Braziers is home to  13 people at present,  most of whom work part-time within Braziers in exchange for board and lodging. Some also work part time outside the community or are retired.  Ages currently range from 20′s to 90′s plus a baby born 2012. We hope to be 16 by end 2013.

Residents have their own room,  many in the main building or Garden cottage, alongside volunteers from UK and overseas who spend up to three months here working for their keep and participating in the life of the community. There are usually between two and eight volunteers depending  on time of year and how much work to be done.

The main areas of responsibility are   – Household, Kitchen, Office, Estate and Maintenance each have one or two residents as main organisers, with support and input from others according to need and enthusiasm.  At a meeting at 9am each day we check how everyone is feeling and the day’s work is allocated: often cooking, cleaning and gardening dominate, with maintenance and office tasks also on the agenda.  Residents generally work around 25 hours per week in exchange for board and lodging.  In practice, it can become a full time job living  here although some residents do have part time paid employment outside Braziers.

Decision making is by consensus with agreed levels of autonomy.  We meet twice a week as a community, on Tuesday evenings we ‘contemplate’ any issues on the contemplanda and on thursdays we have a decision making meeting informed by the feelings of the Tuesday meeting.  We are a specially authorised society with charitable status and our AGM is in April or May.The Society is governed by its members through a Comittee of Management which liaises with the community representatives via a monthly meeting.

If you are interested in learning more about living at Braziers  check our vacancies page.  Becoming a resident can take quite some time and all candidates for vacancies are  required to complete our application form before being invited on one or two visits, after short-listing by the community – the selected applicant is then offered a 3 month trial period with reviews, which may lead to an offer of residency.

Applicants need to demonstrate an interest in Integrative Social Research as well as experience and skills in the required areas of the role they are filling, but more importantly, an ability to contribute fully to our shared life, willing to learn about problem solving and conflict resolution and take part in community building, teaching and learning.

Volunteer?

Volunteering is very different to being resident so please look at vacancies and recruitment process if you are interested in joining our community.

Residential Volunteers work 6 hours a day, 5 days a week  (including  at least one weekend day),  the work includes a high proportion of house cleaning, bed making and food preparation as well as the chance to spend a day or two working outside in the garden or on the estate.  There are sometimes opportunities to join in classes here.

Mid Week Volunteers  There are regular mid-week volunteer days for locals and anyone who wants to try a couple of days working in a community or has time to spare every week.  Every Wednesday and Thursday are for  day volunteers (overnight stay is optional with small contribution) these are also generally our outdoor project days and you can join for either or both.

If you are considering volunteering take a look at the volunteers page here  for more details and an application form.