Camphill Community Mourne Grange, was established in 1971, as the first adult community in Northern Ireland. It is now the home for more than 140 people, including adults with special needs who live and work together with co-workers and their families.

Lying between the sea and the Mourne Mountains in peaceful rural surroundings, Mourne Grange is a working village in which everyone participates and is interested and concerned in the life of the place. Life in the various houses is that of a family, since co-workers and their children, young and old people alike live together without the restrictions of shifts and rotas or payment for work or time given.

Mourne Grange is based on the principle of mutual care: there is an interdependence among all members of the community. Through living and working together, the distinctions between the various members of the community are overcome by an appreciation that we are all dependent on each other, that each person has their contribution to make to the whole community. A busy working life, whether in house, workshop, or on the land, calls on everyone according to individual capabilities.

The spacious village hall with its well-equipped stage, is a centre for the social and cultural life in the community with regular concerts, plays, ceilidh and festival activities. The Christian festivals, along with the seasons, are important stages in the cycle of the year around which many aspects of life revolve.

We have a small Steiner Waldorf School for the children of co-workers from kindergarten up till 11 years old (Class 5 ). A few children from outside the community also attend.

Camphill Communities are Christian but non-denominational. There are several forms of Sunday celebration including regular Christian Community services in the little chapel with its beautiful stained glass windows:

Co-workers in our Camphill centres receive no wages, but the community provides for their individual needs, which can vary from person to person. The basis for this is described by Rudolf Steiner:

"In a community of people working together, the wellbeing of the community will be greater, the less the individual claims for himself the proceeds of his work; that is, the more of these proceeds he makes over to his fellow workers, and the more of his own needs are met, not by the proceeds of his own work, but by that of others."

Out of this, a way of life can grow in which each member of the community Is integrated into a social setting where, in addition to finding the dignity of every human being, they can experience that their contributions are valued, needed and serve the good of the whole community.