Our Journey
Visual scribing by Vanessa Alexander of The Grove original processes
April 2018 - Preparing the soil
A conversation began between a group of change-makers at a Richard Bartlett workshop on ‘Patterns for Decentralised Organising’. We decided to meet the next month because something felt like it wanted to be born.
What followed was a small gathering in a warehouse in Glebe called The Works where some excited conversations about starting to work as a decentralised network of creative change makers, were held. What emerged was a tagline that reflected our interest in humanising work, Power, love and nature at work.
Early meetings in The Works in Glebe
Experiential practices in dojos
July 2018 - Planting the Seeds
Throughout the year conversations developed between a core group who met regularly to plot and plan a series of events at ‘The Works’ called dojos, a place to practice new ways of working, being and thinking together. In August 2018 the first dojo, 'How We Have Conversations Matters' was inspired by an article written by Peregrin Chiara about the qualities, conditions and ways of being in conversation at a personal and collective level.
January 2019
In we spent a weekend at the North Head quarantine station on a ‘collective vision quest’ to try to articulate the purpose of The Grove. By the end of three days we felt no closer to defining our purpose and in one final attempt with desperation and tears the words flowed through Ruth McCance that became our Guiding Principles.
Collective Visionquest at North Head Quarantine Station
Our beautiful friend Ruth McCance
May 2019
We suffered a great loss when one of our founding members and dear friend Ruth McCance died in a mountaineering accident in the Himalayas. We grieved together as a community and held each other close as we tried to come to terms with this great loss. The Ruth McCance fund was created to contribute to the work of The Grove, its members and community.
February 2020 - Space for saplings
Building on from these wonderful formative events and a growing network it was decided to formalise the organisation of The Grove as a cooperative. The Grove is Open Cooperative Ltd was formed on 29 February 2020 at Balls Head in Waverton with the first Board members, Vanessa Alexander, Nick Callahan, Pere Chiara, Robyn Katz, David Pointon, Mark Spain and Bridget Wardlaw, being nominated at the same time.
Coop formation celebrations at Balls Head
