Article courtesy of Laurence Cawley, BBC News, East
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-62967716
https://www.othonaessex.org.uk/essex-green-weekend
At the eastern edge of England, where the River Blackwater meets the North Sea, a small community whose size oscillates with the seasons lives without any connection to the National Grid.
The Othona Community at Bradwell-on-Sea, in Essex, has just four permanent residents, including wardens Richard Sanders and his wife, Debbie.
Mr Sanders describes the 20-acre (8-hectare) Othona site as a “Christian community that is open to all faiths and none”.
The Othona Community hosted the first ever Essex Green Weekend over the last weekend of April, aimed at empowering and enthusing practical responses to the Climate Emergency. They had a packed programme of speakers, practical workshops, children’s activities, music and wonderful food, not forgetting the pop-up bar. Over the weekend they had around 80-90 people staying there, some camping, and catered for around 150 on each day. They were privileged to have a fantastic team of volunteers both from Othona and Trustlinks and all of them worked exceptionally hard to make it a really special event.
The fantastic photos of the event were all taken by Lea Williams. She captured the essence of the whole event brilliantly.
