History
The Othona Community had its origin in the work of Norman Motley as an RAF chaplain in the Second World War. He started what became known as the 'Nails Movement', which offered people a chance to debate issues arising from their wartime experience.
When the war ended, a need was felt to continue the discussions, and the Community started at Bradwell on Sea in 1946, in a ramshackle collection of tents and ex-army huts. It offered a summer holiday with a difference a meeting place for people of a variety of backgrounds, beliefs, ages and nationalities, discussing questions of peace and reconciliation in the post-war era.
Why 'Othona?' The Community was established at the site of a fort built by the Romans on the Essex coast which they called 'Othona'. In AD 654 the Celtic Bishop, Cedd, came from Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, in Northumberland, to bring Christianity to the East Saxons. He used the brick and stone from the fort to build his church, now known as St. Peter's on the Wall.
It was this isolated chapel which Norman Motley discovered soon after the end of the war. He was fired by the vision of a new type of community centre one which people could use for a week or more at a time, to meet together for personal discovery and renewal. He had sought a place rich in Christian history, but free of the quarrels, trivialities and divisions which hinder so much of the life of the church. As he said at the time, "the moment I entered St. Peter's I knew we were home."
So Norman and his companions took the name 'Othona' and established their community close to the chapel. Since then thousands of people have experienced that same sense of homecoming, and the Community still uses the chapel on a daily basis to share worship and spiritual experience.
In 1965 a second centre was opened at Burton Bradstock on the Dorset coast. The site consisted of a large, stone-built house with a beautiful chapel attached, and had been the home of the Christian Contemplative Charity. This was a group of women who lived there together and, led by their foundress, Adela Curtis, devoted themselves to prayer and self-sufficiency. Facilities were primitive, with no gas, electricity or even running water, but members of Othona experienced the same sense of homecoming they had felt at Bradwell.
Over the years both centres have been brought up to date, with facilities installed for people with disabilities, and the usual mod cons for all, but attempts have been made to preserve the simplicity of both places. The Othona Community has flourished. It retains its Christian roots, but continues to be open for people of all faiths and traditions to share their experiences and concerns and carry on the work of healing, renewal and reconciliation.
Welcome to the Othona Community