Welcome to the home of the Northumbria Community online

We hope you'll enjoy your visit, and find what you're looking for.

Welcome to our website, filled with news and information about the Northumbria Community. We're adding new stuff all the time, and if you're 'just looking' then you're welcome to come in and browse around. If you're looking for something in particular, then we hope you'll find it here! You can receive notifications each time pages are updated, by using the 'rss feed'. You can click the rss link at the bottom of any page, whenever it's present, to receive notifications of changes to that page. The rss icon is the orange square with the white dot and two squiggles in it.

Acton_Home_Farm1 You may want to make use of the icons above the Search box in the top header, which can adjust the font size up or down for you, depending on your screen resolution (and how good your eyes are!)

If you arrived at Acton Home Farm, the Mother House of the Northumbria Community, the first thing we'd probably do is put the kettle on, and have a blether... so what's the online equivalent of that? Just come on in and make yourself at home, and you'll find the answers to some of your questions about the Northumbria Community... eventually... probably..

Contact Us

ellen_sm Here's some information about the different ways you can get in touch with the Northumbria Community:

A taste of 'Nether Springs' - in Florida USA!

florida January 29 -February 4, 2012

Canterbury Retreat and Conference Center, Oviedo, Florida USA.

Our desire is to lean into the Celtic monastic rhythm in much the same way that it orders the shape of the day at our mother house at Nether Springs in Northumberland, UK.

Come for a day, or for the whole week. We will offer teachings in the morning, community events in the evenings, and optional creative workshops (and, quite possibly, a trip to the beach) in the afternoon. For further details and registration information please email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Home at Last!

On Sunday the 13th of February 2011 the words of the day 13 meditation were read aloud for the first time in our new 'Nether Springs' at Acton Home Farm. How apt and moving they were as we sat and prayed after this long journey home. This was the first day that the Community had been able to gather at our new Mother House, and the story of Achsah and Othniel was a clear reminder of God's faithfulness and provision for us as a Community after the turmoil of leaving Hetton Hall.

Day 13 Meditation - Achsah and Othniel

And so it was that Achsah kept urging Othniel her husband

to ask from her father a field.

She lighted from off her ass, and Caleb said to her,

'What is it that you want?'

And she said to him, 'Give me a blessing,

for you have given me this dark, desert land;

now give me also springs of water.'

And her father gave her the upper and the nether springs.

Judges1:14-15

One of the things that many people have commented on is how well the familiar and the new have blended together, Acton Home Farm feels like home. But it's more than this, it also feels like a place of renewed purpose for us where the 'monastic' and the 'missional' sit closer together, as we begin to explore afresh the five monastic disciplines that underpinned our life at Hetton Hall: Worship, Work, Study, Solitude and Community. The physical move to Acton Home Farm is now complete, but the transition into this new chapter of our Community's life is still continuing as we build on the foundations of old, and seek God for his purposes for us in this wonderful place.

At the rebuIlding of the Abbey on Iona, George Macleod prayed a prayer that voices our prayers:

It is not just the interior of the walls, it is our own inner beings you have renewed. We are your temple not made by hands. We are your body. If every wall should crumble, and every church decay, we are your habitation. Nearer are you than breathing, closer than hands and feet. Ours are the eyes with which you, in the mystery, look out in compassion on the world. So we bless you for this place, for your directing of us, your redeeming of us, and your indwelling. Take us 'outside the camp', Lord, outside holiness, out to where soldiers gamble, and thieves curse, and nations clash at the cross-roads of the world... So shall this building be justified.

The sounds of saws and hammers are giving way to the sounds of chapel bell, prayers and laughter. Come and join with us as we seek God and build a new home together.

'Heart, Home, Hospitality, Hope' Contribute to the new Mother House

Kettle Join with Companions and Friends in developing the gift that God has given us in Acton Home Farm into the next Nether Springs. To find out more click here

Sing to the Well

donondoman drummers Our good friends and Community Companions Martin and Bekah Neil have been intimately involved in a project to record the Wagogo people in Africa, in order to provide wells in their villages. Trust me, you need to buy this CD and DVD set. It may well change your life, and it will certainly change theirs... You can order it from our Resources area.

Coventry Pilgrimage, March-April 2012

We've had a copy of a letter from some Friends in Community:

Coventry Pilgrimage
26th March to 1st April 2012

Letter to all churches in Coventry Diocese
November 2011

We are writing to you on behalf of the planning group for a Coventry Pilgrimage to be held in the week beginning March 26th 2012 and culminating in a pilgrim service in Coventry Cathedral on the evening of Palm Sunday April 1st 2012.

Reflecting on our Rule: Week 4

We are called to be available to God
in the CELL of our own heart
when we can be turned towards Him
and seek His face

Brigid (450 - 523AD) February 1st

St Brigid was inspired by the teaching and preaching of St Patrick from an early age. In her late teens she decided that she wanted to give her life to Christ and to become a nun, much to her father's disapproval.

Message in a portal...

overseers We've created blogging-spaces for both Roy Searle and Pete Askew. Pete is blogging about the Mother House. Roy does a lot of travelling out and about in the Community, and so he's always full of stories and reflection. And he likes to write! So we should find these pages fill up nicely... Remember that the newest items will always appear at the top of the page.