our stories

Meet Katie Katie has lived with her Shared Lives Carer, John and his wife Jane, for around 16 years and has been a part of our Shared Lives scheme for a couple of years now. Katie recently joined us for a work placement as part of her college course. Katie was supported by Cathy Dale, […]

Stories of love, support, and achievement As we celebrate Shared Lives Week from June 24 to June 28, 2024, we’re excited to share heartwarming stories of individuals whose lives have been transformed through the Camphill Village Trust Shared Lives. These stories show the close relationships, successes, and positive impacts created by our Shared Lives Carers […]

At Camphill Village Trust, we believe in the transformative power of nature to support adults with learning disabilities, autism and mental health problems. Ashfield Gardens in Stourbridge is a testament to this belief, providing a nurturing environment where individuals can grow and learn. Jenny, our dedicated Garden Manager, shares her insights on the vital role […]

Read our easy read guide to voting Easy read voting guide Get ready to vote At Camphill Village Trust, we believe everyone should have the opportunity to participate in shaping our communities and society. That’s why we have created an easy-read guide to voting. Our guide makes voting clear and accessible so you can confidently […]

Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 As we mark nearly 70 years of supporting adults with learning disabilities, autism, and mental health challenges, Camphill Village Trust would like to help spread awareness for Mental Health Awareness Week. This year’s theme, “Movement: moving for our mental health,” resonates deeply with our mission to enhance the wellbeing of […]

Let’s hear from the experts And who better to answer this question than the experts themselves? Camphill Village Trust Shared Lives Scheme spent a day with a group of willing volunteers and here is what they said… Thursday 2nd May 2024 marked a day of local elections across the country. An opportunity for local residents […]

Embracing Diversity and Thriving Together  This April we shared with the world Autism Acceptance Week, a time to promote awareness, acceptance, and understanding of autism spectrum disorders. At Camphill Village Trust, we believe in celebrating the uniqueness of each individual and nurturing an environment of inclusivity and support. Let’s discuss what autism is, how it […]

Congratulations Class of 2023! On behalf of Camphill Village Trust, we are delighted to announce the graduation of the first cohort of Severnside Skills trainees on Wednesday 3rd April 2024. Joined by friends, family, Trust staff and other partner organisations, the ten graduates chose to mark the occasion with an afternoon tea accompanied by a […]

A life of opportunity At Camphill Village Trust, we believe in empowering individuals to live a life of opportunity, grow, develop, and gain confidence in their lives, and this is our message for the month. This message resonates following the recent Neurodiversity Week and World Down Syndrome Day, which focused on challenging stereotypes and ending […]

Shared Lives Colleen and her husband Malcom have worked as foster carers, and Shared Lives Carers for many years, and in 2020, Shane moved in full-time with Colleen and her husband Malcom, following twenty-five years of respite with the family. Later in 2021, Aaron joined Shane for a short-term respite stay, and decided he liked […]

Shared Lives With almost 40 years under their belt as Shared Lives Carers, Lynne and Ian neatly sum up the ethos of the model with family at its heart! The couple have supported three gentlemen, whilst bringing up their own children – all whom have never known anything different than to share their home with others. An […]

Social Care Workers Event In a show of appreciation, the Minister of State for Social Care, Helen Whately, hosted a reception at 10 Downing Street on August 17, 2023. This event was all about recognizing and praising adult social care workers from all over the country for their amazing contributions. People from different areas of […]

Board of Trustees Our Board of Trustees act in the Charity’s best interests, set the Camphill Village Trust Strategy, make important decisions and oversee the running of our Charity. Rita Asamoah brings an impressive wealth of experience with over two decades of senior management expertise in the Health and Social Care sector. Her skills in […]

Botton Village Karate Club Update Due to the new grading system introduced in January, the Botton Village Karate Club has continued to bolster its ranks and grow its members through its revised Kyu system introduced by Sensei Chris and Sensei Ian. Following traditional training methods, the club is proud to take on students of variant […]

Local Communities Knowing that lockdown had been particularly hard for older people, Olivia and her fellow Kindness Crew members at our St Albans and Delrow Communities were keen to reach out. For the last two years the Kindness Crew have been serving refreshments and running quizzes and craft activities at their local branch of Age […]

Dragons’ Dell Community members have been coming up with ways to help the environment and pitching their green ideas to the Dragons’ Dell.  The Co-production team have been working across all our communities since last autumn to come up with ways to make our communities greener. The best ideas from each community were then pitched […]

Co-production week From 3 to 10 July we celebrate Co-production Week. We asked Phil Gibson, our Co-production Lead, to tell us more about co-production. I am often intrigued by the question ‘How are you today’? Sometimes, I ask it as an easy conversation starter, expecting the response to be an affirmation that we are all […]

Ashfield Gardens, Stourbridge Earlier in the year at a local Growing up Green event I met a lady called Rachel Wells that runs a local horticultural company with her business partner Helen Kelly called Hortulani. Rachel and I got chatting and Rachel told me that they were going to be having an exhibition stand at […]

A Social Care Student’s Perspective on Camphill Village Stourbridge Community As a social care student at Camphill Village Stourbridge Community, Sheila has been inspired to pursue a career in social work by the opportunity to work with diverse individuals, finding solutions to their challenges, and safeguarding vulnerable populations from harm. Camphill Village Stourbridge Community, with […]

An Interview with Zara In a recent interview with Zara, a dedicated social care student, her passion for social work and commitment to making a difference in people’s lives shone through. Zara’s journey into social work was inspired by her innate desire to give back to the community and support those in need. Her work […]

A Royal surprise It was a privilege to be one of six charitable organisations invited to meet the King during his surprise visit to Malton on Wednesday April 5. Camphill Village Trust CEO, Sara Thakkar, was joined by Carolyn and Virginia, two people who live at Croft community in the heart of Malton. Carolyn’s father, […]

Easter Sunday with Local MP Stourbridge MP Suzanne Webb attended a Community Lunch with Camphill Village Trust on Easter Sunday. The event was held at Ashfield Farm & Gardens on Sugar Loaf Lane, where Suzanne met Manager, Jenny Cadman, and Keith Williamson, who looks after the animals. Around 30 people from the Camphill Village Trust […]

Camphill Village Trust Shared Lives continues to grow across the region, following a successful approval of the first family recruited by the scheme in the City of Wolverhampton! “Whoever is matched to Claire and Wez is very lucky indeed!” These were the words of Davinder Tiwana, Camphill Village Trust’s Shared Lives Independent Panel Chair following […]

A Shared Lives story Ram and wife Nina became Shared Lives carers a year and a half ago, and since joining have supported two people.  Six months ago, they began supporting Ross who was paired with the couple by the Shared Lives service.   Ross said ‘Ram and Nina help me with day-to-day tasks like cooking, […]

A Welsh adventure In search of adventure, Steven and Debbie from Larchfield Community decided to head to mountainous landscapes of Snowdonia for a holiday. Accompanied by carer Deborah, the pair stopped off in Chester for a few hours on the way south. They enjoyed a walk, taking in a visit to Grosvenor Park’s wicker sculpture […]

Shared Lives and Stourbridge On Sunday, Stourbridge Community and Shared Lives came together for their annual Christmas event. Taking place at Ashfield Gardens, the gardens welcomed the Shared Lives Team, Shared Lives Carers and families, along with the people supported right across the community. The setting made for a perfect Christmas social event, with a […]

Stowe Family Law All of us at Camphill Village Trust would like to extend our grateful thanks to Stowe Family Law, for their generous support. The Malton branch of the specialist family law firm have kindly donated £250 to their nearest Camphill Village Trust community, the Croft Community which is also based in the North […]

Severnside Skills, Taurus Crafts Severnside Skills is our new training centre for adults with learning disabilities and autism at Taurus Crafts in Gloucestershire. We’ll be offering recognised training, through the AQA Unit Award Scheme, which people can work through at their own pace, to gain accredited qualifications in retail and catering skills. Learners will be […]

Talk like a Pirate day! Pirates aren’t just found in the Caribbean it seems. The landlubbers of Botton Village and Larchfield Community have recently been flying the Jolly Roger in honour of International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Community members of Botton Village met in the Joan of Arc Hall and took part in fun […]

Life of opportunity reviews Did you know that only 6% of people with a learning disability are in employment? Many of our community members tell us they’d love to have a job, but finding the right training and getting suitable work experience can be a stumbling block. So we’re delighted that nine people who live […]

Congratulations, Daniel! Daniel got the keys to his very own flat in our supported living accommodation this summer – thanks to the support of our Shared Lives Scheme! Daniel first came to live with Shared Lives carer Carole when he left foster care aged 16. Over the next three and a half years, he was […]

A new grade in martial arts! We recently shared an exciting update from Botton Village, where martial arts have been introduced to its residents, and now they have achieved a new grade in martial arts. As a result of their hard work, they have achieved their orange belt. Since then they have honed their skills, […]

Ashfield Gardens’ Courses Congratulations Zoe, on successfully completing your AQA in Animal Care and Horticulture and becoming a member of the Garden Team at Ashfield Gardens.   The course Zoe attended, was secured earlier this year by Stourbridge Community in partnership with the Worcester Council’s European Social Fund and was a 6-week course in Animal […]

Fitness Fun Fitness and weight loss were the goals when Sophie joined our Stourbridge badminton club but she’s finding other benefits too.  ‘We started the badminton club in February, and we play once a week on Wednesdays,’ explains Sophie. ‘My goal was to help with my diabetes and lose some weight.’   I’m getting better the […]

Thank you, Fran Fran started at Camphill Village Trust in February 1986 and has been ‘building connections’ ever since.    Starting out as part of a Community Programme aiming to get people back into the workplace, Fran travelled twenty miles in transport provided by Botton Village.   In the beginning Fran started as an Admin Assistant […]

Herb Garden Since May, the Inner Garden Team at Botton Village has been hard at work, creating a new herb patch within the gardens. The herbs were carefully selected by the people we support in the team, for use in Botton Village Cafe recipes, focusing on the ‘taste of Italy’, and for use in herbal […]

Today, the communities of Camphill Village Trust come together in sorrow at the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The sense of loss rippled through the Commonwealth, our country, our neighbourhoods and families. The Queen’s lifetime of dedication and service has been an example to us all. Some of us will recall the words […]

Meet Alfie who lives within Botton Village Alfie joined the community four years ago and currently lives at Sycamore House. In the film below, co-produced by the Tea and Tech Team at Botton Village we introduce Alfie, and explore who he is, and what leading a life of opportunity means to him. The film includes clips from […]

Phillip and Mo discover Botton Village Phillip and his wife Mo had never heard of Camphill Village Trust or our beautiful community, Botton Village, nestled in the North York Moors. That was until a local walking group made his holiday ‘to do’ list. ‘I discovered Botton Village on a walk. I was out with a […]

Delrow Festover In July, members of our Delrow and St Albans Communities came together for our third annual music festival. Kat, Day Opportunities Manager, says: ‘We had the fabulous sounds of the Delrow Choir and band, Ollie from St Albans Community, and many local bands too.’ Regular newsletter readers will remember that the first Festover […]

Christmas Card Arts and Crafts Designing, printing and preparing our charity Christmas cards gets underway at Botton Village in the height of summer. Catherine is involved in every step of the process. ‘We do the Christmas cards in Suzi’s art class,’ says Catherine. ‘I did a card with baubles and greenery and candles and bells.’ […]

Jubilee Celebrations Across all our communities, the occasion of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee was a chance both to show our respect and appreciation to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for her 70 years of dedicated service, and to come together as a community. Fancy dress featured strongly in the celebrations in Grange Village, Gloucestershire – […]

Botton Village to the rescue When Cleveland Rotary Club needed a helping hand recently, they knew just who to call! The Rotarians pass on unwanted furniture from local schools to under-resourced schools in the Gambia. Moving hundreds of tables and chairs out of storage and into a lorry on a hot summer’s day meant extra […]

EDF at Grange Village A big shout out to the team of 10 volunteers from EDF Energy in Barnwood, Gloucester who recently joined in to lend a hand at Grange Village. The group got involved in a wide range of tasks across the estate, and helped to build two raised beds from reclaimed timber boards […]

Congratulations Andrew and Karen The course of true love never runs smoothly, and Andrew and Karen from our Stourbridge community have certainly seen a few bumps along the road, thanks to the pandemic! The couple met in 2016, and started dating after they had their first dance at Andrew’s 40th birthday party that same year. […]

Coach Trip On July 30th-31st, Alex from Larchfield Community went on a coach trip to Blackpool and Chester Zoo. Alex loves animals and the seaside, so this trip was her ideal holiday. Alex and her support worker Deborah set off from Middlesbrough bus station on Saturday morning and arrived in Blackpool early afternoon. Alex said […]

Diary Entry At the end of July the swifts will be flying back to South Africa. I have noticed this summer that there have been various nests of swifts in the church just up the road from where I live, St John’s Church near the fire station, and at the Elton Centre. They use church […]