Meeting Minutes

Inaugural Sociocratic Circle Meeting

Monday 23rd August

This is the first time i’ve written minutes for a meeting of this style, so ill do my best to capture the main points. Please add your comments to the bottom of the page of you have anything you’d like to say or feedback. In future we would like to have our hands busy doing craft while we talk, but overall very happy with getting started with this style of meeting.

Present: Emma (general organising, health & wellbeing, children & family spaces) Jimbo (Forestry), Scott (edible landscapes, forestry, tanner, health & wellbeing) Amy (general organising, events, CALS course), Andrew (Health & wellbeing), Penny (Barnwood, Disabilities inclusion), Nicola (new to forest, Worskshops organising, acupuncturist, naturopath , Eva (volunteer, wildings club, builder) Emma D (new to forest, wildings club, horticulture, ex-corporate world, travel company, process development, growing futures), Laura (visiting from Crops not Shops, community growing in London), Steve (Part of the furniture! Green woodwork, long standing volunteer), Kasia (Volunteer, Wildings club, marketing, womens education, refugee support, translator), Cai (Long standing volunteer, generalist, community organiser, 8 shields, ancestral skills), Beki (Blakeney Hill Growers, Growing Futures)

Discussion: Do we do updates for each project as part of the meeting?  It could be quite time consuming.

Outcome: Yes this time but try to be quick.

Updates / explanation on all projects:

• Rekindle Youth - working with youths from local secondary schools, growing projects and crafts skills More HERE

• CALS - Craft and Land Skills Vocational Qualification - being developed with the Institute of outdoor learning.

• Growing Futures - more HERE

• HAF – summer club

• LWA Gathering

• Barnwood Grant

• CPRE Vol Days

• SEED – Bracelands

• Video Diary Series

• Craft online Videos

• Glos Disability Grant – Sevenoaks

• Angus Buchanan

• Noxon

• Forestry

• 3 Upcoming events 19 September, dean heritage Centre / 2 October Bream Art Jab / 3 October Food Showcase.

• New leaf – social forestry – this is a project that was taken over as part of Foresters Forest and will continue after – it encompasses lots of the areas above – the green woodwork, forestry, Try it out Tuesdays. 

5.45 – 6pm Break (Half hour over-run) – Proposal for future that we find another way of sharing updates in advance of the meeting and discuss highlights during meeting – this could be by video or written. 

6pm – Question – to watch 20 min video about sociocracy circle structure or quick explanation now, and watch video in own time? 

Agreement across circle to have a quick explanation and move on to defining the circles.

Discussion – whether to have circles for the 6 area’s we work in, and sub circles?  Would this be overcomplicated? Whether to have circles for areas we want to work in.  This seems very complicated – Rewild do a lot of work, what is the best / way to involve people / to grow?

Acknowledging that the circles can change and merge and divide as necessary – we just need a starting point.

Lots of sharing of ideas, and finally a starting point.

Final round – how was the meeting for you?  Lots of positive feelings shared, and some feeling it is too much – in the army you just do as you’re told & it is more simple!  Hopefully as we break into smaller more relevant circles, the process will be easier and more simple.

Finish time 7.10

Final circle structure below - although this will change and develop over time, we are committed to being open to people setting up circles within The Rewild project and taking ownership and we are committed to providing support to groups who want to further the aims of The Rewild Project.

Video from zoom also below, although this unfortunately did cut off early, we are open to recording future meetings if this is useful for involving more people.