Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Sad news, UK Cohousing pioneer Sarah Berger died peacefully in her sleep March 23

[Kevin Wolf (kevinjwolf]

Diane

Was Sarah the vibrant woman from the UK who came to the US cohousing
conference in Oakland last year?  Wow, that would be a shock. she seemed
young to me.

I hope all is well. N Street is doing well.

Kevin

On Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 3:52 PM, Diana Leafe Christian <diana [at] ic.org> 
wrote:

>
> Hello,
>         Sarah Berger, one of the burning souls of Laughton Lodge Cohousing
> in
> Lewes, England, and with Mark Westcombe of Forge Bank Cohousing in
> Lancaster, a pioneer in the UK Cohousing Network, was  ill with cancer
> for several years, and on March 23rd died peacefully at home. She and
> Mark attended the International Cohousing Summit and annual Coho/US
> conference in Seattle several years ago, and the next year's Coho/US
> conference in Boston. I liked her very much and felt sad about her
> illness, and now sad we don't have her anymore.
>         Here is the announcment on the UK Cohousing Network's website:
> http://cohousing.org.uk/news/731/sarah-berger-died-peacefully-23rd-march
>         Below is Mark Westcombe's tribute to Sarah last year when she
> resigned from the UK Cohousing Network.
>         Diana
>
>         Mark wrote:
>         "Sarah Berger, long-time communard of The Community Project at
> Laughton Lodge, Lewes and lifetime activist has been the UK Cohousing
> Network’s public face for many years. She has embraced her role as ‘Ms
> Cohousing UK’ with what I’ve learnt is her customary cavalier attitude
> – much gusto, no-nonsense authority and a certain sassy charm. Sarah
> will of course cringe with the thought and wrap my knuckles for the
> inherent sexism, but the playful Sarah will also delight in the
> mischief and secret pride that she can still turn heads.
>         "Sarah initiated the network in summer 2005 to continue the
> momentum
> that came together at the 1st UK Cohousing Conference in Lancaster
> earlier that spring. She continued to herd the cats that make up the
> board until autumn 2010 when, for reasons of ill health, she chose to
> step down. It has been no mean feat to coordinate the aims and
> activities of so many volunteer board members, often with different
> strategies and opinions, and to leverage a coherent message and
> programme of work from us. She has been quite unique at unifying us
> all. She has also been quite a nag going “on and on and on” by phone,
> email, mobile and text reminding me, at least, of some damned
> commitment that she exhorted from me under duress. I have admired this
> capacity to be quite an obviously charming and successful nag, but
> I’ve yet to manage to emulate it, or indeed defend myself against it.
>         "Sarah has achieved many successes for us, in this slow and tiring
> world of cohousing. She’s won grant bids from the Coop to keep us
> afloat; project work from NESTA to explore Housing Associations’ role
> in cohousing; gained us entry with many chief executives; enticed the
> great and the good to policy events; lobbied government quangos and
> policy makers to recognise cohousing; hosted Grant Shapps at Laughton;
> brought The Americans over, Chuck Durrett and Katie McCammant, on a
> whirlwind 5 event tour of the UK last year; got us into the press; and
> created a bridge with Hanover, now embarked on their first projects.
> She has stayed committed, often in the face of scepticism and great
> setbacks, to bringing best practice to the community and to ensuring
> affordable cohousing had its place. She has done most of this
> unrecognised and unrewarded, and underpaid on those brief occasions
> when there was some paid work.
>         "Sarah has been a dear friend over these six years, quite a tall
> order, challenge of a friend at times. I’ve enjoyed strategising with
> her, sometimes gossiping; working alongside her whilst lobbying,
> possibly at the House of Lords, or otherwise on the dining table;
> enjoying celebratory London pub dinners after our small triumphs; and
> what at times felt like buccaneer trips to the US and Sweden as we
> speed dated and extracted every ounce of possible value from cohousing
> pioneers and peers there – again, generally at personal expense. It
> was fun; it was engaging; and it has been a privilege to work aside
> such a determined visionary with exemplarily social values and zeal.
>         "On behalf of the board Sarah, and all the hopeful and future
> cohousing communards, can I say a huge thank you for your sterling
> work and generosity of spirit towards cohousing; and as a friend
> extend a wrap-around hug to you."
>         —Mark Westcombe, UK Cohousing Network Board Member (2005-Current)
>
>
>
>
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