Association pour les Universities Rural Europeenne (APURE)
Phil Turner and Trevor Cherrett recall an ambitious and highly engaging attempt to link UK rural community development workers with their counterparts in the rest of Europe.
It was certainly European, and definitely rural; but its concept of `university` was more akin to a travelling circus of rural community development performers – on the road from all corners of the continent to a different destination every year. Created in 1989 in Alsace and organised every two years, the European University [ERU] brought together around fifteen European countries and two hundred participants in conferences, workshops, visits and debates.
Some funding was secured from national governments but this ‘university’ was built mainly on the enthusiastic efforts of independent volunteers. Richard Copeland, Hampshire RCC`s CEO was an ex-Guardsman with a strong sense of justice and the strength of character to do something about it: tall, with matinee idol good looks, he was also a natural leader with a great sense of humour; Phil Turner was a former strategic planner with the formidable Hampshire County Council and played a key anchor role in the URE project, coordinating efforts and reading the political runes with humour and timely interventions; Michael Dower, the charismatic and formidable champion of locally led integrated rural development, and the prime mover with ECOVAST (The European Council of Villages and Small Towns) was a key leading light (and an excellent interpreter), while his delightful wife Nan brought an intelligent, sensitive and perceptive energy to the show. Also featuring were Helga Jager from Germany, who had worked with Trevor Cherrett as (then) Director of Sussex Rural Community Council, Louise Beaton (ACRE`s village hall expert, later to join Sussex), and Diana Farrow, an indefatigable rural housing development activist in Wiltshire. We met regularly with our counterparts in Europe, notably Jean-Claude Brette from Picardy, to organise the annual events. It`s fair to say that we formed a strong technical and social team that was both effective and enjoyable.
The first event was in 1990, with participants travelling from several different countries and visiting rural projects en route to Viuz en Sallaz in France. We started in Sussex with a study tour of Sussex rural villages, winemakers and other places of interest before leaving our university overnight by coach and ferry from Newhaven . It has to be said that the village WI did a better job for lunch at their new village hall than the University had dome the evening before – which is just as well given the gastronomic competition that was to come ! In France the Itinerary continued through many towns and villages to the ERU conference near Geneva. This felt like a voyage of discovery, a revelation in each location as each different story was told. Until we reached the conference interpretation was DIY, i.e. offered by participants (especially Michael Dower); talks were usually followed by aperitifs, which oiled the wheels of discussion.
A highlight each day was local food and wine at meals provided by local people. On the banks of the Seine we arrived at lunch on a barge which served as a youth club (a polyvolante flottante), at Cremieu we lunched in the ancient market hall.
We learned of local traditions, corn fed chicken, churches managed by the French State, the French mayoral system, the patrimonie (or preservation of the heritage) of the – covered public wash houses, Lavoirs, which formed meeting places for women, and much more. Villages still had their local boulangeries and cafés. Sadly our experience of the decline of rural shops and services in the UK subsequently proved true of France.
At Viuz, accommodation was in an out-of-season ski hostel.
As a respite from seminars and round table discussions, it was good to walk up a local mountain – and no surprise that we were welcomed at the summit with cheese and wine!
Also at the conference were Charlotte Hursey, (Humberside RCC) who joined many later ERU events, Linda Mottram (Staffordshire), Tim Cawkwell (Norfolk) and Malcolm Moseley (ACRE Director) who arranged for MP and ACRE VP Tim Yeo to attend.
There were other related gatherings. For example, ERU participants were invited to Cluny, France by a local organisation. In 1990, a number of us met for an event at St Quentin, Picardy, France, attended by Janet Law (Ridge) Bedford RCC, with Louise, Richard, Trevor and Phil.
Every two years ERU itineraries and conferences were held, as follows:-
- 1991 Cork, Ireland
- 1993 Seville, Spain
- 1994 Evora, Portugal
- 1996 Veila, Denmark
- 1998 Val Soana, Italy
- and Szolnok and Metzotur, Hungary
In Spain, the focus was on the legacy of a famous local geographer, Juan Carandell (see article attached). In Portugal, which admittedly was rather chaotic, there was a very mixed programme of events, but much music and dancing; Cork was equally entertaining with ceilidhs, but also purposeful, engaging directly with European policy through the Cork Agreement. All of which was perhaps more penetrating than that first meeting in Geneva, where we sat in bored silence to a Round Table of interminable speeches from the top table, worthy but ‘top-down’ and sententious. Characteristically it was the English and the Irish who called for more democratic participation from the floor.
Whatever the limitations of the events, they were all very enjoyable, and all benefited greatly from the ‘rural itineraries’ – long coach journeys to the conference venue from each member country that were staged with visits to various projects en route. Michael was a tireless guide and translator for many of the UK based trips.
In St Emilion, France 2002, Phil Turner was elected President.
It was the custom for the President elect to host the following biennial. That took place in Oxford, England, at St Catherine’s College in 2004.
From Vuiz en Sallaz to Oxford[1] , Prof Michael Dower played a strong part in some ERU events, particularly by moderating the Conference Resolutions. He writes the foreword in Nigel Curry’s book “Reaping a Community Harvest – a history of support for England’s rural communities”. Michael was, like Malcolm Moseley, a “big cheese” at the first event, being president of ECOVAST.
After 2004 Portugal took over the Presidency and momentum and communications withered.
In 2010 there was an ERU outside Europe in St Joseph, Reunion, Indian Ocean, French overseas territory.
Another was held in Missouri USA, invited by the University of Missouri.
Sadly, Diana Farrow and Richard Copeland are no longer with us.
Louise and Phil kept in touch with Diana and saw her in her nursing home.
Until his death, Richard remained firm friends with Phil, who visited him and his wife, Ulla, in Switzerland, where Richard was working for a children’s charity, Terre des Hommes; and in Morbylanga, Sweden, in a traditional farmhouse belonging to Ulla and generations of her family
Some reflections on the URE
When Trevor Cherrett was seconded to the Rural Development Commission, he persuaded them to put some money into the venture. CEO Richard Butt was sympathetic and supported a modest contribution. He even came to the Portugal conference, which was perhaps unfortunate. Malcolm Moseley, then CEO of ACRE, and experienced in European rural policy (notably the LEADER programmes) as a fluent French speaker, noted to Trevor that Richard had thought (correctly) that Portugal had been a “bit of a shambles”, but thought he regretted missing the study tour component and “is clearly not averse to the value of international collaboration and …the benefits of one to one visits and exchanges.” (Letter to the URE UK team, August 1993)
At its heart the URE was a flagship for bottom-up planning and engagement, and for supporting the European project. This aimed for an international recognition of rural problems and investing in their solutions, not just through agriculture but through their wider economies and societies. URE tried with some success to influence these policies, albeit at a time when the EU was looking to ‘ever greater union’ while much of the UK was moving in the opposite direction.
But there is no doubt that for the `students` of this University it was a huge and very enjoyable learning experience.
Philip A Turner was Assistant County Planning Officer, Hampshire County Council and later worked as a freelance, providing maternity cover for Hampshire RCC on Village Halls, and working with Sussex RCC on rural housing, and representing them at the public inquiry on the South East Plan. Trevor Cherrett was Director of Sussex Rural Community Council and its non-profit consultancy The Centre for Rural Development. Later he was seconded to the Rural Development Commission before joining the Commission for Rural Communities until 2010. He now sits on the Town and Country Planning Association`s Policy Council and the national Rural Coalition, and chairs the Wiltshire Community Land Trust.