Invitation to Learn

People & Power Programme runs from September 2008 to July 2009 in the North Laine of Brighton, UK

Classes will again run on Tuesday mornings (10.30 to 12.30) and on Wednesday evenings (7.30 to 9.30) and will be facilitiated by Francis Clark-Lowes. The drop-in fee is now only £6 per class. Book and pay for five classes in advance and the fee reduces even more to £25 - i.e. £5 per class. And this includes refreshments! To enrol contact Francis on francis@invitationtolearn.co.uk, or call him on 01273 602168 or mob. 07984 900394, or write to C/O Brighton Peace & Environment Centre, 39-41 Surrey Street, Brighton BN1 3PB.

2008

Five introductory classes

02/03 Sept: What is Power?
09/10 Sept: The Power of Groups
16/17 Sept: The Power of Language
23/24 Sept: The Power of the Individual and of the Mind
30 Sept/1st Oct: Obsessional Power

Fifteen classes on powerful people (please suggest others)

07/08 Oct: Adolf Hitler
14/15 Oct: Winston Churchill
21/22 Oct: Bodicea

Half term

04/05 Nov: Tony Blair
11/12 Nov: Gordon Brown
18/19 Nov: Margaret Thatcher
25/26 Nov: Henry VIII
02/03 Dec: Marilyn Monroe
09/10 Dec: Jesus
16/17 Dec: Theodore Herzl

Two-week Christmas break

2009

06/07 Jan: Sigmund Freud
13/14 Jan: Clement Atlee
20/21 Jan: Prince Charles
27/28 Jan: Lady Godiva
03/04 Feb: Karl Marx

Fifteen classes on powerful groups (please suggest others)

10/11 Feb: The family

Half term

24/25 Feb: Voluntary associations / trades unions / the masons / football supporters’ clubs
03/04 Mar: The nation / the state (as two distinct groups)
10/11 Mar: School / Academia
17/18 Mar: The armed forces
24/25 Mar: Islam / The Mosque
31 Mar/1 Apl: The rich

Two-week Easter break

21/22 Apl: Christianity / Churches
28/29 Apl: City / town / village
05/06 May: The media
12/13 May: Judaism / Jewishness
19/20 May: The people

Half term

02/03 June: Multi-state groups: Europe, the Arab World, the Latin World, the UN, global identity
09/10 June: Male / female / gay
16/17 June: The company / corporation

Resolving the problems of power: disempowerment and empowerment

23/24 June: The wrestling match of power
30 June/1 Jul: Recognising power and how it disempowers us
07/08 July: Empowering ourselves 1: techniques
14/15 July: Empowering ourselves 2: morality
21/22 July: Empowering ourselves 3: accepting our ultimate powerlessness
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6 ‘Writing Our Own Stories’ Workshops start in Mid-October

This new series of 6 workshops will be facilitated by Christine Hollywood, will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays at the same venue as the People and Power classes, and the fee for all six classes (drop is not possible in this series) will be £36, refreshments included. Here is the programme:

14 Oct: Introduction and beginnings
21 Oct: Places
28 Oct: People
04 Nov: Events
11 Nov: Fragments and threads
18 Nov: Connections and conclusions

Christine writes: ‘All of us have many stories. This series of six workshops provides an opportunity to explore through writing and memory some of the stories that make us and shape us. The workshops will evoke memory through the work of published authors and poets, writing prompts and journal so the places and people we remember may be captured in writing. Your writing can be kept as a record for yourself and significant others or used as a tool for looking at the past and its impact on the present. It’s up to you. Perhaps you will want to write and write….’

Christine has completed the MA in creative writing and personal development at Sussex University. At the moment she is working on a collection of poems. She also works as a freelance writer. Christine has written promotional material for local and national organisations and articles for print and online publications.

Enrol as for the People & Power Classes (see head of this posting or go to ‘Contact’ page).

On Saturday 24th May six of us gathered at The Community Project, Laughton Lodge, Ringmer, East Sussex, to discuss ‘Rules and How to View Them’. Two members of the community also joined us. Although we were disappointed that our planned four-day ‘retreat’ had to be reduced to a one-day event, condensing the discussion in this way did not detract from our enjoyment. There was a particular focus on the kind of rules which are not stated, but which we obey, sometimes without even realising that we do so.

The location of the study day at Laughton, and the participation of two of the Laughton Lodge members was extremely fortuitous, for the Community Project has an issue about rules. Some maintain that their only rule is that there are no rules. Sarah Berger addressed this whole issue during the second session and we were given a fascinating insight into the working of this remarkable co-housing project. Sarah and Julian Morgan-Jones also gave us a most informative tour of the Project in the afternoon.

The last session addressed the issue of self-imposed personal rules, and the degree to which one should feel bound by these. This brought matters much closer to home, and to quite a degree of soul-searching.

We didn’t reach unanimity on this whole subject, but a number of interesting ideas came up. I guess we all accepted that rules are necessary, but that they should sometimes be disobeyed. Breaking rules may be because they are bad - that is they require us to do bad things -, or simply because to feel fully human we need from time to time to experience freedom from restraint. You might say that this reflected a rule that we should be allowed occasionally to break many rules, though how you distinguish between the breakable and the unbreakable rules, and how you decide what is more than occasional was unclear. We probably all agreed that our own self-imposed rules should be flexible enough to allow for self-development.

Three of us non-’communards’ stayed on overnight and the next day went for a two-mile walk through the lovely surrounding countryside to Laughton village and back. By good chance the forecast rain did not materialise!

Feedback on the study day was unanimously favourable. Thanks are especially due to Christine for the absolutely delicious food, to Sarah for making the arrangements for our use of the Community’s facilities and for her talk on rules in the Community, to Julian for his lively discussion of the issues in relation to the Community Project and help with the tour, and to all the other participants for their enthusiasm and openness.

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Please note that next year’s programme of weekly classes will be on the subject of ‘People and Power’. You can now find the detailed programme by clicking on the ‘classes’ tab at the head of this home page. You need to scroll down to the end of the current programme ending this July.

Due to insufficient enrolment for the four-day ‘retreat’ (22nd to 26th May) we have reduced the programme to a one day event on 24th, with the option of staying Saturday night and going for a walk on Sunday morning. The programme appears below. Enough people have already enrolled for this study-day to run, but there are still places available. See the bottom of this post for details on enrolment. [By the way, if you want to see next year’s programme (starting in September 2008) of classes on ‘People and Power’, click on ‘Classes’ and scroll down to below the current programme.]

Venue: The Community Project, Laughton Lodge, Laughton, nr Ringmer, BN8 6BY

Date: Saturday 24nd May

Programme:

From 9.30 Assemble at Shawfield, Laughton Lodge.

10 – 11.30 Session 1. Introduction: Different Kinds of Rules: Different Kinds of Conformity and Disobedience. The creative tension between the demands of society and our own free will.

12 – 1.30 Session 2. Created Communities and Their Rules. Co-Housing: The Community Project. What is a Community?

1.30 Lunch

3.30 – 5 Session 3. ‘Required’ Ways of Seeing the World: Religions, Philosophies, Ideologies, Narratives. Conformity and Resistance

5.30 – 7 Tour of Community Project

7.30 Dinner

8.30 – 10 Session 4. Constructing a Personal Morality: Balance or Excess, Discipline or Spontaneity, Optimism or Pessimism.

On the morning of Sunday 25th May there will be an organised walk starting at 9.30. There is a limited amount of accommodation at Laughton Lodge if you would like to stay the night, but this will be on a first come, first served basis. You are welcome to come back for the walk on Sunday if you have stayed elsewhere.

Fees: Whole day: £50. Add £10 for Bed and Breakfast. For part attendance, the following fees apply: £10 per session. £5 per meal. No charge for the tour of the Community Project or the walk.