Common Ground
Common Ground is a wonderfully slippery fish. It's a charity founded by Sue Clifford and Angela King, which according to its unique website "seek(s) imaginative ways to engage people with their local environment". We've supported it for many years, and I very much share its philosophy and aims. I guess finding Common Ground was one of the reasons I had my conversion from City bloke to whatever the hell it is I do now.
What do they do? All sorts. Art installations, practical guides, events... I first bumped into them in the early 2000s, when we set up an Apple Day in an old cider orchard in our village. Everyone gathered and harvested the apples, tea was taken, then the apples pressed and bottled to support the village church and hall.
It was Common Ground who started Apple Day and the idea of community orchards. They also worked hard to revive local varieties of fruit trees, but particularly apple trees. This fell neatly into Sue and Angela's central objective. They want to get communities to understand and promote "local distinctiveness" through art and custom, landscape and architecture, history and environment.
Bang on message for Habitat Aid. We promote exactly the same values. I wish I had the imagination to come up with the kind of innovative ways Common Ground have done to promote them.
These days, you might associate this kind of philosophy with a small island mentality. Not at all with Common Ground. Their message is absolutely inclusive, promoting localism within a global community. The two can co-exist. And Common Ground have got things done, rather than just talk about them. Books, projects, artwork, landscape work - over a 35 year history they have produced a really significant and eclectic body of work. You can see their influence across a whole range of apparently unconnected areas, in urban and rural settings.
I heard Sue speak yesterday evening. Although these days they have handed the running of the charity on, her and Angela's enthusiasm and clarity of purpose is undimmed. Thanks both.
What do they do? All sorts. Art installations, practical guides, events... I first bumped into them in the early 2000s, when we set up an Apple Day in an old cider orchard in our village. Everyone gathered and harvested the apples, tea was taken, then the apples pressed and bottled to support the village church and hall.
It was Common Ground who started Apple Day and the idea of community orchards. They also worked hard to revive local varieties of fruit trees, but particularly apple trees. This fell neatly into Sue and Angela's central objective. They want to get communities to understand and promote "local distinctiveness" through art and custom, landscape and architecture, history and environment.
Bang on message for Habitat Aid. We promote exactly the same values. I wish I had the imagination to come up with the kind of innovative ways Common Ground have done to promote them.
These days, you might associate this kind of philosophy with a small island mentality. Not at all with Common Ground. Their message is absolutely inclusive, promoting localism within a global community. The two can co-exist. And Common Ground have got things done, rather than just talk about them. Books, projects, artwork, landscape work - over a 35 year history they have produced a really significant and eclectic body of work. You can see their influence across a whole range of apparently unconnected areas, in urban and rural settings.
I heard Sue speak yesterday evening. Although these days they have handed the running of the charity on, her and Angela's enthusiasm and clarity of purpose is undimmed. Thanks both.