakeholder's Forum thus created has now held 6 meetings and is ongoing)
- engaged councillors and MP's in thinking about the community's wishes
- won the right for existing multi car parkings to remain but lost the battle to charge for parking (but it could be reversed under the new Council in 2009, see Newsletters section in up and coming FoSP website in May 2009)
- published a regular seasonal newsletter
- hosted talks by major stakeholders at its 4 AGM's.
In 2004, the old Earls of Chichester House complex, empty since the War and heavily damaged, was leased long terms to Cherrywood Investments Ltd & Cherrywood Events Ltd, of property developper Mike Holland, to restore under English Heritage guidance & turn into an events venue and company offices, and to build up two seven townhouses. He has refused to retain the Victoria Rooms Social Club within the complex used by villagers for community activities
(this lack of community space is now a major campaign issue of the Friends).
GA was especially instrumental in swaying the Council officers to include prehistoric and pre 18th century aspects of the Park in their management vision such as the Neolithic holy site of Rocky Clump . And in introducing 21st century developments in the Park to the FoSP, such as the Agenda 21 driven Stanmer Organics with its world renowned Earthship created by the Low Carbon Network, and the 1970's Care Co-ops horticulure centre for mental health.
In 2005, David West, the only resident tenant farmer was persuaded to terminate his tenancy, half way through its 99 years. The Council then created a Conservation Trust composed of its own councillors, with considerable lack of transparency and feedback, to take over all 8 properties coming with Home Farm, including the 15 rooms Home Farm House. Under pressure from FoSP and a group of squatters who took over that house for a week, it revealed it is intending to renovate them all to rent at "market prices". FoSP was then promised a Stakeholder Liaison Panel meeting with this new Trust, to take place in Autumn 2006 to discuss the way forward...
Since then Home Farm and other cottages were renovated and rented and the new tenant has become one of our new Committee members!... for the full story of our ups and downs in the archived newsletters 2007/2008... see the ongoing story of the FoSP from this point on in the upcoming FoSP website in May 2009! (address will be published on this blog nearer the time)
LE worked in partnership with GA in 2004 to pilot the idea of combining ‘spirit healing’ Mindfulness and Well Being activities and the ‘social inclusion’ activities currently delivered and funded by Brighton and Hove Social Care and Health (B&HSCH). These pilots were so successful we want to offer ‘Mindfulness and Well Being based healing’ as a real and viable alternative to medication.
Currently it cost £500 per person per bed per day to reside at Mill View our local psychiatric hospital. The aim for delivering this programme is to demonstrate and gather evidence in a structured and measured way that a holistic approach to Well Being is a combination of therapies and services and people need to have access to them before they know if it works for the individual or not.
This process requires taking steps from de-conditioning ourselves from a totally allopathic or ‘conventional’ view of medicine, health and illness to re-conditioning ourselves into a combined viewpoint with Complementary and Healing medicine which is actually stemming from older traditions than the current 19th to 20th century allopathic one. This process is being engaged by a growing percentage of health professionals and becoming recognized as the “New Medicine”
We aim to offer a combination of in house and reaching out ‘recovery’ and ‘stay in well being’ tools for people experiencing poor mental health through a combination of Mindfulness practices and Well Being knowledge. 
