Joan Harris

Joan was born Arkansas in the US in 1947 and moved to Milton Keynes in 1995, where she lived and worked at Camphill Community MK, a residential community providing work and housing for adults with a range of learning disabilities. Camphill communities exist across the world and are inspired by the work of pioneering educator Rudolf Steiner.

Joan came to Camphill MK to teach music and eurythmics (a form of therapeutic movement to sounds). At first she didn’t like Milton Keynes; she found the consumerism that she saw in the shopping centre to be too reminiscent of the US. Over time, however, her opinion changed, partially through her involvement with the local Quaker community and also through meeting people who had been involved in the Milton Keynes Development Corporation. She came to admire the idealism and foresight involved in the town’s planning, particularly in the work of the Parks Trust and how it cares for the local green spaces.

Joan now lives just outside of Camphill and still works there maintaining some of the planting on the site. She sings in different choirs, including the Abrahamic Women’s Choir, plays the piano at events and works with Interfaith and the Quakers. She is very interested in building communities.

She sees Milton Keynes as having greater ethnic diversity in the future and thinks we will need more housing. She also wonders about what will replace cars in the MK of the future, as the city was built for car culture.