What we do together
We
run the Association
Annually,
we elect Chair, Secretary & Treasurer (often two people share this).
They run the formal administration, holding meetings, keeping minutes,
negotiating with suppliers and authorities, and keeping our insurance and
our services healthy. We
maintain the buildings & services We’ve
got a Grade 1 listed Hall and a Grade 2 listed Tithe Barn, a mile or so of
roads, several miles of drystone walling, a private water supply, a sewage
treatment plant, a stream and ponds, and around twelve acres of woods,
lawns and parkland, so there’s always plenty to do.
The buildings are in pretty good order but need care, so we’ve
had to learn how to do lime mortaring, drain clearing, draught proofing
and other interesting tasks. Different
people maintain the sewage works, keep the water system
working, have a wary eye out for missing slates and
deteriorating stonework and monitor our trees for potential
problems. Some of us have
specialised maintenance skills and everybody pitches in when major
semi-skilled work is needed. When
something is beyond us (which isn’t all that often) we buy in skilled
outsiders.
Residents learning the art of lime mortaring on a cold and misty winter's morning
We
grow food We’ve been organic growers since 1971 and most of us put a lot of time into the two acres of kitchen garden. We have a working weekend once a month and another monthly working Saturday. These help us to keep on top of the kitchen garden and the various estate jobs, and we’re sometimes helped by visiting WWOOFers – more… We also have chickens, sheep and bees, and over the years have enjoyed caring for goats and pigs.
People preparing part of the kitchen garden for a second polytunnel
We
run events to pay some of the bills We’ve been the home of the annual Cotswold Beer Festival since 1976 and share running it with the local branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. We
also run other public events in the Great Hall and barn and many people
enjoy our concerts, story-telling, folk music and drama. more… We
have fun together We
enjoy one another’s company and are often in and out of one another’s
houses for sociability and cooperation. People also make up ad hoc parties to play games, visit local events and generally
enjoy being together.
People playing silly games in one of the Christmas pantos
...and we have some very good parties! |
The
space and freedom make Postlip a wonderful place for children to grow up
and lots of the fun involves Postlip kids – of all ages.