SNIPPET: In the May-June 2001 issue of Dublin's "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine is an article by Alf McCreary of a wonderful project that came together at Camphill Community at Mourne Grange, near Kilkeel, using the ideas, talent, skills and cooperation of a variety of individuals. Clifford Paterson, originally from Dalbeattie in SW Scotland, has been a creative force in the development of the original Celtic Lyre in a workshop near the heart of the beautiful Mourne Mountains in Co. Down The lyre has the appearance of a small hand-held harp with 35 strings and has the versatility suitable for concert or solo work to music therapy and traditional folk music. Mr. Paterson has helped to manufacture the instrument, an Englishman, John Billing, the world's first professional lyre player has given advice on tone and sound, and an Ulsterman, Sam Irwin, designed the instrument. The Camphill Movement began when a small group of young people from Vienna arrived in Scotland in 1939 and under the leadership of Dr. Karl Konig (1902-1966) founded the first Camphill Community near Aberdeen in 1940. Now Camphill is a worldwide movement with almost 100 centers in 20 countries. The insights of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) provide the foundation for their work in Curative Education and community building. Camphill caters to children, young people and adults in need of special care, because of their various mental, emotional, and behavioural handicaps. The able-bodied and the disabled live, work and share together in a spirit of community! Mr. Paterson brought the insight he had gained from helping to look after his own father for 15 years after a stroke and enjoys his meaningful, mid-life career change from his high-powered motor bike family business and his life in the "fast lane." "The first time I set foot in Northern Ireland, I felt at home. I find the Mournes particularly beautiful. I ride my bike first thing every morning and head up into the hills, where there is a great beauty and stark cleanliness. When you live and work amid such beauty it helps the creative process. The Celtric Lyre Project encompasses not only all my ideals but also my energy as well." Clifford Paterson first heard the sound of the lyre when he attended a concert at Mourne Grange, given by the much-travelled John Billing. Billing was leading a "lyre" group of people with special needs, and Clifford suggested to John that they should be making lyres in the workshop, so that every disabled person who wanted to play could be given an opportunity to do so on their own lyre. Sam Irwin, a Bangor man who has spent a lifetime making highly-crafted musical instruments was contacted. He had already started to design a "modern" lyre some years earlier. From that contact the Celtic Lyre began to take shape. The high-quality lyres are constructed mainly from Irish hardwoods, especially elm and sycamore. Selected European spruce is used for the soundboards and bracing. Each instruments takes three or more months to complete. The switch from making garden seats to the high-quality musical instruments gave adults with special needs an opportunity to be more creative, more involved in the entire production process, from choosing the tree to playing the finished instrument. In May 2000 a number of people from Mourne Grange attended the first-ever Lyre Conference in Hamburg, which was attended by 400 enthusiasts from all over the world. Paterson states, "It is also our intention to form, at the right time, our own Lyre Orchestra where disabled and able-bodied people will play together at Belfast Waterfront Hall, Fiddler's Green International Folk Festival at Rostrevor, and ultimately to perform at the World Lyre Conference in New York in 2003. In summary, he states, "It is remarkable that the people involved have come together unexpectedly in the way they have done..it is sheer magic. There is no other way to describe it." Visit the Camphill Communities main website: http://www.camphill.org.uk