Update to Voirreys position at Schumacher College

Vorrey is an one of those staff at Schumacher who at a glance from far away - you wonder what does she do, why is her work important to the college ? When we look from within the community, the only place from which you get a real sense what is going on at the college - vorrey a work is invaluable! Vorrey does not only bake all of schmachers bread, with her own recepies, she leads workshops in the art of fermenting, she is a bridge between students and staff, she teaches students to bake their own bread, she works on making the grower/kitchen relationship more refined and clear. She helps in the Garden, she bakes the bread for th green table - may popular bread that many want to buy to take home with them. She helps with cooking, taking a big load off the Schumacher chefs - there is a list of reasons why she is invaluable to the annually renewing college community - a solid rock of consistency - making her redundant would not be based on a fair reasoning that is based on internal college experience - and would therefore be the usual top down approach - that I believe Dartington wants to transform into horizontal politics. It would be important to find an alternative cooperative solution for vorrey and thefollege! For example to open Dartington estates own bakery - which she can run with schumachers principles. Thank you for listening!

Voirrey is not just an amazing bread baker. She is in the kitchen every night she is there, she listens, responds, discusses, she is holding space for the students, who know that she is always there. I experienced her more as a councilor, supporting Schumacher College not only with bread, but with her presence. For me Voirrey fulfills a very important role, that might not be fully recognizes yet. I agree that It would be a huge loss, if her role endend.

Voirrey is one of the first longer term staff that you meet at Schumacher College and she is instantly welcoming and warm to all. She has an incredible relational ability with everyone that passes through and seems to embody much of what the college represents. Getting to know Voirrey was a very special aspect of my time volunteering at the college. It would be a huge loss if her role ended.

8 years ago Featured

Voirrey is an integral part of the Schumacher Community - she not only makes bread but also holds a nurturing space for all its residents, embodying the Schumacher philosophy. She is warm, caring and wise and I cannot emphasise her presence and effort in the culture of care at the college.

Voirrey is a mainstay of this institution her contribution to the welfare of staff and pupils is not quantifiable . It’s a question of heart . And the heart of Schumacher lies with people like Voirrey .

I find that Voirrey is a key person for the college. This beyond her position and duty in the kitchen. The reflexions, support and loving company she enables, in a time schedule in which rarely anyone else is available, makes her a unique piece in the shumacher community.

8 years ago Featured

I am an alumni of the MSc program and founder of the Emerging Future Institute. Voirrey is an amazingly warm person and part of the fabric of the Old Postern and Schumacher College. I do hope that management makes a wise decision.

She holds Schumacher spirit in her heart and was an essential part of my experience there!

In the depths of the unseen night when the owl hoots another wisdom and others are fast asleep there is movement in the communal place where awake one unique being guides others to ferment their own story to yeast their connection in the thread of a radical experiment which nurtures the hope of true wealth.

Voirrey Voirrey Voirrey full of surprises. Engimatic and down to earth. Full of joy and full of sorrow. Like one of those ferments buried in the ground. Voirrey Voirrey Voirrey never lost and always found.

Voirrey is the thread keeper as well as the warmth of a home kitchen She is holding a thread in the form of three pots of innovative Miso fermentation she made with a former student from Japan whom I had never met, so that I can take over the next process. I hope this thread will last and make the fabric of home life at Schumacher stronger.

8 years ago Featured

Voirrey made my dissertation possible as well as making it pleasurable. She has always been a friend to me and has guided me many times. Schumacher and the space it occupies would not be the same without her.

I wanna see you, Voirrey!

Once upon a time .... late in the evenings after long busy days and full of anticipation, I regularly perched in the kitchen like a night bird, while the Old Postern was strangely quiet and mysterious, since I knew I would encounter Voirrey there and engage in unpredictable and puzzling discussions. These conversations helped me to make sense of the complexity of the college and other subjects while exploring in its amazing kitchen the memories and nice smelling stories of past feasts and coming banquets. So, it didn't take much time for me understand that the lovely exchange with Vorrei was an essential part of my learning journey at Schumacher. These talks illustrate well what means Satish when speaking about the college's kitchen as a classroom ;-)

Voirrey embodies the spirit and ethos of Schumacher. She lives what the College teaches, reads and researches because she cares deeply for all the the College stands for. She shares her learning and knowledge as part of everyday life and the informal learning that is Schumacher. Community is about people living, working and learning together, supporting, helping and listening to each other. Voirrey is at the heart of the Schumacher community. I realise that staff at Dartington work in a very different way, they have no concept or understanding of Schumacher, the way it runs, what it offers to students, what makes it so special to everyone who lives and works there. Until you have lived or worked there it is difficult for anyone to understand what makes Schumacher so unique. Voirrey is the wonderful, eccentric, thoughtful, giving, caring soul of Schumacher. Surely there must be a way to ensure her place and future at the College.

Voirrey is a pillar of the Schumacher community family and although I think that we are ALL the beating heart, her beat is stronger than others. Voirrey is mega and an asset to any community.

Voirrey's kindness, patience, teaching skills, bread baking, wisdom, gentleness, humility, warm presence, colourful trousers and wonderful love of birds has meant so much to me during my time at Schumacher. She is someone we all instantly warm to and has the rare ability to be modest and mysterious whilst also engaging socially with everyone who passes through the kitchen, lending an ear or sharing much-needed knowledge with all the late night kitchen goers, and many more during the day. She's a vital presence, a bridge between students and staff, and just a bloody fantastic person to be around. She cares for the birds in the area too, noticing all the species and giving them food and safety through the seasons. There are so many things we take for granted, let's not let Voirrey's compassionate acts be one of them.

Voirrey embodies what 'being in service' is truly about. Her willingness and commitment to support what is at the heart of Schumacher College is inspiring, contagious, and extremely helpful to the community. From being available to a chat particularly in the in the night to proof reading essays, to fully explaining to people whatever some can't understand, to voluntarily making sure the apple pressing happens (and now is a special tradition), to making amazing breads (and voluntarily teaching others how to make them), and much, much more, Voirrey is a key and beautiful energy the College has the privilege to have. For her kindness, humbleness and enthusiasm, I hope she truly feels the appreciation she deserves.

Vorrey's always been an essential part of my Schumacher learning experience during my 2011/12 postgrad studies. Her knowledge about bread baking, healthy food, fermentation, preservation, gardening and tending for life has inspired and enriched my studies and life after Schumacher College. Vorrey is very calm, kind, gentle and quiet individual, hence often unnoticed however her impact is most most essential for what Schumacher college is all about.

Voirrey Watterson IS Schumacher College, as I see it. The living, breathing example of what is learnt and taught there, one of the humblest and most "serving" people I have ever met, with one of the most interesting and richly read minds. I probably learnt more from conversations with Voirrey while baking bread, than I did from the bulk of the (paid) lecturers at the College. Not only does Voirrey deserve a permanent role at the College, as far as I am concerned she should be paid as well as anyone there. The fact that she has worked at the College voluntarily and unpaid for so many years is testament to her selflessness. Unfortunately it also means she is too easily taken for granted. I strongly urge the College and Dartington Hall Trust to consider carefully the loss that Voirrey's possible departure would represent, not least the loss of goodwill in the alumni community. Johan van As