Members

A community member loads up hay bales ready for the winter

A community member loads up hay bales ready for the winter

Alongside the Warden, Community Members take responsibility for the over all running, organisation and ethos of Pilsdon. At any one time there maybe up to 7 community members and the current team is made up of people from a wide range of backgrounds and experience, which includes individuals, married couples and families.

As well as the day to day jobs of cooking, looking after livestock, leading prayers, washing and cleaning – where members take equal part to others living at Pilsdon – Community Members also look after key areas such as health and safety, the gardens, the vehicles and applications process, to name just a few. A Community Member also acts as a support/link worker to a number of Guests who are designated to them.

Underpinning this work is an ethos of ‘living alongside and serving one another’. One important implication of this is that Members all share the same house rules as Guests and Visitors in terms of Pilsdon being a dry house. The concept of ‘living alongside’ removes Members from the conventional workplace: boundaries between ‘off duty’ and ‘on duty’ are often blurred and a six day working week operates, which means days tend to be long. Living in community can often be emotionally and physically challenging and Members need to be comfortable working within this context, as well as having a good level of self-awareness and to be able to take responsibility for planning their own leisure and rest periods.

The selection process for a potential new Member involves several residential visits to Pilsdon, a written application and personal statement, references and an interview.  This application and discernment process can take a few months to complete.

If you would like to explore the possibility of becoming a community member please complete this Member Application form  and send by post or contact pilsdon@pilsdon.og.uk