SUNDAY' MORNING ON BBC - A VISIT TO ESSEX'S OTHONA AT BRADWELL ON SEA -

This morning, the BBC visited Britain's oldest church, St Cedd's on the Essex coast built in the seventh century - beautiful place alongside the North sea.  We also learned a little about Othona, just a short walk away. A beautiful service.

From its beginning in 1946 as a summer camp in tents on the Essex marshes, Othona has been a  meeting place for people from different countries and backgrounds.  They came then and they come now – all the year round and not only in tents -  to be refreshed, to take stock, to make friends over the shared chores, perhaps to learn something new, and to go across the field together to the ancient St Peter’s chapel looking out over the Blackwater estuary. 
 
The community attracts anything between 15 and 50 people, depending on the theme and the season.  At any given time there will be some who have been coming for years and others there for the first time.  Especially in the summer the dining room echoes to the sound of many languages and children’s voices.

The very first little building
 

Othona has a special concern for living in harmony with nature – with wind-turbine, solar panels, and eco building and much else.  The beauty of the natural world is all around – from a green woodpecker to an unpolluted starlit night sky.