UK communes

lol I guess you're right but thinking about it, the uk doesn't really have a good place to start a commune, not if you have very little funds. I would think a great project would be to buy a few acres of land with a run down house. In the uk anything with a building on it is worth a small fortune and wouldn't go cheap and anywhere without would be near impossible to get planning even for low impact buildings. I think france would be a great place as you can still get land with abandoned buildings on for less then £30,000.

 

well we can consider france if and when we ever actually meet up (which should be in the not to distant future). It is a very good suggestion, but as cymru said, this IS a uk commune thread, so it would be better to focus on the uk for now. If you start bringing france into the equation some will agree and some will disagree (because even though it has pluses like being cheap, it has minuses, like that everyone would have to learn a new language,and also france is going quite right wing, amongst many other reasons), and there could be a disasterous split before any of this actually happens, which subsequently could lead to 2 groups too small to acheive anything. First thing should be to stick to our goals (a uk commune), and once having bonded as a group, THE GROUP can decide where to go from there. Personally i think that your france idea could be a very nice one, but like i said, maybe its best we decide as a group.
So for now, do we even have any ideas about the uk? Do any of the people amongst us know where to look for cheap land with a (or a few) derelict building(s)?
peace and love

 

hey guys, ive been looking into land...i have an idea, it involves a mortgage taken out between the members for a 'buy to build' type thing, we can borrow the money to buy the land and start to built a custom base for the community and various dwellings around it, or something like that, we would need to submit planning applications and such which would take a lot of time and discussion, so.........

in the meantime, we rent a large house 5/6 bed, i have found some for as little as 800 as month in the south east but im sure theres cheaper out there, with a decent size garden we can start to build part of our dream, a co-oprative, functioning community, strengthen bonds and discuss future aims with the oppertunity to back out with less threat to comunity stability than if we were building straight away, (would always be sad to lose anyone)

What do you think?

We are working on a website for us to use as a base for now. ok, thats the update for now. lol

peace to you all.xxx

 

i'll take a look around my local estate agents. If we all do that we can come up with a range of properties (even if it's just for an idea of the prices in the area).

 

sounds good.

 

and you can get that here in croatia for half of that price

 

yes but we have already agreed that we will look around the uk. i also think that possibley croatia may be a bit far away for people from western europe. thanks for making the effort though

 

if you form a commun don't do it in the north... which interest with the weather
North east is the worst part probably...

Cornouailles or Devon seems the be the best part of England to do that ...very beautiful and more richer nature and a little warmer

And wait at least 18 ...it's like wine ...it gets better with time (think 'bout it)
...mmmhhh but ok it's not a reason to join a commune at 78...naturally

 

so whats good everyone?
any news or excitement?
peace and love

 

Yea the thread has gone quiet.... where has enigma rising (or all the other people that were talking about this) gone??? Dont tell me this is just another lipservive job (ie all talk no walk). Come guys and lets get this show on the road.
peace and love

 

It seems to have gone quiet over the xmas period... though on the other hand that's when lot's of peeps have plenty of free time for banter! At the risk of sounding like a broken record I'm only posting here to share ideas at the moment.

 

hey, we havent dissapeared, but we have busy lives, lol, and theres not much that can be done apart from theorising at the mo, but keep talking, about anything, lets get to know each other better here and not waste this time...what do you guys think of my proposal for renting a large house between us before we move to a permenant site?

 

I think it sounds like an ace idea for you Enigma, as it builds the commune around the people rather than the dwellings and alternative living that you will eventually adopt, IYSWIM.

 

sorry IYSWIM?? i dont get it, lol would you be interested in joining us? trouble we have is that our flat at the moment has just transfered to a new estage agent who what us to sing a contract for a year on monday or get out basically, so were stuck for a year as we cant afford to move, i know a year seems like a long time away for most, it does to me but we are stuckgives us plenty of time for reaserch though, lol
.

 

IYSWIM = if you see what i mean

sorry, i shouldn't use those terms as it just confuses people - i have been mixing with the wrong crowd!!!

not interested in joining this lot at the moment but you never know in a years time maybe my aims will have changed... i don't think a year is that long to be fair; i think people underestimate the commitment of such a big change as this and yeah although i realise some peeps have just "dived right in and never looked back" - but i dont think that's the majority!

 

Maybe a year isnt too bad, the one thing you dont want to do is put off the idea for too long, cuz then you will just keep doing it, and it will become a fantasy idea rather then a goal which will practically happen. On top of that people will then take you for a joke, and "all talk and no walk". That way you may lose alot of good people, and would make your plans alot more difficult to follow through on, maybe leading to it not being realised at all.
Whatever way, i hope whoever is in this with you, will be reliable and that this project will work out well for you.

 

It's not so much the time itself buy how closely you follow your schedule or plan... if you write down all the stuff you need to achieve between now and C-day (commune day!) ...you can see if you are slipping or not toward achieving your goal! It's good to set a target date, and better to set dates for milestones on the way to this goal.

 

Yea you are right there man. Keep active no matter what and let people see you are keeping active. Then the idea doesnt become dead or a spent force.

Keep it dynamic and fresh in some way all the time. Make sure it has an impact and relevance to all the lives of the communards. And also record all the acheivements and successes along the way (no matter how trifle they may seem). These records will be invaluable, because morale will not remain high with inaction.
Maybe organise raffles and fundraising for the commune. And try to attain charity status, so that you wont be taxed.... that way the more money, the more the morale boost. The cause could be the developement of an organic and sustainable living model in contemporary society, later to be used as a role model for the conversion of society as a whole to sustainable way of life. Thus it is a project which aims to help society as a whole, and a valid candidate for charitable status.
Start getting things official. Take an official name count. Set a first meeting day. Then organise a vote for a provisional council of the secretariat (ie people that would officially look after the interests of the commune in abstentia).
There is so much you could be doing in this year. Thats just a few things of the top of my head.
Peace and Love

 

For my part, come September-October time I need to find myself another place anyway. As long as there's work to be had in the area i'm up for sharing a place.

 

hey elfriend, where abouts in wales are you...im hoping to be in aberystwyth (sp) in february so we could meet if your nearby...also any other of our welsh posters...if you would like to. how many of you guys could get to london? (with some notice obviously)