L'Arche

• Community
  • House Life
  • Community Life
  • Work
  • Living in the wider community
  • Celebrations and holidays
  • Respect and rights
  • Relationships
• Spirituality
  • The History of L'Arche
  • Jean Vanier
  • Henri Nouwen
  • Starting a L'Arche prayer group
  • Worship and RE resources
  • Ecumenism and Interfaith
  • International spirituality
  • The L'Arche Prayer
• Professionalism
  • Joining a L'Arche Community
  • L'Arche's professional structures
  • L'Arche's Good Practice Forum
  • L'Arche and work
  • The Charter of L'Arche
  • Annual Report and Financial Statement
  • Identity and Mission statements
• Assistants
  • A day in the life of an Assistant
  • How do I become a L'Arche Assistant?
  • Recruitment process
  • Training, qualifications and support
  • Choosing a Community
  • The spiritual side of L'Arche
  • Vacancies list
  • Quotes and testimonials
  • Volunteers and Friends
• Resources
• Support Us
  • Giving to L'Arche
  • Overseas Development Fund (ODF)

Edinburgh Contact Details

Email: edinburgh@larche.org.uk
Telephone: 0131 553 3478
Fax: 0131 554 3236

About L'Arche Edinburgh

L’Arche in Edinburgh is based around two shared houses and an office with community resource rooms above. Each house is home to 8 – 10 people. Each house is home to 4 people with learning disabilities (core members) and 4 – 6 live-in assistants. There are also some live-out assistants. Our third community house, a flat, is due to open in the summer of 2008. A L’Arche community is also like an extended family and in Edinburgh the community also comprises a wide network of members and friends who live locally and are involved in a variety of ways. These include families with children, Committee members, pastoral ministers, former assistants who live locally and remain active friends. We are a very diverse group from all walks of life, some of our disabilities are obvious, some are hidden but all of us share in the mission of L’Arche, of changing the world one heart at a time.

At different times and in different places, members join together to 'live community,' to offer something of themselves for the benefit of all in L'Arche. Community gatherings are held every month.

Community life is often rich, but it can also be a struggle as members grapple with the challenges of their disability, or with the unexpected events of life. But above all, members are pledged to be faithful in their friendship to one another. We trust that each person has a unique gift to offer; a gift that will freely flourish within relationships of mutuality.

History

L'Arche Edinburgh began on 3 May 1991 with the opening of its first house at Claremont Park in Leith. It is the second community in Scotland, after L'Arche Inverness. Leith itself is an old port town, and a pleasant district of Scotland's capital city. We are situated close to Leith Links, an area of open parkland which was the site of the world's first golf course! The city centre, with its historic castle, Scottish Parliament, lively tourism and impressive cultural life (including of course the Edinburgh Festival), is just a short bus-ride away.

Our community came about after many years of hope, expectation and planning by a group of people which included members of the contemplative Community of the Transfiguration, at Roslin near Edinburgh, and others who became the nucleus of the Local Committee and Support Group. From 1986 to 1991 they met regularly to share, plan, dream, discuss and pray. With the help of L'Arche in the region, plans moved forward and the community began in 1991welcoming four members with learning disabilities who were moving out of the local long-stay hospital, Gogarburn.

The house was christened at our fourth birthday as The Skein, after the flocks of wild geese seen over Leith, a celtic symbol of the Holy Spirit. In times of struggle, we take heart from the fact that living out the values of community can sometimes feel like a wild goose chase! Yet God's faithfulness helps us persevere. In the spring of 1995, we prepared for the opening of our second house, christened Creelha, which means a 'simple home' in Scots.

In April 1998, we opened our community resource, The Noust (which means 'boat shelter'), above the office. It is a place to stay and eat, to meet and to pray. It is available for members to use for a few hours of rest, reading or prayer, and as a place to stay overnight. The Noust is used by all members of our community.

L’Arche Edinburgh does not have a workshop. Instead, during the day, members with learning disabilities go out to a variety of day programmes run by other agencies in Edinburgh. In recent years we have begun to respond to people’s changing needs and have started to provide a 1-1 individualised day service to one person for part of the week and another person for the whole week. A new home will be opened in 2008, smaller than our other homes it will be a flat for 3 people to share, one of whom has a learning disability and two who are live –in assistants. We are also planning to open a fourth house and to develop our community resource base.

Ecumenical

We are an ecumenical community, in that we choose to work with the diversity of people from several Christian denominations among us, as well as some whose spiritual path is lived outside the Christian tradition. Ecumenism means 'a meeting' - an encounter between us, in all that is shared or different in our spiritual lives.

Ways to help

We value your interest in, such as exploring becoming:

• a live-in house assistant ( in summer and autumn of 2008 we are in need of several new assistants)
• a member of the Local Committee ( we are currently seeking new Committee members,; this involves a voluntary commitment to a monthly evening meeting and an interest in getting involved with some aspect of the community)
• a member of our Support Group of local friends;
• a helper with our current fundraising;
• or contributing to our pastoral life;
• or requesting information on behalf of a person with learning disabilities who may wish to become a community member, as and when we have a space.

Please contact the Edinburgh Office on 0131 553 3478 or e-mail at edinburgh@larche.org.uk