Sempervivum is an informal network of like-minded people who meet up to explore and celebrate being together and being alive. It’s open to anyone. The main event each year is a residential week at Easter. During COVID at the start of 2020, meeting up for residential events had to be suspended. An online event took place that year. As the pandemic continued, we also met informally for walks down the River Almond and safe distance meet-ups on Portobello Prom. As things stand in 2025 we are currently re-grouping, and the Committee are actively planning a new and positive future for Sempervivum.
Our Next Events
Gary would like to offer a Sempervivum Summer walk in South Queensferry again, along the shore into the Dalmeny Estate, with a picnic and fire on the beach. It’s been several years since we have done this. It will take place on Sunday 12th July 2026.
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Another date for your diary: there will be a one day Sempervivum event at Queens Hall Charlestown in Fife Sunday 23rd August 10 till 5. A possible theme is ‘Our Story’. Further details will follow later.
Recent Events
Our October 2025 event : Sempervivum at Queens Hall
A few of us who were willing and able on the day, went to Charlestown, Fife, in early October. We’d booked the Queen’s Hall, a lovely Victorian village hall which is cosy, beautifully modernised and maintained, with a garden and neighbouring woodland.
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Sempervivum @ Lauriston Castle April 2025
Our Easter 2025 event took place on Sunday 6th April 2025 at Lauriston Castle in the Silverknowes/Cramond area of Edinburgh. We have called it ‘A Sempervivum week in a day’ to reflect the spirit of allowing the day to unfold and evolve from within the group that are present. We were treated to a lovely physical warm up by Sally using the letters of ‘L A U R I S T O N’ to focus on parts of the body. This was followed by a check-in by Gary, inviting people to choose images to represent strengths ‘Personal’, ‘Interpersonal’ and Trans-Personal’.
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With this in mind we are welcoming new people to make contact, and to join us in some of our events going forward. Please contact us via the contact form to get an update.
Earlier Events
The Easter 2020 event could not take place due to the coronavirus outbreak, so there was a virtual event on Embracing Uncertainty. Participants produced work on the theme of ‘Embracing Uncertainty‘. The work has been collected together by Ed Tyler and can be viewed online.
During our gatherings, a wide range of activities and workshops are on offer, generated by participants themselves and by members of the communities where our events are held.
In past years we have enjoyed: singing and song writing, art events in the woods, making fire sculptures along the river, spoken word and music performance, open-air poetry, stand-up comedy and cabaret, peace dances, yoga and circle dance, equinox bonfire celebrations, labyrinths in the landscape. You may be inspired to try something new and discover the shoots of a hidden talent, or you may just want to relax in good company.
Sempervivum means “always alive”, expressing a wish to celebrate those impulses which regenerate and enliven us all. Our focus is on community building through creative collaboration and gentle self-enquiry, providing a safe, open environment in which to connect with the self and others in a real way.