Page 5 - C.A.L.L. #39 - Spring 2015

LCH also have other community enterprises, including a food cooperative and a
car pool. The food cooperative is completely informal, run by members
volunteering their time to order wholefoods and make them available to other
members in a locked storeroom to which all members have access. With an

annual turnover of over £ 20 000,- the food co-op will probably have to be
formalised soon. Another enterprise is the car pool, which is legally registered,
now owning 4 cars, including one electric car. Members pay according to both
time and distance driven, and membership is open to people living outside
Forgebank.

In addition there is a shared laundry, with 2 washing machines operated by
tokens available at the co-housing office. There are communal guest rooms and a
bike workshop and storage space. Heating is by a district heating scheme,
housed in the GE mill, and running off woodchips. In combination with highly
insulated houses the heating costs are cut to an absolute minimum. Houses can
be relatively small, not needing room for big heaters, washing machines or guest
rooms.

The common house has a large communal kitchen where members take it in turns
to cook evening meals. The community eats together 3 or 4 times a week, and
the common house is used often for coffee and just hanging out. Opposite is a
children’s playroom, so the whole family can spend time being with others.

What struck me most significantly at Forgebank was the feeling of easy
community. I spent quite a lot of my time in the common house, talking to
people, and saw how well used it was, and how well looked after.

When I visited, the Forgebank community numbered about 60 adults and 15
children, all the houses were filled, but the mill was still half empty. There was
still work to be done on landscaping, especially upriver, where there was a steep
slope up from the river which could not be built on, but which could be
developed as productive open space, a food forest, small gardens and
recreational space. A local company, “Halton Hydro” was building a modern micro
hydro on the site of an old mill to provide hydro electricity, and solar panels
were still being installed. Forgebank reckons to be exporting energy within a
year or two. They have started monitoring their carbon footprint, which is
already significantly lower than the UK average.

Jan Martin Bang was a kibbutz member for 16 years, has lived in Camphill in Norway,

and has written several books on community and ecology. He was chair of ICSA between
2010 and 2013. This article originally appeared in Bulletin # 55 of the International
Communal Studies Association, www.communa.org.il/icsa

5