Reconnect Magazine #59

The good living and community magazine for Exeter, Plymouth and across South Devon FEB/MAR 19 ISSUE 59

produce ❋ energy ❋ land ❋ homes ❋ community ❋ wellbeing ❋ arts

Pleas e tak e one

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Our big festivals guide Plan your summer whatever the weather

A nAtural balance In our health and wellbeing guide

local events & happenings 48 pages from your local community

learning new beginnings Is it time for a more plant based diet?

The people powered magazine with a unique guide to festivals and shows in the South West in 2019

Visit us online at www.reconnectonline.co.uk

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Upfront IT'SWHAT WE'REABOUT

Broughttoyou by...

INTHISISSUE...

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TORBAY’S SPARK

Making things happen EDITOR Scott Williams

REWILDING ADVENTURE 8 Dartmoor to the Kalahari

TREE CARE DAY

10

Bird boxes - page 25

Volunteer at Sharpham EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Karen Williams

GOING OUT

11

Places to go, people to see

ORGANIC GARDENING14 WELLBEING EDITOR Kate Philbin

Happy gardeners

COMMUNITY BUILT 17 Transition homes

COUNSELLOR WRITER Leigh Smith

NOURISHING FOOD

19

Multivitamin champion

LIVING MADE SIMPLE 20 Get in a smaller space

YOUNG DEVON 21 Supporting lives

FESTIVAAAAAALS!

24

Our guide to summer fun!

GIVE THEM A HOME

Birds in springtime

WELLBEING PAGES

WELCOME...

to the February/March issue of Reconnect!

You hold here in your hands 48 pages packed full of so much great stuff, that I don’t know where to start... well perhaps the best place is our summer festival and events planner!

A sign of spring around these parts as much as those budding spring wildflowers, or the cold snap, the snow, the floods... delete as applicable. Whatever the weather outside the days are definitely getting longer and we can finally start planning our summer.

With going abroad potentially problematic (has that Brexit thing been resolved yet?) perhaps it’d be best to stay in the West Country and enjoy the best our region has to offer at events from the seaside to the moors. Featuring everything from music, food and drink to art or the written word, we are blessed with abundance.

Plus we’ve got heaps of wellbeing advice for you, the usual Reconnect regular features and much more. If you want to feature too then do get in touch, now, whilst it’s quiet. It’s our 60th issue up next, so that’s sure to be a popular one.

See you in the sunshine!

Scott x

COVERSTORY...

The good living and community magazine for Exeter, Plymouth and across South Devon FEB/MAR 19 ISSUE 59

produce k energy k land k homes k community k wellbeing k arts

Please take one

FREE !

28 31

Our holistic health guide

WEBSITE EDITORS www.doetsdesign.com

TECHNICAL AIDE Zelah Williams

STAY IN TOUCH...

EDITORIAL: 01392 346342 ADVERTISING: 01392 346342 SCOTT’S MOBILE: 07751 214656 EMAIL US: editor@reconnectonline.co.uk or adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk SEND US STUFF BY POST: 18 Millin Way, Dawlish Warren EX7 0EP FOLLOW US AND READ US ONLINE: www.reconnectonline.co.uk facebook.com/reconnectmagazine twitter.com/reconnectmag www.reconnectonline.co.uk

Plan your summer whatever the weather

A nAtural balance In our health and wellbeing guide

Feeling menopausal BLAMM!!!- page 31

FOOD WRITER Jane Hutton

Our big festivals guide

EMOTIONAL HEALTH 34

GARDENING EXPERT Joa Grower

CLASSIFIED ADS 46

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learniing new beginnings

local events & happenings 48 pages from your local community

Is it time for a more plant based diet?

The people powered magazine with a unique guide to festivals and shows in the South West in 2019

Visit us online at www.reconnectonline.co.uk

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COVER IMAGES Main picture: Sarah Louise Bennett/Port Eliot Festival Left to right: Exeter Pride - Alan Quick; AcroYoga Totnes (www. acrocycle.co.uk); and International Macrobiotic School (www.macroschool. co.uk)

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APRIL/MAY issue out end of March - next deadline March 4 THESMALL PRINT...

PUBLISHED BY Reconnect Magazine, 18 Millin Way, Dawlish Warren EX7 0EP PRINTED BY William Pollard & Co Ltd, Exeter www.pollardsprint.co.uk WEBSITE Visit our website at www.reconnectonline.co.uk.

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ECO ETHOS Reconnect is written, designed, printed and distributed locally, using materials from sustainable sources. It is printed using vegetablebased inks and the paper used has been carbon balanced with an area of land preserved in perpetuity with the World Land Trust (WLT) - an international conservation charity that protects the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats acre by acre. To learn more about them see www.worldlandtrust.org and carbonbalancedpaper.com.

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Please recycle this magazine by passing it on to someone else after you’ve read it

COPYRIGHT © Reconnect Magazine. All rights reserved. No part of Reconnect can be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher. But do ask – if you’re genuinely spreading the word, we’ll try to help. The publishers, editor and authors accept no responsibility in respect of any products, goods or services advertised or referred to in this issue, or any errors, omissions, mis-statements or mistakes in any advertisements or references.

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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news&views Dino hunting

CANONTEIGN Falls are having their Opening Weekend on March 16-17 and offering half price entry to locals. Expect woodland trails, zig zagging streams, bridges and lily lakes, adventure playgrounds, assault course, trampolines, zip wire, duck feeding, bee garden, bug sculptures, children’s activities, and an 11ft willow Dinosaur.

Spellbound

PERFORMANCE poet Jackie Juno brings her potion of spoken word, visuals and music to Totnes’ Angel Studios on February 2 with Spellbound the story of an outsider’s quest for love and truth via prejudice, fear, abuse and a poodle named Cindy.

Meet the lambs

MARTINSFIELD Farm at Broadclyst are running a Lambing Sunday event on Mothers Day. There will be stalls, rugs, cakes, tea and coffee, farm ciders, and more.

The Spinners, weavers and dyers will also be available, and a Kidz Easter egg quiz.

Star gazing

EXETER residents in the Belmont Park area can enjoy a star gazing evening of learning with their community lead by Dr Claire Davies & her team from Exeter University. Star lore, story telling, myths, kids activities & the latest in astronomy. The exact date will be depending on the weather, in the week commencing February 11.

Bodykind

THE 3rd annual festival of body acceptance will see a delightful selection of speakers, performers and artists storming Totnes on May 3-4. Expect issues of gender, disability, age, sexuality and size will be looked at in interactive, accessible, questioning and fun ways.

History festival

PLYMOUTH History Festival returns from May 4-31 for a seventh year and takes place across the city featuring around 100 different events.

Driftwood art

AMY Winfield founded her eco-friendly Devon business called The Paddlepuss which, thanks to the help of online media such as Instagram, has grown into a beachcombing lifestyle business. Find out more at www.thepaddlepuss. co.uk/about

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Sail against plastic

FLAVIA Pinto is a Portuguese artist and print maker, currently living in Falmouth. Last Summer, he had the great opportunity of participating in a project called Sail Against Plastic, which involved a tall ship expedition in the Arctic Ocean, where both scientists and artists investigated the theme of Ocean Plastic Pollution.

As an on-board artist, he has produced a series of 2 etchings and 2 lithographs, which aim at bringing awareness towards this increasingly urgent theme. One of his prints is currently for sale at Paperworks in Totnes.

Find out more at www.sailagainstplastic. com and see Flavio’s work online at www. draftingawareness.com

Woolly gatherings

THERE are 2 Buckfastleigh Wool Gatherings happening this year. The first is on Sunday March 31 from 10am until 4pm and the second one on Sunday October 13.

A Reminiscence cafe will be held as part of the March event to collect stories and memories of Buckfastleigh as a working wool town.

Both events will be entry by donation and feature a mixture of free and sliding scale workshops in wool crafts as well as a market place, make spaces and delicious pop up cafe serving local food.

See www.facebook.com/ southdevonwoolworks for more information.

Festival of history

Torbay’s local spark is making things happen

LUPTON Manor House situated on the outskirts of Brixham transforms this August 17-18 into the Lupton House Festival of History. Visitors can take a flit through the ages from the Vikings to the Tudors, all the way to the 1940s. With re-enactments, talks, displays, stalls and more.

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NTER-generational enterprise Local Spark aims to create new businesses in Torbay. The Torbay Community Supported Enterprise combines fresh ideas from younger local entrepreneurs with the wealth of knowledge and experience of the some of the bay’s older residents.

James Bachelier-Moore said: “We are a small group of like-minded people from around the Bay, who have huge determination, bags of optimism and a fierce desire to make good things happen in the communities we love. Our mission is to make the local economies more robust, diverse, fair and resilient, which is fundamental to creating livelihoods for young people.”

Local Spark will be running many events throughout 2019, such as talks, workshops and social events, brimming with information and advice for local entrepreneurs, business coaches and Local Spark facilitators.

They are holding ‘How to start your own local enterprise’ on February 6 and 13 offering a chance to learn how to develop a business idea, create a business plan, find funding and much more in either of the two-hour introductory workshops with Local Spark’s Jay Tompt, coordinator of the Totnes REconomy Project, and part-time associate lecturer in economics at Plymouth University.

On March 6 a ‘Business coach gettogether’ aimed at business coaches and mentors, sees Jay joined by Local Spark’s

Men’s Day Out

Chris Gunson to host an informal event aimed at identifying areas of interest and expertise, agreeing guidelines and discussing Local Spark’s aims and objectives going forward.

How to start your own local enterprise February 6 from 6pm to 8pm at The Paignton Club, 1 The Esplanade, Esplanade Rd, Paignton TQ4 6ED. February 13 from 6pm to 8pm at The Edge, Bolton St, Brixham TQ5 9DH (no disabled access).

Refreshments will be provided.

Cost: £5/£10/£15 (sliding scale).

Business coach get-together March 6, from 6pm to 8pm. Venue TBA. Refreshments will be provided.

Cost: £5/£10/£15 (sliding scale). l To find out more visit www. localsparktorbay.org, and to register for any event via email: chris@ localsparktorbay.org

Kingsbridge harbours new exhibitions HARBOUR House Centre for Arts and Yoga in Kingsbridge will be showcasing free exhibitions in March. Including:

Max and Cody Jepson – Wave Waker

Blue Mind (March 1-10) features resin and acrylic paintings by Max and Cody Jepson.

Making Waves (March 12-16) is an exhibition of A Level art and photography by VI Form students of Kingsbridge Community College.

Glade (March 19-24) showcases the work of recent graduates of the Plymouth College of Arts works inspired by the natural world with a consideration for man’s impact through global warming and marine pollution.

Kali Sana (March 26-31) is an exhibition of printmaking by Iona DeSouza.

Advertising: 01392 346342

Glass by Bethany Antliff

MEN’s Day Out is back raising money for St Luke’s Hospice in Plymouth on Saturday 30 March. A 12km walk passing Plymouth’s most famous sights and a pasty and a pint whilst watching a cracking rugby match at the end.

... and in Exeter

HOSPICECARE’s eight-mile Men’s Walk in Exeter takes place on March 16, starting and ending at Double Locks, the canal-side pub. Again a free pint and hot pasty await plus the day’s Six Nations tournament matches on large LED screens.

Cider festival

HUNT’S Cider Festival makes a return to Broadleigh Farm near Totnes on October 5. Last year’s event raised over £2,000 for their chosen charities including Rowcroft Hospice and Devon Air Ambulance Trust.

Wassail!

HUXHAMS X Community Orchard is holding a Wassailing Party to bless their orchard in the time-honoured way, with a Wassailing on February 10. The ancient British folk custom honours the trees and land spirits to ensure abundant fruitfulness in the coming year.

The orchard event will have a roaring fire, a procession round the trees, singing, hot mulled cider & apple juice from the Wassail Bowl.

Before the Orchard event, there will be a ‘Come Sing Wassail’ singing workshop at Selena’s house. Find out more at www.comealivesinging. com/wassail.

Heritage wheat

Muddy kids

KIDS can get muddy for a good cause at a new obstacle course event from Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life. Race for Life Pretty Muddy Kids takes place at Westpoint Arena, on July 20. The traditional 5k, 10k and Pretty Muddy courses happen at the same venue on July 20 and 21. To enter go to raceforlife.org or call 0300 123 0770.

Dragon search

THE eighth Local Entrepreneur Forum are seeking entrepreneurs and local enterprises interested in pitching at this year’s Community of Dragons. Worthy projects should contact the Totnes REconomy Centre.

Riviera art fair TORBAY Guild of Artists, Devon Art Society and Brixham Art Society are taking part in The Riviera Art Fair at Torre Abbey in Torquay from February 5-24. Entry to see the paintings, prints, and cards for sale is free.

Vintage sale

WORTH The Weight bring their Vintage Kilo Sale to Plymouth Guildhall on February 9.

NEWS&views

PLEASE contact us if you have a story to share with Reconnect readers. editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

How to get published

SIDMOUTH Literary Festival will be running from June 7-9 at Kennaway House. Ann Cleeves will be speaking on Saturday, June 8.

There will be ha ‘How to get published day’ on June 9 with leading editors and agents.

The Local Loaf comes to Dartington TWO local farms and a bakery are coming together to continue the fantastic work that Grown in Totnes started to contribute to re-localising the food supply. The Apricot Centre, based at Huxhams Cross Farm, The Almond Thief, Dartington, and Old Parsonage Farm on The Dartington Hall Estate are joining to form a Community Interest Company called Dartington Mill CIC, and are relocating the operation to a combination of their existing premises to keep costs down and streamline the operation.

The farms are both growing wheat in a small scale organic / sustainable way, and have already sown next year’s crop. The two farms are growing Heritage Wheat re-created by John Letts from his collection of grains from pre 1940 crops, and the Population YQ wheat, a modern diverse wheat developed for organic systems

by Professor Martin Wolfe. They are delighted they have a secure market and a fair price for the wheat, which really helps crop

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planning. The Almond Thief is very excited to be able to offer a ‘local loaf’ using the wheat grown at Old Parsonage Farm.

The plan is to restart milling in January / February 2019. Sales of flour and grains will be handled initially by The Apricot Centre who will continue with the wholesale distribution of bags of local flour to shops and restaurants from Exeter to Plymouth, and will retail through their established sales channels (online web shop, Totnes Friday Market and produce delivery round). The venture brings together crops grown in Dartington that are then milled on-site for The Almond Thief to create a truly local sourdough loaf and for sales of flour to the public and to retailers.

There are plans to add more grains in the medium to long term once the mill is up and running. l To keep in touch with progress, news and developments, email bob.mehew@apricotcentre.co.uk asking to be put on the mailing list.

The dangerous book REGULAR advertiser and local poet Jay Ramsay takes a journey from Genesis to Revelation, and back to Genesis, bringing to life the drama of how a tribal God became the God of Unconditional Love, and the struggle that process entailed and entails – both for us and for God in his latest work The Dangerous Book.

His book is created in the spirit of the eighth century farm worker poet and novice monk Caedmon, and of William Langland’s Piers Plowman, Milton’s Samson Agonistes, Blake, Coleridge and Wordsworth, Tennyson, Eliot, in his own way Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney. All have sought to play with the Biblical stories to help us understand who we are and where we sit in the Greater Story.

The Dangerous Book by Jay Ramsay with Martin Palmer is out now on Fitzrovia Press www.fitzroviapress.co.uk

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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news&views Outdoor learning

THIS year’s Outdoor Learning and Sustainability Conference organised by the Sustainable Outdoor Learning In Devon (SOLID) Working Group in collaboration with Natural Devon takes place on March 8 at Buckfast Abbey Conference Centre. Find out more at www.naturaldevon.org.uk/solid-2019/

Exploring resilience

JOHN Channon, Estate Manager at The Dartington Hall Trust, and Jon Perkin, Dartington Dairy, will be exploring different approaches to resilience at Exeter’s Devon Hotel on February 25.

Power transition

THERE is a new peer-to-peer trading option set up by carbonfreegroup.com which allows businesses and households to trade their excess energy for the best price, once the Feed-in Tariff and Export Tariff for solar generation ends.

Indie Cinema

The latest word from the woods

WORK has now started at The Hillyfield barn build. After long delays to iron out final planning details, groundworks are being laid for three forestry barns at The Hillyfield. Doug King-Smith said: “It’s a great relief! After 6 years of planning battles to at last see things taking shape on the land. Local people are coming for a day or two each week to help the residential volunteers participate in the timber framing process.”

Hillyfield’s plan is to first put up their Wood-Drying Shed, a large open fronted round-wood timber frame, constructed using flitch-plates on a raised plynth as soon as they can.

Doug added: “Our deadlines are pressured because of the planning situation and also that we have won a grant which contributes 40% to the build. The next barn to be built will be more traditional framing constructed by Henry Russell.”

If you want to expand your skills into serious timber framing then Doug would love to hear from you.

There are also going to be workshops with experts who can teach all the skills required to be a professional timberframer. The process will include all aspects of wood-working and framing from selecting and processing timber on a mobile sawmill and using hand-tools, framing practice, and barn-raising.

The Hillyfield is looking for loans or other financial support to help the barn build. Short and long-term lenders are required to meet the remaining investment required. If you think you might be able to help e: dougkingsmith@yahoo.co.uk tel. 07976589927

PLYMOUTH Arts Centre cinema has transitioned to a new home at Plymouth College of Art’s main city centre campus at Tavistock Place, having left the Looe Street building when Plymouth Arts Centre lost its visual arts funding forcing it to close at the start of December. The new cinema has been crowdfunded through the indie-film loving population. It will be using a converted lecture theatre space in the evening and weekends and has a digital projector, surround sound, raked seating and a new screen, and will still offer great films, fab innovation and more of its ground-breaking programming. For more visit plymouthartscentre. org/event-category/film/.

Dragon boat challenge What’s on at Plymouth’s Soapbox Children’s Theatre THIS year Totnes Rotary will be running a Dragon Boat Challenge on July 14 rather than the usual Canoe Festival.

Manifest turns 25

MANIFEST, the five day camp on Dartmoor for men and boys celebrates its 25th year, from Wednesday May 29 to Sunday June 2 for see manifestsouthwest.co.uk or contact Massimo on massimo@itsorted.org.uk or 07795 257849.

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CHILDREN in Plymouth can look forward to two new events at Soapbox Children’s Theatre, the Community Interest Company, based in Devonport Park.

On February 15 Story Stomp is a parent and child adventure in the park followed by a craft session with the nature collected, and an original storytelling performed by a resident story teller.

Then from March 14 to April 6 Pirate

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Captain Penelope and Bosun Bill set out across stormy seas looking for treasure, and find The Mermaid’s Magical Purse. Inside are pearls full of stories of unicorns, dragons, mermaids and giants. A magical adventure of storytelling from Stiltskin Arts & Theatre with amazing puppets, delights and surprises along the way.

Find out more at www. soapboxtheatre.org.uk and www. stiltskin.org.uk

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There will be several Russian Music Events in March 2019

Eat to beat stress, depression and anxiety

E

Exploring Russia through music MARCH will see a showcase of Russian heritage and culture inspired by some of the country’s leading composers performed in Teignmouth, Exeter, and Paignton.

The shows will give attendees the chance to experience the atmosphere of Russia by taking a fascinating journey through different styles and eras of Russian culture with patriotic masterpieces by M. Glinka, melancholic melodies from the golden years of the Romantic era with Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov; dramatic and stirring compositions by Soviet composers Prokofiev, Schnitke and Chachaturyan, plus the evening will also feature melancholic and upbeat folk favourites.

The extensive programme will

include operatic arias and traditional Russian songs, violin masterpieces and arrangements for Russia’s national instrument the balalaika. Series of concerts ‘Russia through Music” in Devon.

The programme will feature compositions for violin, balalaika, Mezzo-Soprano and piano.

The dates for these shows are: March 9 - Teignmouth Classical Music Festival March 13 - Ashburton Arts Centre March 15 - Cygnet Theatre, Exeter March 17 - St Andrew’s Church, Paignton For more information contact 07505 884271 or visit www.facebook. com/classicalduoElegance/

Stories of others from the other side

ATING healthily, or the broader science of nutrition, have become an overcomplicated, faddy and, for some, confusing part of everyday life that should, in essence, be easy. Food is the foundation of our physical and mental health, energy, mood and daily function, so what could (and should) be simpler?

In truth, it IS simple, particularly when you understand some key jigsaw pieces of information about the body and brain, and how the jigsaw should be put together.

In this six month course, either in an online group or a local meeting, Jane takes you through a foundational understanding of food, nutrition, health and daily diet for you or your whole family over six months, combining monthly meetings, with monthly modules that build up a manual of information and video, plus membership of a closed group for students. Ask questions in the group between meetings where you can go into the content in depth, and commune with your fellow students as often as you like.

So, what are the foundations of nutrition knowledge for every day living and eating? Learn about the ideal diet, a week’s eating plan, store cupboard staples, nutrients, recipe development, servings and

portions, nutrient depletion, blood sugar, energy, adrenals, hormones, the gut, weight management, mood, keeping your brain balanced, and more.

There are extra bonuses for the first 5 students to enrol, and all students finishing the course will receive a certificate of achievement.

Treat yourself and your loved ones to the best of health every day. It’s easier than you think! Eat better, feel better, do more!

For full details or to book, see the event on the website at www. trinityholistics.co.uk. Payment plans also available - please contact Jane for details or to secure your place with a deposit at jane@ trinityholistics.co.uk.

STORYTELLER Clare Muireann Murphy will be guiding the audience through a liminal landscape of grown-up fairytale, where the light is a little too bright and the dark is very, very dark, at Exeter’s intimate Cygnet Theatre on March 1 in Others from the Other Side.

Acting as an intermediary between these two worlds, with stories of the other people, changelings, stolen children, strange marriages, theft, deception and wild curses. This show is part of a series of high quality storytelling events for adult audiences in the Exeter area programmed by Artemis Storytelling. Find out more at www.artemis-storytelling.co.uk.

Here to help local independent businesses

S

OUTH Devon-based journalist and copywriter Martin Foster knows a thing or two about getting the message across. Now he’s offering to work his magic for you and your business.

As the previous publisher/editor of Reconnect magazine, he helped to spread the word about the power of community.

“Helping therapists, craftspeople and other small local businesses get their message out there is very important to me,” says Martin. “I help them find a form of words to reach a wider audience – without compromising the core message.”

Martin works on the off-grid Totnes smallholding where he now lives, but he’s still working with local businesses too.

He said: “Small, local independent businesses are our future – they are the lifeblood of community.

But they have to compete with the

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massive publicity machine of multinationals.

“I do my bit to help by writing words for websites, He looks leaflets and social familiar media.

And I provide support and guidance too.

“Lovingly crafted products and services each come with a story. I can help to get that story to people who want to hear it.”

If you would like a free and friendly chat with Martin, to see what he can do for you, call him on 07837 003962 or email martinfoster4242@gmail.com.

Evolution, Exeter’s Holistic and Ethnic Shop has now moved to 96 Fore St (same side at the top of the hill opposite St Olave’s Church) Come and see our incredible and Extended range of products including Books, Crystals, Cards, Candles, Clothes etc.

Tel: 01392 410759 Mobile: 07773282861 Email: info@evolution-exeter.co.uk Website: www.evolution-exeter.co.uk Facebook: www.facebook.com/evolutionexeter Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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news&views

From Dartmoor to the Kalahari

an 8 month rewilding adventure ROBIN Bowman and Emily Fawcett, hosts of Devon based The Old Way, are delighted to have Mac Macartney joining them this year as their eight month rewilding adventure returns for a second year.

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MBERCOMBE’S founder, change-maker, speaker and author, Mac Macartney, will be drawing on his experience, his vision, and research formed for his book ‘The Children’s Fire’ to help the group explore their relationship with the essence of the old indigenous culture of these islands. Invaluable as the group explore what it means to experience life and the land as hunterfisher-gatherers across the seasons and the vastly different habitats of Devon and the Kalahari desert.

Joining them in the kalahari desert will be Jon Young, renowned tracker, storyteller and founder of the Art of Mentoring and the Wilderness Awareness School.

Stalking wildebeest with the Bushmen deep in the Kalahari desert. Foraging oysters by canoe on a Devon estuary. Watching a cheetah stalk and hunt a Steinbok. Feasting on lobsters and seaweeds whilst crafting baskets at the coast.

These were just a fraction of the experiences on last year’s adventure, whilst the group explored what it means to be indigenous to these islands, to experience life and the land as hunter-fisher-

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gatherers, and to return to the Old Way. Robin said: “From April till November last year we have travelled on six journeys as a small tribe across the seasons and different habitats of Devon and the Kalahari desert, singing as we go, with an exciting team of trackers, elders, wilderness skills experts, wisdom keepers, foragers and storytellers.

“In spring we made pack baskets and harvested a roe deer from the land, honouring it and giving thanks, before travelling by canoe down the estuary, gathering shellfish, learning bird language, fishing and tanning hides. At the coast we harvested the ocean for fish and crustaceans, and crafted. As autumn equinox approached we wandered across Dartmoor in the footsteps of our ancestors, wild camping, making wildfire and reading the bird language, weather patterns and tracks.

“As the weather turned colder, we set off on a two week adventure to Namibia, and journeyed with the oldest tribal hunter-gatherers on Earth, the Ju/hoansi San Bushmen, tracking elephant and leopard and bow hunting antelope with the Bushmen.”

Last year Bruce Parry, the explorer and film maker, brought his experience and stories of living with hunter-gatherers and tribal peoples, whilst helping the group self form into an egalitarian tribe of sorts. Martin Shaw shared the Old Stories of this land, to send them off well

Advertising: 01392 346342 adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk

and welcome them home again and to integrate the paths they travelled as a tribe over the previous eight months.

Robin added: “Elders will catch our stories as we reflect and complete what has surely been an unforgettable journey into the timelessness of the hunter-gatherer life-way. Come join us this year.”

This program sponsors ‘The San Master Tracker Program’ in Namibia and is helping to preserve the San Bushman’s culture (details on website).

More Info see www.theoldway.info and also the advert on page 10.

www.reconnectonline.co.uk

Visit us at www.reconnectonline.co.uk The Reconnect herb walk

south westerlies...

TORBAY herbalist Dawn Ireland of Green Wyse explains a little about medicinal uses of common seeds or herbs, taking us on a virtual Reconnect herb walk.

RECONNECT is bucking the trend by staying with the printed page.

Two years since he took over Scott explains why he sees this magazine continuing to keep it real.

Happy to be on the printed page

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T’S amazing! Doesn’t time fly?

It’s been two whole years since I took over in the editorial chair here at Reconnect. I hope the transition hasn’t been too jarring for you the readers.

When I told those I’d been working with for years in my old job as editor for eFestivals (the go to website for all things festivals) that I was going back to paper publishing they considered it a backward step.

They were firmly under the impression that print was a dying media and that online was the way forward. But I was of a different view, and I continue to believe you folks think that too.

In many respects Reconnect is uniquely placed – it’s perfectly placed whether you pick it up in your local shop, a town café, health food outlet, local library or even a practitioner’s waiting room.

They are just some of the kinds of places (see the website) where we deliver Reconnect into each issue.

Yes, I don’t just create the magazine, but together with the help of Andy Mitchell (thanks Andy) I also deliver the magazine across Devon too. When I return to these outlets with a fresh issue, I very rarely find any copies left. So, clearly the readership is there.

But it isn’t just where you can find a copy, it’s what’s inside, I’ve started thinking of it like an old parish newsletter – where the parish is the whole of South Devon. This one even offers both spiritual and physical wellbeing advice along with local news and some green living tips. Plus you can also read this and all our old issues online.

I’ve mentioned before that the content kind of grows organically from what people email me, and being a free magazine we rely heavily on those whose adverts adorne these pages. Whilst we don’t charge a cover price we do rely on the generosity of our advertisers to pay the bills.

I continue to be amazed we haven’t increased the prices in five years (though that day may come this year, if advertising slows – something I’m constantly worrying about).

Nationally circulation figures in print media have been dropping for 17 straight years and Sunday circulation of the nation’s newspapers are at their lowest levels since 1945 — when there were significantly fewer people. Yet we buck this trend, our circulation remains consistent, back in November I collected under 300 issues left on shelves so I could recycle them all. Plus we’re

www.reconnectonline.co.uk

not short on content, this being a bumper 48 page issue proves that! We actually have difficulty finding space for the editorial and news we get each issue. I believe Reconnect is still going strong.

Yes, I admit sometimes it’s a struggle to make ends meet when we get to deadline day and there’s a lot of advertisers down with bugs putting off getting their message out there until the next issue, but I’ve got used to deadlines and remaining calm over the last 24 months.

Some people have suggested that as a green living magazine we should ditch the paper, and go online. I usually explain that for many of you in the wilds of Devon online isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Not only is access to the internet patchy in parts of our county, but many of you prefer the great outdoors to reading a computer screen. In fact there’s much to be said for the lifestyle we promote away from the mobilephone or laptop screen.

Then there’s also the argument for ditching paper cos it’s bad for the environment. Well, you may have noticed we have changed printers, because our friends at Kingfisher could no longer print our size of publication in Totnes and we couldn’t justify the road miles having it done out of county.

Our new printers, Pollards, print using vegetable based inks and every bit of paper used to make Reconnect is carbon balanced with an area of land preserved in perpetuity through the World Land Trust and added to acre by acre.

All by-products of the production and printing are recycled too. So, we are keeping it green.

Amazingly, the next issue will be our 60th, so clearly we’re surviving in these difficult times for print, and continuing to help those whose businesses are too - by connecting them with you the reader. Certainly nearly every one I speak to says they benefit from their coverage in our illustrious pages.

However, you may have noticed a few of the other free Devon based magazines have disappeared from beside us on shelves this year, to move wholly online. This does give me the jitters, and it’s a route I don’t want to take. If you’d rather continue to read this magazine on paper rather then digital than please let us know, and do tell any local independent businesses that are not yet in these pages about us – and let’s see if with local support if we can’t continue to keep it analogue for another 60 issues.

Scott

T

HE daylight hours are getting longer as we head towards Spring.

We might have thoughts of shrugging off winter stagnation and heavy foods, perhaps thinking about spring cleaning our bodies as well as our homes.

Cleavers, also known as Galium Aparine in latin, or with multiple common names including goosegrass is that long stranded hedgerow weed which is much loved by children (big and small) to throw on people as it sticks like Velcro.

It is one of the first green plants to begin growing after lying dormant in Winter. There is a long tradition of use to support the lymph system, which is important in transporting immune cells around the body to where they are needed, and involved in the transportation of wastes such as dead bacteria, viruses and dead immune cells that have completed their tasks. As such it is often given as a gentle but strong remedy following illness, or congested lymph glands, or just as a gentle cleanse. For those reasons it can also be helpful for benign cysts and many skin problems if they are likely to be improved by supporting lymph flow. It can be taken quite safely on a long term basis, for adults and children alike.

When the plant is very young, it can be finely chopped and used in cooking or as a salad addition.

As it grows bigger it can be tough and unpleasant due to the Velcro style roughness on the leaves and stalks. My favourite way is to juice it (chop well first or the strands will wrap around blender blades and may break it!) You can then drink the juice as it is in amounts of a tablespoon daily, or mix

Bayleaf

Cleavers

with smoothies or other juices. To preserve it you can freeze in ice cube trays, or mix half and half with vodka or similar, to ensure preservation for at least a year. Your daily dose would be one to three teaspoons. You can also mix the juice with 60% vegetable glycerine to 40% juice and this will keep for a year.

Bayleaf or Lauris nobilis, not to be confused with it’s poisonous cousin Laurel, is the fragrant evergreen often used in cooking stews or tomato based dishes.

The leaves contain some interesting medicinal constituents which have been shown to maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Studies on a group of pre-diabetic people with high cholesterol showed that consuming a cup of bayleaf tea three times weekly reduced their LDL cholesterol levels. Low density cholesterol is the sticky type which can contribute to narrowing of the arteries. The latest research shows that high production of this type of cholesterol is usually related to inflammatory processes in the body which need addressing too.

Dried or fresh leaves are equally suitable.

Other benefits of bay leaves are improvement of digestive functions, especially helpful for bloating and wind, and mild intestinal antibacterial effects.

There is some evidence for bay leaf essential oil being effective as an anti-viral when dispersed in the air through an oil diffuser. This can be useful in reducing your risk of succumbing to coughs and colds. l Find out more about herbalism and Dawn at www.torbay-herbalist.co.uk

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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Jeff with one of his younger students, Stan Hill on the cruise.

NEWS&views

Connecting people through drama improv

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Tree care day at Sharpham

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OIN Sharpham Trust and their team of volunteers to restore and care for the trees on their beautiful Estate.

Their free Tree Care Day takes place on Sunday February 10, from 10am to 3.30pm and will be led by Sharpham Gardener Bryony Middleton who will end the day by demonstrating some tree care techniques.

Participants can just turn up on the day without booking and should bring gloves, boots and suitable clothing. Sharpham will supply refreshments as a thank-you for giving your time.

The day is not suitable for very young children and contact them if you’ve got mobility issues.

Before setting out, check their social media for announcements if the weather is terrible. For more information, with directions on how to get to Sharpham, see their website www.sharphamtrust. org or call 01803 731802.

THE OLD WAY

EORGE Bernard Shaw once memorably said: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.” And although the opportunities for play may seem to diminish as people age, this is certainly not always the case - as actor, life coach and Reconnect advertiser Jeff Sleeman recently discovered. In a slight departure from his usual work, Jeff has been teaching drama improvisation workshops to passengers on a cruise ship sailing around the Adriatic.

Said Jeff: “The participants were all in their 60s, 70s and even 80s and, despite the fact that most of them had had little or no drama or performance experience, they all threw themselves enthusiastically into the games and exercises. ‘Improv’ is a great way of connecting people and getting them to lose their inhibitions.

It is also a wonderful means of improving self-confidence and invariably creates a lot of

Jeff will be running regular improv sessions for all ages and abilities in Torquay starting in March.

For details of this and more information about his other work, contact him via his website www. jeffsleeman.com

New CEO joins Hospiscare HOSPISCARE have a new leader at the helm. Peter Brennan has taken on the role of Chief Executive Officer for the local charity after former CEO Glynis Atherton retired. The charity which provides end of life care for patients and their families in Exeter, Mid and East Devon needs to raise an annual sum of £7 million to care for the growing local population.

Peter commented: “I am genuinely excited to get started in this role. We want everyone approaching the end of their lives to receive the best possible care and to die well in their preferred

place of care, and continue delivering outstanding care for patients with any type of terminal illness and provide support for their families. We will also expand our Hospiscare@Home service, an extension of the Clinical Nurse Specialist provision, into more areas across our patch.

“None of our work would be possible without the generosity of the local communities we serve. We are really grateful to local people who volunteer, support and donate to Hospiscare in so many different ways.”

A yearlong journey towards re-wilding our ancestral blueprint

Explore indigeny Experience tribal life Hunter-gatherer life-ways Tracking and bird language Food procurement Primal arts and crafts Learn from the San Bushmen

Robin Bowman

Emily Fawcett

Mac Macartney

www.theoldway.info 10

laughter. At the end of the cruise we put on a showcase performance which the participants thoroughly enjoyed and some of the audience said was more entertaining than the professional comedian who was on board! It was a very enriching, enjoyable and interesting experience.”

Advertising: 01392 346342 adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk

Jon Young

Jessie W-B

Charlie Loram

5 journeys in Devon 2 weeks in the Kalahari

April-December 2019

theoldwayexperience@gmail.com www.reconnectonline.co.uk

Goingout

February/march 2019

OUR BIGGUIDETO BIG LOCAL EVENTS

ART EXHIBITIONS

JEM SOUTHAM: BIRDS ROCKS RIVERS ISLANDS Until Mar 16, The Arts Institute, Plymouth.

How to get YOUR events into Going Out...

WELCOME to Reconnect’s out of this world Going Out pages...

We connect all the hot stuff from across the region, categorised for easy access.

We have an EVEN MORE comprehensive online version at www.hubcast.co.uk/reconnect - also available via our busy website at www.reconnectonline.co.uk.

To get YOUR event listed online (and when possible, have it listed here in the mag too), simply register at ReconnectHub and enter the info free of charge.

To advertise here or online, email adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk or call 01392 346342.

GET FRESH 2019 Until Mar 10, Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Bovey Tracey.

CRIMINAL ORNAMENTATION: YINKA SHONIBARE MBE Until Mar 17, RAMM, Exeter.

‘GARDENS ARE LIKE PEOPLE’ BY MARIUSZ KALDOWSK Until Feb 10, Host Galleries, Plymouth.

WHAT DO YOU COLLECT? HANDKERCHIEFS Until Apr 7, RAMM, Exeter.

CREATIVE KIDS Feb 17, Little Acorn Furniture, Cheriton Bishop.

THE THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF Feb 17, Teignmouth Pavilions.

CHINESE NEW YEAR TRAIL Feb 5-Mar 5, RAMM, Exeter.

PRINTMAKING AND ANIMATION WORKSHOP Feb 20, RAMM, Exeter.

RIVIERA ART FAIR Feb 5-24, Brixham Society of Art, Torbay.

DRAGON EGG & DRAGON PUPPET WORKSHOP Feb 20, Teignmouth Pavilions.

PRIMARY COLOURS Feb 9-23, Harbour House, Kingsbridge.

‘SYNERGY’ BY MARC TODD Feb 23-Mar 10, Host Galleries, Plymouth.

BLUE MIND Mar 1-10, Harbour House, Kingsbridge.

TATTOOS: A SECRET LANGUAGE Mar 1, RAMM, Exeter.

WOMEN ARTISTS Mar 7, RAMM, Exeter.

MULTIMEDIA ART SHOW Mar 9-15 Arts & Community Centre, Teignmouth.

DOUBLE TAKE Feb 21-22, RAMM, Exeter.

DRUM WORKSHOP Feb 22, Teignmouth Pavilions.

EXETER 2025: MINECRAFT CHALLENGE DAY Feb 24, RAMM, Exeter.

IN THE WILLOWS Feb 22-Mar 2, Northcott Theatre, Exeter.

NOISY HOLIDAY – KID CARPET & THE NOISY ANIMALS March 8-9, Dartington Hall, Totnes.

MAKING WAVES Mar 12-16, Harbour House, Kingsbridge.

MARGO & MR WHATSIT Mar 9, Pavilions, Teignmouth.

CHILDREN/FAMILY

CHOIRS

THE LITTLE MERMAID: THE PANTO

SING EXETER

RUSSIAN SHOWCASE March 17 - St Andrew’s Church, Paignton.

CHORAL WORKSHOP - HAYDN’S CREATION Feb 16, Exeter Philharmonic Choir, Exeter.

HAVE MERCY Mar 16, Buckfast Abbey, Buckfastleigh.

RSCM ‘COME AND SING’ STAINER CRUCIFIXION Mar 23, Buckfast Abbey, Buckfastleigh.

CLASSICAL MUSIC Feb 3, DB, Totnes.

DEVON BAROQUE Feb 3, Dartington Hall, Totnes.

PETROF PIANO TRIO Mar 15, Courtenay Centre, Newton Abbot.

RUSSIAN SHOWCASE March 15 - Cygnet Theatre, Exeter.

Every Tuesday, Palace Gate Centre, Exeter.

HAYDN CREATION Mar 16, Exeter Cathedral, Exeter.

PANTOMIME TOM TOM THE PIPER’S SON Feb 14-16, The Avenue Church, Newton Abbot

SING PLYMOUTH Every Thursday, Pomphlett Methodist Centre, Plymouth

TORBAY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Mar 16, Teignmouth Pavilions.

HENNING WEHN Feb 6-7, Corn Exchange, Exeter.

Feb 6, Forum, Exeter.

CHAPTER 12 COMEDY CLUB Feb 7, Barrel House, Totnes

VIV WILSON Feb 9, Teignmouth Pavilions.

TEIGNMOUTH COMEDY CLUB Feb 8, Teignmouth Pavilions.

HANCOCK’S HALF HOUR Feb 22, Teignmouth Pavilions.

JACK BARRY Mar 14, The B-Bar, Plymouth.

ANDREW MAXWELL Mar 29, Watermark, Ivybridge.

COURSES, CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS WATERCOLOUR PAINTING Until Mar 18, Richard Teasdale, Crediton.

PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE Until Apr 7, Klaudia, Plymouth.

MOVEMENT MEDICINE Feb 9, Ailsa Lucas, Plymouth.

HEDGE-LAYING Feb 9, Devon Rural Skills Trust, Dartington.

GREEN WOOD CHAIR MAKING Feb 11-15, Little Acorn Furniture, Exminster.

EXPRESSIVE ARTS COURSE Until Feb 12, Emma Capper, Totnes.

ORCHESTRA WORKSHOP Feb 2, The Arts Institute, Plymouth.

AHIR SHAH Feb 22, Barbican Theatre, Plymouth

4 WEEK SKETCH BOOKING COURSE Until Feb 8, Whitleigh Arts, Plymouth.

MARK THOMAS Feb 27, Corn Exchange, Exeter.

BEGINNER’S CROCHET Feb 14, Spin A Yarn, Bovey Tracey.

TOM STADE Feb 27, Watermark, Ivybridge.

KNITTING Feb 22, Spin A Yarn, Bovey Tracey.

MURDER SHE DIDN’T WRITE Mar 1, Teignmouth Pavilions.

LAY A DEVON HEDGE Feb 23, Devon Rural Skills Trust, Aveton Gifford.

TIM MARSHALL Mar 10, Phoenix, Exeter.

HAL GRUTTENDEN Mar 3, Corn Exchange, Exeter.

DR JULIA NEVILLE Mar 13, Forum, Exeter.

MOVEMENT MEDICINE Feb 23, Ailsa Lucas, Dartington.

ROB AUTON Mar 3, Phoenix, Exeter.

FRANCES MORRIS Mar 14, RAMM, Exeter.

HAL CRUTTENDEN Mar 4, Flavel, Dartmouth.

YOGA BRUNCH Feb 23, Simply Soulful Yoga, Kingsbridge.

MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE Feb 21, Meavy Parish Hall, Tavistock.

DUO DORADO: A CELEBRATION OF BACH Mar 9, St Mary’s Church, Totnes.

LLOYD GRIFFITH Feb 3, Phoenix, Exeter

ANDREW DOYLE Feb 7, Phoenix, Exeter

NICK EARLE

EMMA LAWS Feb 20, Forum, Exeter.

MUSIC FOR LENT Mar 2, Plymouth R C Cathedral, Plymouth.

COMEDY

CLUB/SOCIETY TALKS

DONNA KEHOE Feb 13 Forum, Exeter.

MARTIN JAMES BARTLETT Feb 17, Courtenay Centre, Newton Abbot.

RUSSIAN SHOWCASE March 9, Teignmouth Classical Music Festival.

SCHUBERT: MASS IN G Mar 30, St. Clement’s Church, Dartmouth.

GREAT VICTORIAN ARCHITECTS & EXETER CATHEDRAL Feb 12, RAMM, Exeter.

BRANDENBURG CONCERTO NO 1

Until Feb 3, Barnfield Theatre, Exeter.

www.reconnectonline.co.uk

NO FEATU W FREE RING O ENTR NLINE I E MOR S AND E IN EXPO -MAG SURE

LEO HOULDING Feb 25, Exeter Corn Exchange, Exeter.

PROF. CHRISTOPHER SOUTHGATE Feb 27, Forum, Exeter.

PROF. MARTIN SORRELL Mar 6, Forum, Exeter.

CATHIE HARTIGAN Mar 20, Forum, Exeter.

FRANCES GRIGOREY Mar 27, Exeter Forum.

LOST VOICE GUY Mar 13, Corn Exchange, Exeter.

Turn over the page for more GoingOut listings

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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GOING OUT COURSES, CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS YOGA NIDRA WORKSHOP Feb 23, Julie Bladon, Exeter.

Rainbow’s End

HOLISTIC WELLBEING AND NATURAL CRAFTS FESTIVAL

Civic Hall, High Street, Totnes May 18th and 19th 2018 10am-5pm Free admission All-day programme of talks, workshops and demonstrations Wide variety of readers, healers and traders All-day café

DANCE

BIG FISH LITTLE FISH Feb 3, Phoenix, Exeter.

URBANFLOW: STREET DANCE WORKSHOP Feb 20 RAMM, Exeter.

JELLY JAZZ Feb 2, Barrel House, Totnes.

STEVE KNIGHTLEY Feb 2, Watermark, Ivybridge.

SAM LEWIS Feb 3, Kingskerswell Church.

JUMBO CROCHET Mar 7, Spin A Yarn, Bovey Tracey.

ROH ENCORE: DON QUIXOTE Feb 24, Teignmouth Pavilions.

WATTLE HURDLES Mar 9, Devon Rural Skills Trust, Dartington.

GAEL FORCE Mar 6, Pavilion, Exmouth.

KNIT A SHETLAND HAP SHAWL Mar 13, Spin A Yarn, Bovey Tracey.

GIOVANNI PERNICE Mar 7, Pavilion, Exmouth.

MARIO BAKUNA, EDMUNDO CARNEIRO Feb 6, Churston Golf Club, Brixham.

HERE COME THE GIRLS Mar 27, Exeter Corn Exchange, Exeter.

DARIA KULESH Feb 8, Village Hall, Scoriton.

FESTIVALS

FOFOULAH Feb 8, Barrel House, Totnes

GREEN WOOD WORKING Mar 15-17, Little Acorn Furniture, Cheriton Bishop.

HANDS-ON ANIMATION Mar 16, RAMM, Exeter.

MOVEMENT MEDICINE Mar 16, Ailsa Luca, Plymouth.

HOPE COVE WRITERS’ WORKSHOP WEEKEND Mar 22-24, RedPen, Salcombe.

YOGA NIDRA WORKSHOP Mar 23, Julie Bladon, Exeter.

LAUGHTER & YOGA WORKSHOP Mar 24, Simply Soulful Yoga, Kingsbridge.

INTRODUCTION TO ASCENSION MEDITATION Mar 28 Jellyfish, Buckfastleigh MOVEMENT MEDICINE Mar 30, Ailsa Lucas, Dartington.

See our centre pages for full listings.

POETRY FESTIVAL Mar 21-24, Teignmouth Pavilions.

BUCKFASTLEIGH WOOL GATHERING Mar 31, Buckfastleigh

MUSIC GIGS BARRY STEELE & FRIENDS Feb 1, Corn Exchange, Exeter.

MARTIN DALE QUARTET Feb 3, Plymouth Jazz Club.

JOHN SMITH Feb 8, Kingskerswell Church.

JAYWALKERS Feb 9, Kingskerswell Church.

DEVON YOUTH JAZZ ORCHESTRA Feb 10, Phoenix, Exeter.

MIRANDA SYKES Feb 10, Kingskerswell Church.

MARTIN KEMP (DJ SET) Feb 1, Phoenix, Exeter.

KEITH JAMES Feb 10, Arts Centre, Ashburton.

SAM GREEN Feb 1, Kingskerswell Church.

RUTS DC Feb 11, Phoenix, Exeter.

MALAVITA Feb 1, Barrel House, Totnes.

CARA DILLON Feb 13, Phoenix, Exeter.

THE SIMMERTONES Feb 2, Phoenix, Exeter.

FAIRPORT CONVENTION Feb 15, Corn Exchange, Exeter.

DAVID FORD Feb 2, Kingskerswell Church.

CLAUDE BOURBON Feb 16, Dolphin Hotel, Newton Abbot.

Get YOUR event out there with Reconnect’s Going Out pages TO ADVERTISE your event on our diary website, Reconnecthub, simply visit www.hubcast.co.uk/reconnect and register - then you can enter your own events whenever you want.

AND many of them will appear in the next (February/March) issue of Reconnect magazine.

AND they will be viewed through other HUBCAST websites (across the SW).

AND it’s all FREE! (There are some online advertisements available too and it’s first come, first served - so call Scott now on 01392 346342)

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Advertising: 01392 346342 adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk

www.reconnectonline.co.uk

GOING OUT MOSCOW DRUG CLUB Feb 16, Community School Hall, Chudleigh.

GEORGIE FAME Mar 9, Flavel, Dartmouth.

GUILTY PLEASURES Feb 16, Barrel House, Totnes.

BUSWELL & NYBERG Mar 10, Phoenix, Exeter.

THE RIVIERA RAMBLERS Feb 17, Plymouth Jazz Club.

BEANS ON TOAST Feb 20, Phoenix, Exeter.

THE NEIL MAYA QUARTET Feb 20, Churston Golf Club, Brixham.

ANOTHER SKY Feb 22, St Stephens Church, Exeter.

BRNC BIG BAND Feb 22, Flavel, Dartmouth.

BEANS ON TOAST Feb 22, The Junction, Plymouth.

HARBOTTLE & JONAS Feb 22, Barrel House, Totnes.

SKEPSIS Feb 22, Lemon Grove, Exeter.

KEITH JAMES Feb 23, Teignmouth Pavilions.

DRIFT CHAMBER Feb 23, St Stephens Church, Exeter.

BBC SINGERS GALA CONCERT Feb 23, The Arts Institute, Plymouth.

THE SHACKLETON TRIO Feb 23, Kingskerswell Church.

NEIL SANDS Mar 13, Watermark, Ivybridge.

NICK HARPER Mar 14, Dolphin Hotel, Newton Abbot.

CLARE TEAL DUO Mar 16, Flavel, Dartmouth.

3 DAFT MONKEYS Mar 16, Kingskerswell Church.

DREADZONE Mar 16, Phoenix, Exeter JAKE MORRELL Mar 17, Kingskerswell Church.

HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT Mar 21, Phoenix, Exeter.

RICH BAKER AND JAMES HARRIS Mar 22, Flavel, Dartmouth.

AJ’S BIG BAND Mar 22, Teignmouth Pavilions.

MAE KARTHAUSER Mar 22, Arts Centre, Ashburton.

BRASS FUNKEYS Mar 23, Kingskerswell Church.

URBAN FOLK QUARTET Mar 23, Phoenix, Exeter.

NICK HARPER Mar 24, Phoenix, Exeter.

CARRIVICK SISTERS Mar 1, Kingskerswell Church.

MEGAN HENWOOD Mar 26, Kingskerswell Church.

PAUL RUCK Mar 1, Watermark, Ivybridge.

KRISTIN HERSH Mar 27, Phoenix, Exeter.

PHIL BEER Mar 3, Teignmouth Pavilions.

WE ARE LEIF Mar 6, Churston Golf Club, Brixham.

FAELAND Mar 8, Barrel House, Totnes.

WILLE & THE BANDITS Mar 8, The Junction, Plymouth.

MAD DOG MCREA Mar 8-9, Phoenix, Exeter.

HAZAAR! Mar 9, Lustleigh Village Hall, Newton Abbot.

MERRY HELL Mar 9, Kingskerswell Church.

STEVE HARLEY Mar 28, Phoenix, Exeter.

FEAST OF FIDDLES Mar 28, Corn Exchange, Exeter.

TALLULAH RENDALL Mar 29, The Hatch, Kingsbridge.

ALEX WILSON Mar 29, Flavel, Dartmouth.

THE SLOW READERS CLUB Mar 29, Phoenix, Exeter.

HENGE Mar 30, Phoenix, Exeter.

JESSICA RADCLIFFE Mar 30, Phoenix, Exeter.

GLENN TILBROOK Mar 31, Kingskerswell Church.

www.reconnectonline.co.uk

THEATRE

MACBETH Feb 1-2, Torquay Museum.

RETURN TO THE FORBIDDEN PLANET Feb 5-9, Queen Elizabeth’s School, Crediton.

THE LIFE I LEAD Feb 7-9, Northcott Theatre, Exeter.

STOLEN Feb 8, Parish Hall, Talaton.

ESCAPING THE STORM Feb 9, Palace Theatre, Paignton.

STARBURST Feb 12-May 8, Babbacombe Theatre, Torquay.

BAREFOOT IN THE PARK Feb 13-16, Palace Theatre, Paignton.

THE DUCK Feb 15, Cygnet Theatre, Exeter.

ARABIAN NIGHTS Feb 20-23, The Little Theatre, Torquay.

DIGGING THE DIRT Feb 23, Cygnet Theatre, Exeter.

OTHERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE Mar 1, Cygnet Theatre, Exeter.

THREE MEN IN A BOAT Mar 6, Cygnet Theatre, Exeter.

DYAD PRODUCTIONS: ORLANDO Mar 17, Teignmouth Pavilions.

MY MOTHER SAID I NEVER SHOULD Mar 18 -23, The Little Theatre, Torquay.

VISION - A TESTIMONY OF HILDEGARD OF BINGEN Mar 2, Dartington Hall, Totnes.

25th – 28th July 2019, St. Germans, Cornwall

‘Beautifully bonkers, eclectic and soul-warming’ Evening Standard

‘A cool Cornish mash-up of music, fashion, food and comedy’ Marie Claire

‘one of the most successful arts festivals in the country’ The Times

IT IS NOW Mar 8, Clearbrook Village Hall.

IT IS NOW Mar 9, Clayhidon Parish Hall.

SCIENCE ADVENTURES Mar 9, Bigbury Memorial Hall.

A PINT SIZED CONVERSATION Mar 22, Milton Combe Village Hall DR ZEEMAN’S CATASTROPHE MACHINE

Tickets available at

porteliotfestival.com

Mar 24, Teignmouth Pavilions.

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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ORGANICGARDENING IT’S the beginning of another growing season and our own gardening expert JOA GROWER has some tips for all you budding gardeners.

Longer days mean happy gardeners

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Ne w 2 01 9!

ELCOME Chitting once potatoes again to the beginning of a new growing year, hopefully its as good as the last one. It’s mainly sowing time but don’t forget that you don’t have to sow a whole packet every time, most seeds will last 2 or 3 years as long as you store them properly in a cool dry place (a sandwich box in the shed would be ideal).

Keep an eye on the forecast for frosts as plants in an unheated greenhouse may still need just a little more extra protection with something like horticultural fleece. Lining small greenhouses with bubble wrap also helps to increase the temperature.

If you’re growing your seeds on a window sill at home don’t forget that as soon as your seedlings start to come up turn the pots or trays every day, this will help to stop them becoming tall and leggy.

In the garden it’s time to tidy up so remove any old and unwanted plants, weeds and canes left from the previous season. Spread homemade compost over your beds. If you’re going to use manure make sure it’s well rotted (over a year old). No need to dig this in the worms will do it for you.

Feed any autumn planted brassicas with liquid comfrey or a general fertilizer and your purple sprouting Broccoli should now be ready to pick, and don’t forget to pick regularly to encourage more spears. Having waited so many

months for it to produce you might as well get as big a crop as you can from it.

Seed Potatoes are now available buy, we shall have a selection of certified organic early and main crop potatoes at both the nursery and our market stall at Totnes Market. The earlier you purchase them the earlier you can get them chitting or sprouting. This helps them get off to good start. To do this, place them in a seed tray or egg box and place them in the greenhouse or on the window sill. The growing shoots should be nice, short and stocky, not tall pale and spindly or they will probably get damaged whilst being planted out. When planting don’t forget to label which are your Earlies and which are your Main Crop. Early Potatoes you dig up from July onwards as and when you need them and your Main crop are for harvesting from late September to October for using or storing over the Winter months.

Onion sets, shallots and garlic will also be available now. After planting them out keep an eye on the onions and shallots, because the birds just love to pull them back out again. l Just a reminder that Growers Organics nursery in Yealmpton will reopen early February 2019 and our plant stall will also be back in the market square in Totnes in February.

Happy Growing!

Joa’s A-Z of Organic Gardening

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A is for Activator. When building your compost heap the whole process of producing compost can be speeded up by using an organic activator. There are many things that can be used for this. At Growers Organics we tend to use layers of chicken manure in our wooden compost bins (but then we have an endless supply as we have a small flock of hens). Other activators that you can use are young stinging nettle leaves, Comfrey leaves and the cheapest of all urine.

B is for Beds. Raised beds, which in my opinion are the most brilliant idea.

Firstly don’t forget that the whole point of raised beds is that you should never have to dig them. So make your beds no wider than 4ft (120cm).

This will enable you to reach the middle of the bed from both sides. Also avoid making your beds too long 8-10ft (240-300cm) is ideal. Make them too long and you will be tempted to step on them to get to the other side.

Don’t forget that raised beds don’t necessarily need wooden sides, they can be made very simply by mounding your soil into 4 x 8ft areas leaving 2ft paths either sides. Back in the mid 1980’s when I converted to raised beds I used this method. I can tell you there was a lot of head scratching and teasing from my fellow allotmenteers who said that my allotment looked more like a grave yard than a vegetable bed. It didn’t put me off!

Reconnect’s Organic Gardening column is written by Joa Grower of Growers Organics. Meet her at Totnes market on Fridays and Saturdays.

Visit www.growersorganics.com, or call 01752 881180.

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ReFurnish has branches dotted around Devon

Community reuse sector faces funding cuts REFURNISH Devon’s Chief Executive David Banks appeals for your continuing support as they confront the challenge of funding cuts.

EFURNISH has been supporting community sector furniture reuse projects for the last 20 years and we are extremely grateful for support in the form of reuse credits from a joint fund from the County Council, the District Councils and Devon Unitary Authorities.

Reuse credits are paid to community sector projects which are members of the national Reuse Network or Refurnish Devon at a £62 per tonne for items of furniture which are diverted from waste. Without this funding we would not have been able to develop and sustain projects throughout Devon where local people can have their unwanted household items collected for free and then made available in our shops. People donating have often already tried to sell their items on facebook or gumtree and have been turned down by the larger national charities, so we are the last resort before turning to more expensive & wasteful options. We are a charity and struggle to break even each year and yet we are committed to continuing to provide a service.

We are so much more than just a second hand shop, collectively providing more than 1,000 tonnes of reusable furniture (77,000 items +) to more than 25,000 household each year in Devon. We provide more than 70,000 square feet of sales space across the county where people can access a wide range of affordable

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household goods with cheaper prices to people with low income.

Customers often feedback how much they appreciate the service such as this one: “Everything I have in my flat came from Refurnish in Newton Abbot, just over three years ago. The quality is amazing and the drivers that delivered it were very helpful.”

This activity creates in excess of 50 paid jobs and 200 volunteer placements each year for people that need meaningful activity in a safe and caring environment. For many, volunteering is a lifeline, helping people to develop greater self-esteem, less social isolation and for some a stepping stone into work. This volunteer summed up his experience: “Volunteering got me back into the routine of going to work and communicating with people, and gave me a real sense of achievement.

It was a real confidence booster” Unfortunately the joint council group are proposing to cease paying reuse credits and divert this money to other waste initiatives in the near future. For the sector to continue we will have to try and find alternative funding or face the prospect of some projects closing or drastically reducing resources and hence services. Meanwhile we would like to thank all of you that support our service and hope that you will continue to do so by donating good quality resueable items and reducing waste by visiting our shops and buying reusable items and reducing the amount of goods going to waste.

Find out more about Refurnish at Refurnish.org.uk

Get fresh at the weekend GET Fresh is a new exhibition at Devon Guild, the Bovey Tracy craft gallery, which presents a range of fresh and innovative work by 13 emerging makers from the South West who have only recently begun their careers.

Held every 2 years, the show introduces us to 13 makers presenting a diverse array of design work.

The exhibition is free entry and open daily from 10am-5.30pm Exhibitors: Abbie Gardiner: Ceramics, Alex Carpenter: Wood, Alysa Freeman: Jewellery, Barbara Roll: Glass, Fi Smart: Ceramics, John Molesworth: Printmaking & Ceramics, Julie Massie: Ceramics, Kate Lyons-Miller: Ceramics, Rebecca Connolly: Woven Textiles, Renovat Moody: Glass, Ryan Hardman: Photography, Takahashi McGil: Furniture & Wood, and Valerie Muddyman: Jewellery.

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NEWS&views

Solar PV can now be colourful and in curves and shapes.

Creative with solar

PLYMOUTH Energy Community have teamed up with Art & Energy CIC to host several ‘Pretty Useful - Getting Creative with Solar’ workshops at Plymouth’s Fab Lab. During the workshops, participants have explored how solar PV could be a new craft material of the future and could provide energy generation that actually reflects local cultural identity. The creative ideas generated have been endless and a working group of budding solar PV artists has now formed to take a solar project for Plymouth to the next level. For further information visit www.artandenergy.org or email chloe@artandenergy.org.

Studio 45 is an open-plan learning environment for potters and ceramicists where members and students have access to wheels, kilns and equipment, as well as technical know-how from our experienced teachers.

• • • • • •

Weekly 10 week courses - Beginners to Advanced Membership Program Apprenticeship Scheme Specialist Workshops & Master Classes Glaze Technology Sustainable practice and research team

For more information on membership, workshops and courses visit

www.studio45.uk.com or contact us at info@studio45.uk.com

Amelia from Ethica’s Devon vegan diary

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ITH the New Year came some changes to both of the regular vegan events in Plymouth.

The Earth Cafe will now be held at Union Corner instead of The Fortescue, but dates are still being worked out so please keep your eye on the Earth Cafe Facebook page for updates.

The Naturally Vegan Plot is no longer running All Day Elevensies events as they’re concentrating their efforts on moving all their plants to a hopefully permanent home in Cornwall!

But don’t worry, they’ll still be running regular events, the first being an evening of entertainment in collaboration with vegan DJ Jane Ward of the Vinyl Avengers, on Friday 22nd March, venue TBC. The next Exeter Vegan Market will be held in Exeter Corn Exchange on Saturday 16th March, from 10am-2.30pm. Expect a showcase of the South West’s best vegan-friendly handmade goods; including cakes & sweet treats, fair trade fashion, and beautiful homeware & plants. And while you’re in Exeter, be sure to check out the new plant-based brunch cafe, Sacred Grounds. Nestled at the end of McCoy’s Arcade, Fore Street, this quirky, plant-filled cafe has a small but expertly crafted menu, packed full of fresh flavours and local produce. l Ethica on Armada Way is Plymouth’s only 100% vegan store, visit www.ethicaveganstore.co.uk

Some things are hard to put into words…

I can write effective copy for your website, press releases, leaflets, social media, etc.

Get in touch for a friendly chat.

Martin Foster (Former Reconnect editor with 40 years’experience in journalism and publishing) T. 07837 003962 E. martinfoster4242@gmail.com

Empowering families across Devon & Cornwall since 1999

Plymouth energy community seeks volunteers PLYMOUTH Energy Community’s successful PEC Pals volunteer training programme starts again midFebruary. PEC Pals is a way for people to support the work PEC does to combat fuel poverty and carbon emissions by getting more involved. They provide a free and flexible training programme and then provide on-going support to help PEC Pals develop their own project idea or contribute to existing ones. An example is the new PEC Pals-led ‘Curtains to Cold’ project to help amend and match unwanted curtains with those who don’t have any and struggle to keep the warmth in. All sorts of great collaborations, actions and ideas are flowing from getting people together. For further information, visit www.plymouthenergycommunity.com.

07759 890639

Cornwall’s forgotten corner film festival

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CROSS the Tamar a local film festival is aiming to make us all into environmental champions.

Cornwall’s ‘Forgotten Corner’ is getting ready to host a two-day environmental film festival that they hope will put itself on the map.

The event is to be held on February 16-17 in Kingsand and Millbrook on the Rame Peninsula, and aims to fill people with hope at the gloomiest time of the year and motivate them to take action to help protect our environment both locally and globally.

The films and talks will be broken

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down into six themed segments around issues such as plastics, adventure, activism and climate change.

The event is being organised by local beach cleaning and marine conservation group Rame Peninsula Beach Care (www.ramepbc.org).

Donations from the event will help raise funds for RPBC as well as the Old Ship social housing project in Cawsand and the Joy Rescue project, a Kenyan NGO working to support low income families.

For more information find ‘Forgotten Corner Film Festival’ on Facebook or email info@ramepbc.org

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

15

land matters

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16

The unsung heroes of the heap AS a keen permaculturist and ‘no dig’ gardener Ben Bryant has come to realise that compost is king.

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HE issue of soil degradation is now a prominent one, and people are really awakening to the notion of building soil health.

Scientists are discovering more and more about the cornucopia of life, in developing and supporting microbes, mycelium and all that not numerous volunteer-led community visible by the naked eye that makes composting sites in Devon, keeping up healthy fertile complex soil was fertility in local soils and providing has to be nurtured and revered. top quality compost for a good We can no longer continue with the unabated depletion of our soils on a price to local people in return for massive scale, especially if we want their garden clippings. to feed our growing population with Nicky founded the Devon nutritious and chemical free food.

Community Composting Network So with compost being the over two decades ago and although cornerstone of a thriving garden, this project has become another and with the necessary drive to victim of funding challenges, the return to small scale farming, super informative website remains organic methods and people (www.dccn.org.uk, for now at growing their own, now is a good least). Please support time to be part and look out for your of the revolution local project (if you to save our soils. are lucky enough to Starting with home have one nearby). composting and Notable community your own backyard seems apt, and for composting projects those who don’t are still going strong in already compost I places like Chagford can assure you it’s (Proper Job) and South an addictive and Brent. If you fancy fascinating thing to trying to kick start do. Not to mention one for your town or good for you, mind village firstly think body and soul. about a suitable site Now’s the time to How to make and use with good access. do some reading compost book, by local It might even be a up and thinking author Nicky Scott good idea to link it about what type with a community of composting system suits you and garden initiative in order to close to try to keep this precious garden the loop and grow food ‘dreckly’ resource in your garden rather than with the compost produced, thus having it labelled garden waste providing a community hub and and taken some where not so close place of skillshare and learning to home for ‘processing’. The (see Federation of City Farms and ‘dalek’ plastic bin is a good way Community Gardens, that recently to ‘cold compost’ your vegetable peelings and small amounts of took over the mantle from the green clippings. If you have a Community Composting Network). sizeable garden you may consider Years ago I had the pleasure of a hot heap, a bigger heap to making a series of short films generate warmer temperatures, interviewing Nicky in harbour exponential growth of his allotment about microorganisms and also provide a the Do’s & Don’t’s of wonderful habitat that brings terrific Home Composting. biodiversity into your garden. A Nicky imparts a compost heap acts as a home wealth of information to pretty much all the kingdoms on the subject in of life and is a must for wildlife these films made gardening. Hot composting also in association has the advantage of killing off most with Teignbridge pernicious and perennial weeds District that you might not want returning to invade your veg patch.

Council.

Search Devon has a strong culture for Nicky Scott composting with many experts and composting people willing to give information on You Tube and tips at local events, like Chagford’s own Nicky Scott, whose to watch and books Composting For all and enjoy.

How To Use and Make Compost (published by Green Books) are a brilliant way to increase knowledge.

Nicky has been instrumental

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land matters

Helping you get the most from your garden

Your garden can make a big difference

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ECENT stark warnings about climate change and extinction rates can lead to feelings of helplessness and overwhelm.

There’s a place, close to home, where Ross Adams believes we can make a difference: our gardens!

Ross explained: “One of the reasons I started Abundant Gardens is because I read an article from The Wildlife Trusts that says: ‘Together, the UK’s gardens are larger than all of our National Nature Reserves combined, making them as important for wildlife as they are for our own wellbeing’.” (Ross will discuss wellbeing in the next issue.)

“I can see how much potential there is on our doorsteps. My aim is to help you connect with it.”

There are many simple things that can be done in the garden to support wildlife. When Ross and

his partner first moved to Totnes, they let the grass grow in their garden. “Come the summertime, it was ablaze with purple and yellow flowers of Selfheal and Birdsfoot trefoil, and buzzing with bees. We delighted in this unexpected splash of colour and wildlife.”

Spring is an ideal time of the year to sow wildflower seeds. Once established, wildflower areas are a good way to attract many different types of wildlife and they look great!

“If you would like some help to create a beautiful garden that connects you with wildlife and supports your wellbeing, then do be in touch.”

Here’s to a Wild 2019! l Contact Ross on 07811608359 or rossadams51@gmail.com, and visit www.abudantgardens.uk.

living willow structures scything fruit trees organic growing edible planting com posting raised beds wildlife areas 07811608359 www.abu ndantgardens.uk

Built by the community TRANSITION Homes Community Land Trustee Ruth has more news from the small charity run by volunteers and their £6 million, 70% affordable housing scheme.

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T THE time of writing much work is in process preparing to start work at Clay Park this spring 2019.

Fingers crossed there won’t be any more delays and by the time you’re reading this we’ll be a month or 2 off breaking ground on site. We are talking with our preferred contractor to build the project and working out things like the detailed design issues, legal agreements, materials supply and other delivery logistics, project phasing as well as more work to do finalising the costing and agreeing terms with our mortgage and development lenders.

2018 was a good year for funding Receipt of planning permission for the houses at Clay Park released the promised £190,000 from South Hams Community Housing Fund for pre-development costs.

A further £108,000 was then negotiated and with SHDC from their S106 funds towards development costs. In February 2018 we received £50,000 through Quaker Housing Trust and LandAid through our partner organisation Young Devon and United Response (formerly ROC).

Young Devon will manage the rental studio flats for young vulnerable people. The flats for adults with learning disabilities will be managed by United Response.

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Then later in the year we had two more big grant bid successes In August £450,000 from Homes England (formerly the Homes and Communities Agency) as a contribution towards delivering our shared ownership homes.

We are the first independent CLT not working with or registered as a Registered Provider (housing association) to get this funding.

In September we heard back from our bid to the Homes England Community Housing Fund for infrastructure. Meaning £300,000 towards our infrastructure costs (for example putting in the new road and access from the A385).

With a project like Transition Homes that aims to deliver such high specification eco homes with 80% being affordable it is always a balancing act between affordability and sustainability.

Even with such success in funding last year we still need to find a way to cut some costs and that may see compromises on materials etc. However in collaboration with our builders and other members of the team who have good experience of eco building methods we hope to keep the environmental impact of our choices to a minimum.

So with continued luck and a lot of hard work we will see big changes happening on site soon.

Green

Bryant Gardening Services

Creating, beautiful, social outdoor spaces inspired by nature.

• Garden design with permaculture • Garden maintenance & clearances • Fencing, landscaping, patios & decking • Creative eco garden joinery • Composting systems 07968 596 406 ben@greenbryant.com facebook.com/greenbryant

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

17

LOCAL PRODUCE Food Plymouth - still growing strong

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Spring Courses 2019 Short Courses

Love Health Love Cooking

Jan 26th - 27th

Plant Based Eating

Feb 10th

Women’s Health

March 8th

Balancing Blood Sugars

April 13th

Open Day March 10th Holistic Nutrition for Body and Soul Next 1 Year Intensive Starts April 29th - May 12th

Please visit www.macroschool.co.uk to book

OOD Plymouth are celebrating four years of as a Community Interest Company (CIC). Having survived the hazardous first few years which characterise every Micro Business and Small & Medium Size Enterprise start up.

Their work includes: promoting healthy and sustainable food to the public; tackling food poverty, diet related ill health and access to affordable healthy food; building community food knowledge, skills, resources, and projects; promoting a vibrant and diverse sustainable food economy; transforming catering and food procurement; and reducing waste and the ecological footprint of the food system.

In 2014, after four years of invaluable support by the Soil Association for Food Plymouth, it was announced that the support package would be drawing to a close early the following year. The local sustainable food partnership looked for a solution in a Social Enterprise model and formed the CIC. The rationale was that it would align with Plymouth’s Social Enterprise City status and the emphasis on earned income would reduce their dependency on grant funding. The new company went operational in March 2015 when the Soil Association support concluded.

Since that time, Food Plymouth CIC has consistently provided the infrastructure support for the partnership and network providing services and insurance cover, delivering projects such as All Ways Apples Festival, Sugar Smart Plymouth and Plymouth’s Food Power work, catalysing the Fairtrade Plymouth renewal process, linking with other Sustainable Fish

Cities, networking through events and conferences and generating income streams from gifts, grants and trading.

Individuals, communities, organisations and businesses continue to collaborate with them to promote healthier and more sustainable food for the people of Plymouth.

Ongoing activities include developing proposals for a multi-functional food hub for Plymouth, advising on national food policy agenda through the Food Research Collaboration, engaging local University students in food related voluntary and research opportunities and linking with the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network.

The CIC have also announced new collaborations with Plymouth Marjon University and King’s Cross Impact Hub. Their new support project entitled Growing Community Abundance is now underway after funding from the National Lottery’s Awards for All programme was approved. The 12 month project aims to build local peoples’ basic gardening skills and social skills, enabling them to become knowledgeable, skilled and confident to help growing spaces and the community groups which support them. This core group will inspire, facilitate and support community growing projects with a network to support them.

This programme will also help towards Plymouth’s progression to Sustainable Food Cities silver standard, showcasing community skills, knowledge, resources and projects and increasing the eco footprint of food system themes.

Find out more at foodplymouth.org

Easter Egg Hunt at Hillyfield 2019 EASTER would not be the same without some sort of crazy egg-games at The Hillyfield. This year will be a small event for families including the egg-hunt relay race, egg-rolling, and an egg and spoon race on Monday April 22 from 11 - 3pm. Hillyfield are seeking a crew to help run the event so if you want to get involved then please contact Claire on claireryan82@me.com Lift-sharing is advised!

More information is available on the website www.thehillyfield.co.uk

Crediton seed share

THE Sustainable Crediton Seed Share returns to Boniface Centre to ‘Share Grow Eat’ on March 16 from 11am to 2pm to offer local and heritage seeds, and lunch from local surplus food, plus composting, bees, demonstrations, RSPB, Devon Wildlife Trust, Fairtrade, Pig Club, Orchards Live, Crediton Garden Club, Holt Wood Herbs and the Medicinal Forest Garden Trust, Children’s Corner and more.

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Naturally nourishing Illegal seeds post-Brexit FRED Groom from Vital Seeds discusses how we urgently need to protect the thousands of varieties of seeds that will become illegal to sell after Brexit.

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S WE all know, Brexit is synonymous with uncertainty and confusion. The UK’s current seed marketing legislation is intricately tied up in the wider EU legislation, so after Brexit the UK will have to develop its own rules and regulations surrounding seed marketing.

It is important to state that we are talking seed marketing (i.e. selling) rather than seed growing.

At the moment there are no laws governing which crop varieties it is permitted to grow, only which it is permitted to sell. I might also just clarify that when I say ‘variety’ I am talking about specific variations of crops e.g.

Gardener’s Delight tomato, rather the crop itself e.g. tomato.

The current seed legislation states that only varieties which are registered on the ‘UK National List’ and the ‘EU Common Catalogue’ can be sold. When we joined the EU, many varieties which had been on our National List were removed (as they were also on the EU Common Catalogue) to avoid duplication. Every variety on either list must have a ‘registered maintainer’ which is usually a seed company who is responsible for the variety and who must pay an annual fee.

As we may be about to leave the EU there are thousands of varieties which it will become illegal to sell in the UK from March 29, unless we change our current seed legislation. There has been a process of bringing varieties across from the EU list to the UK list, but only a small proportion of the varieties have been brought over owing to the associated cost and work of becoming a registered maintainer.

There are many directions that UK seed legislation might go in. The direction which would be most supportive to agrobiodiversity and small-scale organic food production would be to separate the legislation for smaller packets of vegetable seeds from that governing agricultural crops. At the moment seeds for the home garden are subject to the same laws as cereals for industrial grain production. For reasons of food security it is understandable that agricultural seeds meet very specific and uniform standards, which are unnecessary and even undesirable in the context of smaller-scale diverse systems of food provision.

Ruffled Soul Lettuce

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JANE HUTTON is looking forward to the first shoots of spring as it means her favourite vegetables are in plentiful supply.

Chard - a leafy multivitamin champion

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Dazzling Blue Kale, above, and below, Green Zebra Tomato.

New EU legislation for organic seeds There is new EU legislation drafted which will exempt certain categories of seed from the current seed marketing legislation. These two categories are: 1. Organic Heterogeneous Material (OHM) – defined as “Plants or Plant Materials whose genetic resources are represented by a group as a whole and not by any one individual.”

2. Organic Variety Suitable for Organic Production (OVSOP) – diverse varieties specifically bred for organic growing conditions.

As we may be leaving the EU on March 2019 and these new provisions will not be active until 2020 it is uncertain whether or not this new legislation will be adopted in the UK, but it would be extremely valuable if it was and it would undoubtedly stimulate the breeding of new varieties specifically adapted to organic growing conditions.

To conclude, it is likely that many varieties will become harder to get hold of and some may well be lost forever unless they are saved. If, as an individual, you have favourite varieties which you would be devastated to lose, then I would strongly recommend buying some seeds now and learning how to save them yourself. It is not a difficult thing to do when you know how and there are loads of great resources available online and in books. We have a ‘resources’ section on our website where you can learn basic seed-saving tips and tricks. l To find out more about Vital Seeds Ltd see vitalseeds.co.uk, facebook. com/vitalseedsltd.

PRING is about to be sprung!

It may not feel like it yet, but this very fallow period after January’s chill is a pause before the year begins in earnest. It is when we are all getting fed up with colder temperatures, grey skies, and begin to think eagerly about the return of the warmth, looking forward to shedding our hibernatory sluggishness and layers, welcoming lighter clothes, lighter food, and lighter hours.

Before that, while in February and March’s limbo, a lot is actually happening, both to us and to the natural world. The Swiss Chard seeds and animals are stirring, and the world is preparing to burst forth into action.

When the spring begins to make its presence felt, though, pollen season has also begun already. Now is a perfect time to take action to prevent or reduce seasonal allergies. Tree pollens are one of the first to be released, as soon as a break in the persistent rain and a spell of warmer weather hits, and this means the early pollens are in the air, and getting into our systems as you are reading this column!

With our warmer winters, this can be very soon after any cold January weather. One of the best ways to inoculate ourselves is to eat a teaspoon of locally produced honey daily - this

exposes our immune system to the unique profile of local pollens in small amounts on a daily basis, building up a resistance as the season progresses - the sooner in the year you can start, the better, so hit those farm shops or markets to catch the local producers.

So, what about food? This issue’s seasonal recipe makes a lovely meal for all the family, and is one of my absolute spring favourites because it utilises Swiss chard - hugely nutritious, but easily available locally. Part of the beetroot family, it’s incredibly versatile and nourishing, but low in calories.

An array of vitamins and minerals gives chard an impressively broad nutrient profile – high levels of vitamins A, E, and C, B vitamins, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, lutein, zeaxanthin, and vitamin K make chard a leafy multivitamin and mineral champion.

Many of these nutrients are only absorbed if fat is present, so be sure to cook in recipes that incorporate some healthy fats, like rapeseed oil, or organic butter. Have a go at this issue’s comforting crowd pleaser, using some of the fantastic sausages produced by local farms, or adding other protein sources if you’re vegan or vegetarian, and do your body good!

Chard with Sausage and Beans 400g chard, cut into leaves and stalks 8 sausages (80% or more meat) 1 large onion 1-2 garlic cloves rapeseed oil 2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed good quality stock (chicken or veg) seasoning to taste

Cook the chard in enough stock to just cover, stalks first, adding the leaves when the stalks are just tender. Drain but reserve the stock.

Heat some rapeseed oil in a frying pan, cook the sausages until nearly

SERVES 4

done, then slice. Return to the frying pan and cook with the onions to caramelise, then add the garlic. Deglaze the frying pan with a little reserved stock, then pour the sausages, onions, garlic, and deglazing liquid into the chard saucepan. Add the beans, combine well, then add reserved stock to heat through and simmer to get your desired consistency. More stock will turn this into a broth, but less should reduce the liquid to create a lovely gravy. Season to taste, and serve with crusty bread and a sprinkle of herbs.

Naturally Nourishing is written by nutritionist and “confirmed foodie” Jane Hutton. Visit her new website, www. functional-foodie.com, and sign up for programmes, recipes and advice.

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

19

Living: made simple Returning with more advice for the simple life MARTIN FOSTER offer you a few ground rules to help to send your life in a better direction.

Get your head into a smaller space…

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ELCOME to this, the second in my new series of columns entitled Living: made simple.

If you saw the first one, in the Dec/ Jan issue, you’ll know I’ve finally decided to pull together my thoughts and feelings about living a simpler (ie less consumerist, more sustainable) lifestyle into some sort of order.

Maybe you feel your own life is just too complex for comfort; or that what really matters to you has been buried under a truckload of consumerist ‘stuff’; or perhaps you’re frustrated that while most people agree our way of life is literally killing the planet, very few seem to want, or feel able, to do anything about it…

Surely, the only effective way to address all these issues must be a shift of values; a change in emphasis; a new direction.

But how to make it happen? Most political systems have handed over the real power to multi-national companies and the momentum of the capitalist machine feels unstoppable.

And nothing is more stultifying than a sense of powerlessness. Meanwhile, we’re being offered all manner of distractions and ‘time-sponge’ goodies to keep us occupied…

It is time to dust off that old aphorism, ‘Think globally, act locally’. And nothing is more local than you, the individual.

That is our strength: consumerism is made up of us, the individual consumers, and each one of us is armed with the only weapon truly feared by the Faceless Ones of Big Business: we can choose to be non-consumers. We can simply Not Buy Stuff.

If capitalism is the new politics, every purchase you make (or don’t make) is a vote. Make yours count.

Easy, eh? Well, no, of course not.

Lifestyles are habit-forming and the consumerist lifestyle comes with all sorts of (apparently) free sweeties to keep us tempted. Habits can be broken, though – if you want to break them. And the first thing you need are New Boundaries and New Rules.

This might seem something of an anathema to us free-thinking citizens of the universe who happily journey through life, stopping only when we choose to lie down in front of the establishment machine. We don’t need no rules, man!

Well, can I humbly suggest that some kind of framework is vital if we want to take a lot of the work out of change?

I’ve used this analogy before, but it’s worthy of repeat: think of it as a framework for growth (like a support for beans, for example) – you can send off shoots in all directions, explore all manner of things, but the central framework is there for you to return to, providing support. By establishing some ground rules to live by, it means you don’t have to debate all the issues every time you need to make a decision. It fits your plan, or it doesn’t fit your plan. Do it, or don’t do it.

Convinced? Let’s look at some specifics.

And we will come back to all of these (and many more) over the coming months/issues of Reconnect.

The freedom of boundaries We’re talking physical boundaries here.

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A simple example is that it’s much easier to limit how much ‘stuff’ you keep, buy, store and generally share your life with if you live in a small space. Then, when you’re considering buying something, you simply need to think ‘where would we put it?’ If something comes in, something else has to go out.

Keep (and buy) only what you need or love This one is based on the old William Morris saying: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. Well, that’s got rid of much that you got for Christmas. And may I suggest…

Give it away, give it away, give it away now…

One for Red Hot Chilli Peppers fans.

Nothing makes you feel better, or more effectively emphasises the true value of things, than giving away anything that does not meet your new needs. Fill up the charity shops, deluge the recycling centres and Freecycle (www.freecycle. org) until your ears bleed.

Control the media Oh yes, the capitalist system’s most deadly weapon – bombarding you with ads telling you what you need (only YOU know what you need) and soaking up your time until you have none left in which to create, explore or just play with your family. Turn it off. If you want to watch programmes, stream them when you want them. Then you are in control.

The borrowers Borrow books from the library (you can order them online) – they do audio books too. And share tools and equipment – with neighbours, friends and family, or through a community scheme.

Shop ‘til you drop the supermarkets Buy local (ideally from small, independent shops), seasonal (rediscover the joy of the first strawberry) and fresh (processed food feeds shareholders, not your body or soul).

Charity begins in the shops Shop regularly to catch the bargains (and satisfy your retail urges). You’ll find designer labels too if that’s your thing. And yes, I am aware of the irony around an alternative retail system that is fed by items discarded by the mainstream system. And I don’t care. Oh, and if you buy new, buy good quality and keep it.

I must now just slip in one of my wishywashy liberal smallprint disclaimers: in short, if this is for you, this is for you.

If you’re happy with your life the way it is, move right along. Turn over. The page, that is - unless you are in bed, in which case, just nod right off (and don’t have nightmares). This is life (and its increasingly rapid decline into oblivion) according to me. I don’t profess to have all the answers. Or even some of the questions. Hell, there’s a ‘Beware of the dogma’ sign on my gate…

But if it’s ringing a bell, touching a nerve or even just raising an eyebrow, read on – I promise to at least give you something to think about.

And finally, thanks to everyone who’s been in touch. I will include many of your thoughts in future issues, so keep them coming in. Email me at martinfoster4242@gmail.com.

New beginnings IF YOU are a regular reader or a long standing Totnesian, then you may well have heard of The International Macrobiotic School.

You may have even been on one of their popular Short Courses, or delved on a journey of Self Discovery with their longer Year Courses.

this course will do is give you an understanding of why Plant Based is best, and how you can implement this to fit in around your lifestyle, the time of year, and what is available to you. It is easy to eat Plant Based and still neglect your health. What one should be

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HE School has been run by the Principle Oliver Cowmeadow for over 20 years. Oliver comes from a background in Shiatsu and Oriental diagnosis, but has always had a passion for macrobiotics and felt this is where he wanted to put his energy. This is how The International Macrobiotic School was born!

At the end of 2018, Oliver realised his dream of moving the School from their previous premises to a beautiful house and gardens in Murtwell, near Diptford, just 5 miles from Totnes.

It meant that the School could finally build a state of the art, purpose built teaching Kitchen, to allow students the space and environment to be taught how to cook beautiful macrobiotic food.

This Spring sees the launch of their brand new School, and with it brand new Short Courses, to complement their full program of weekend courses, 5 day courses and the longer more in depth year courses. These courses will focus on many different topics including the hot word of the year ‘Plant Based’ Eating!

It is no denying that West is coming to the conclusion that Plant Based is the healthiest way to eat.

Not a day goes by without plant based being in the news, or on articles online. This month also sees the launch of the very popular ‘Veganuary’ and many Cafés and Restaurants now offer much more Plant Based options, than the veggie patty and chips of the past!

Plant Based food is tasty, exciting, and much more easily accessible then before.

It is a way of eating Oriental Medicine has been promoting for years and The International Macrobiotic School has been teaching since the start! What

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Murtwell House aiming for is balance. Macrobiotics teaches a truly holistic way of eating, and this is why it can be so beneficial to peoples health and general well being.

So perhaps you are interested in eating more Plant Based, or you have already implemented this lifestyle. Or maybe you suffer from a particular ailment that you would like some support with. IMS has many courses to suit every individual.

If you would like to be some of the first students to use the brand new School, then please visit their website www.macroschool.co.uk for more information. They will also be hosting an Open Day in early March, and once a month Evening Plant Based meals, hosted by different teachers from the School. For recipes, health tips, new courses and news please like their Facebook page ‘Macro School’.

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CEO Andy Moreman and Manager of YD at Number Three Wendy Arscott.

NEWS&views

Supporting young lives in Devon

Seeking Spirited Singers Local composer Steve Banks is looking for choral singers to perform “Unitas Multiplex”, a ground-breaking oratorio he has written for choir, soloists, and orchestra.

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NEW café in Totnes is the latest venture for a charity that has been going for 70 years this year, making a difference to the lives of young people across Devon.

Young Devon at Number 3 is located on Fore Street. Open since November, it is a café selling a range of home-cooked lunches, breakfasts, snacks and cakes but from March it will also open in the evening with a gourmet menu.

Young Devon began life as Devon Youth Association, supporting youth clubs and youth work. Today it houses 150 young people every night who would otherwise be at risk of homelessness. It operates houses for young people with high needs through to those who are close to being able to live independently.

All of the young people have experienced some degree of crisis, trauma or chaos in their lives.

The charity runs a therapeutic project for young people who have been through the care system. The aim is to build resilience and coping skills.

It also provides access to early help for young people with mental health problems. At any one time it is supporting between 200 and 250 young people with some kind of mental health needs via group work, one to one counselling, or its victim support programme for

He is also looking for philanthropic support to help finance the world premiere of the piece.

More info, mp3’s, vocal scores at

www.stevebanks.info young victims of crime. The service is funded by Public Health and the CCG but is almost constantly under threat from a loss of funding.

Chief Executive, Andy Moreman said: “Last year we provided counselling to 2,500 young people.

If we have to close these young people will lose access to this support and many will end up at CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service), putting additional pressure on the NHS.” Young Devon also supports young people into training and education, specifically those who are excluded from school or who cannot cope with a conventional learning environment.

The need for Young Devon’s services is growing. Andy said: “Increasing numbers of young people are going through chaotic and difficult times.

Families are under stress.

Whatever people say about austerity, it is the families who are already vulnerable have been hit hardest.

Many have been pushed to breaking point.”

Visit Young Devon at Number 3, Fore Street, Totnes.

Photo Scot Baston, Zooming Feet Photography

A free party of Devon food and music SOUTH Devon’s best food and music talent will be showcased at the seventh annual Kingsbridge Food & Music Festival, running May 31- June 2 to raise funds for local charities.

A firm favourite in the South Hams events calendar, the free party showcases the eclectic mix of local produce and home-grown music talent from the region.

Set on the waterside quay and town bandstand, the familyfriendly festival music line-up is still under-wraps. Expect the usual diverse selection of sounds, plus a wide range of delicious treats, artisan coffee makers, local wines,

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ciders and a cocktail bar.

This family friendly event also has plenty of activities to keep the kids occupied.

For the latest visit www. kingsbridgefoodandmusic. org or www.facebook.com/ kingsbridgefoodandmusic

Tel: 01803 875364 / sales@fabricbands.com

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For all your CBD Oil • Capsules • Hemp Tea • Hemp Honey

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festivals & shows

Happy crowds at Torbay’s Occombe Festival.

WELCOME... To our festival special AS usual Reconnect brings together everything festival related including our pull out and keep festival diary of the best music, arts, and lifestyle festivals this summer.

Having survived those dark wintry months, we’re now looking forward to sunnier and warmer days and that means a weekend or two spent in green fields in sandals (not wellies) enjoying some live music or a fascinating talk.

Whilst many of our favourite events haven’t announced their line-ups yet, we don’t think that’s as important as the vibe. We hope these pages inspire you to buy a ticket or two, and we’ll keep you updated as festivals reveal more about who they have billed. For instance, we are pretty sure the Levellers will be back at Beautiful Days, but no idea yet who else will be there to entertain us.

If we have missed a festival which you know Reconnect readers would just love, you know what to do - email us at editor@reconnectonline.co.uk and we’ll blab it allover South Devon in the April/May issue.

Sing and dance under the stars

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UDDHAFIELD Festival is the favourite event of the summer for many in Reconnectland.

The joyful gathering of around 4,000 people celebrating community and connection with the land takes place on July 17-21 at a peaceful location near Taunton, in Somerset.

The weekend of song, dance, arts and crafts, yoga, live music, meditation and play blend together without drink or drugs to create a loving and life-affirming space.

The event offers Buddhist teaching, workshops and ritual under sun and stars. However, it’s all inclusive, family-friendly and open to everyone, however you practice.

Buddhafield‘s Sarah Soak said: “We offer a full programme of activities, including the teaching, discussion and study of Buddhism and meditation in the Dharma Parlour and Meditation Space. If

it’s relaxation you’re looking for, take your ease in one of a number of vegan cafes, whilst waiting for one of our extensive range of workshops to start.

“There’s a full performance programme of music and cabaret.

We have a set of specialist Areas and Spaces including Permaculture, Social Change, Women’s Space and a terrific Kids Area. Amongst the delights of healing and bodywork on offer, you could learn or practice Yoga, Tai Chi, Chi Gung, book a massage or investigate one of the dozens of other treatments.”

This year’s retreats and events theme is ‘Evolution or Extinction’ and will be explored in a programme of activities including the public rituals. l Find out more at www. buddhafield.com/buddhafieldfestival-2019

Good times that do good

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HE annual Occombe Festival returns on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 June. What started out as a celebration of local ales has evolved to include ciders and wine plus local foods and regional and national musical performers.

First launched 14 years ago, the event organised by Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust has grown in popularity and earned a reputation for being more than just a two day beer festival on a farm in South Devon.

Whilst originally organised as a beer festival, the key element now is the foot stomping, fist pumping musical line up of rock, pop and blues! Some of the top regional and national cover bands, alongside original artists too, will be on hand to get the farm rocking like never before! But the beer hasn’t been forgotten, it is still a massive part of the event with always over 40 varieties of ales and craft lager to sample.

There is always a wide assortment of festival foods such as gourmet burgers and hot dogs, handmade pizzas and noodles, all supplied by

local street food vendors on hand to provide much needed sustenance throughout the festival.

Occombe Festival is an essential fundraising event for organisers, Torbay Coast and Countryside Trust, which cares for a massive 1,750 acres of Torbay’s most beautiful natural places. These special places include Occombe Farm, Cockington Country Park and Berry Head National Nature Reserve and a host of wildlife friendly woodlands, meadows, stunning cliffs and coastlines.

All the profits from the festival go directly to the Trust to help care for and maintain these sites in Torbay; providing places for public enjoyment, recreation and habitat for wildlife. Just collecting litter from their sites costs over £25,000 per year! So, the Occombe Festival really is all about ‘Good times that do good’! l To find out more about the Trust, its work and about Occombe Festival, visit www.countryside-trust. org.uk or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Holistic wellbeing and natural crafts festival

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The region’s biggest literary festival returns in July WAYS With Words Festival of Words and Ideas, the region’s biggest literary festival, returns to Dartington Hall on July 5-15.

The 10-day event always offers a chance for those who read books to meet those who write them in a glorious setting where the pleasure and power of language and ideas is shared.

Both the written and the spoken word will be celebrated and along with topics covering fiction, biography, history, art and science expect also an emphasis on how to make and live more satisfying lives.

Next year’s programme of politicians, journalists and writers will be available in May. For more information visit www.wayswithwords.co.uk

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N May 19 and 20 Rainbow’s End will be presenting its seventh Festival at the Civic Hall in Totnes. Doors open at 10.00am and close at 5.00pm, and there is no charge for entry although a donation to the Rainbow’s End charity would be appreciated.

The charity’s purpose is to make alternative therapies and the teaching of them as widely available as possible.

The organisers, Sandi and Mike Mayes, are international healers and mediums who live and work in Cornwall and abroad. They like to offer an interesting variety of stalls selling a wide selection of natural craft items as well as beautiful crystals, unique music, aura photography and interesting natural health products. Also taking part will be therapists, healers and readers representing both traditional and innovative treatments and types of healings and readings. There will be a readers’ bookings desk so that

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appointments can be made with the various readers rather than waiting around until a reader is available – the readers are situated in one area which is separate from the main hall space in order to offer as much privacy as possible.

Over forty exhibitors will be taking part so there will be plenty to see and experience – also the Town Market will be taking place on the Saturday in the Market Square below the Civic Hall, and the Totnes Good Food Fair will be there on the Sunday, so there is plenty to fill your weekend.

On each day of the Festival there will be a free programme of talks, workshops and demonstrations taking place in a separate room – the programme will be published on the Facebook page nearer the time – it will include crystal workshops, demonstrations of mediumship and talks about clairvoyance, trance and deep energy healing.

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An exciting time as plans are unfurled for a week-long Exeter Pride 2019.

DadFest is back for a sixth year

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Flying the flag for Exeter Pride

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RUSTEES and volunteers working hard behind the scenes are proud to announce that Exeter Pride in 2019 will take place on Saturday, May 11 and will be part of a wider week of events in the city.

Exeter Pride is one of the South West’s biggest celebrations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and questioning plus (LGBTQ+) communities, and one of the biggest free Pride events in the country.

It is a key annual event in Exeter’s calendar and exciting plans for the 11th annual event include a colourful rainbow flag march through Exeter; volunteers are wanted to help carry the enormous 50-metre rainbow flag.

The march will include a fire engine, an ambulance, a police car, dancers, music and much more.

Representatives from community groups and organisations as well as individuals will also be taking part to show their support.

The Lord Mayor of Exeter, Councillor Rob Hannaford, will lead the parade and will officially open the main stage at the end of the march.

Entertainment will include live bands and cabaret acts on two stages and there will be a marketplace with more than 80 stalls.

There will also be a health zone, family zone, workshops, film shows, panel debates, trans workshop, ceilidh and much more.

There will be information and advice from local, national and international organisations, as well as demonstrations and fun activities.

Adam Rank, chair of Exeter Pride committee, said: “Exeter Pride is a celebration of the city and county’s LGBTQ+ communities.

“It is about us having pride in our contributions to not just a vibrant and diverse city, but all of Devon and the city and county having pride in us.”

He added: “Exeter Pride would not be possible without generous donations from local businesses, organisations and individuals and the fundraising efforts of volunteers.

“We are currently welcoming approaches from those who would like to get involved as volunteers, have a stall or be a partner or sponsor.”

To get in touch, email Adam: chair@ exeterpride.co.uk .

Alan Quick, the co-founder of Exeter Pride, said he was delighted how the annual event had grown since the very first Pride in the city in 2009.

He extended thanks to all those who had supported Exeter Pride since it began.

He said: “Without the support of previous trustees, volunteers, committee members, sponsors, partners and other supporters, as well as those currently involved, Exeter Pride would not be the tremendous annual event it is now.

“Year-on-year it has grown thanks to the active involvement of so many people.

“Those people have helped Exeter Pride fulfil its aims, to promote equality and diversity for the public benefit and in particular the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity through awarenessraising, advancing community education, and by holding an annual LGBTQ+ festival.

“Whilst Exeter Pride is a celebration of how far we have come with regards to equality, the charity is also keen to recognise and to educate on LGBTQ+ history, contributions to culture, and raise awareness of on-going LGBTQ+ struggles in the UK and further afield.” l For further information, visit the website: www.exeterpride.co.uk or follow on Twitter: @exeterpride or Facebook: Facebook.com/ exeterpride.

HE award-winning DadFest is back in 2019 - its sixth year.

DadFest is a weekend packed full of fun activities for dads /male carers and their children. It takes place at the wonderful Forest & Beach Outdoor Education Centre in Beeson, South Devon. This dedicated Forest School site, which overlooks the sea and is surrounded by fields, has its own woods, campsite, barn and facilities. You can come and enjoy loads of great activities from campfire cooking and playing in the mud kitchen, to archery and learning bushcraft skills. DadFest is also home to The Official World Dad Dancing Championship, an event which can see dad shoot to global stardom.

DadFest, which won a national award for the country’s ‘Best Small Festival’, takes place on 13-14-15 September 2019. Children of all ages are welcome to come with their dad and tickets will be on sale from June. DadFest tickets cover all the activities, so once on site

there is nothing else to pay. There is also the option of getting an all-inclusive food and drink ticket as well which covers everyone’s meals and drinks for the whole weekend.

Please note this event is a small festival with limited capacity and it always books up very quickly, so register your interest before June to ensure you don’t miss out. www. dangerousdads.org.uk/dadfest l DadFest Devon will be September 13-15 2019 at Forest & Beach as usual Monthly events: Sat Feb 9 - Silly Science & Water Rockets. at The Barn, Kit Hill, Barne Barton. Plymouth. 1-4pm. FREE. Sat Feb 23 - Silly Science & Water Rockets. at Daisy Children’s Centre, next to St John’s School, Totnes. 1-4pm.

FREE. Sat March 23 - Make Mother’s Day gifts. at The Barn, Kit Hill, Barne Barton. Plymouth. 1-4pm. FREE.

Celebrate summer at Sharpham’s open day THIS year’s Summer Open Day at Sharpham will take place on Sunday June 30, running from 10.30am to 4pm Join Sharpham for a packed day of activities and the chance to enjoy the splendour of Sharpham House and Gardens at their Summer Celebration Open Day. The Summer Open Day also includes a host of activities for all the family including arts and crafts, music, storytelling, nature walks, talks & tours, mindfulness workshops and a beer tent.

The historic Grade 1-listed Sharpham

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House and Gardens will be open for people to explore. Free entry, although there’s a charge for parking. See www. sharphamtrust.org

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festivals HERE in Reconnectland we have some of the best festivals in the country, there’s so much arts, music, food, and lifestyle events every weekend.

Here are some of our recommendations throughout this year. We’ll continue to highlight a few of the local gems in future issues.

Don’t forget to pack your wellies...

University of Plymouth’s Contemporary Music Festival February 22-24 Plymouth University Formerly known as Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival.

Glastonbury Calling February 22-23 Venues across Glastonbury Showcasing music from the west.

Teignmouth Classical Music Festival March 8-19 Venues across Teignmouth Featuring top local amateur and professional musicians.

Teignmouth & Dawlish Drama Festival March 14-16 Shaftesbury theatre, Dawlish The new name for the festival of one act plays.

Bodykind Festival May 3-4 Venues across Totnes The body positive event returns.

Brixham Pirate Festival May 4 Venues across Brixham Swashbuckling piratical fun.

Exeter Festival of South West Food & Drink May 4-6 Exeter Castle Food and drink from across the area with demonstrations, and after dark party nights.

Dart Music Festival May 10-12 Venues across Dartmouth 100 different acts preforming in more than 20 and free to attend.

Exeter Pride May 11 Venues across Exeter The 11th year of the biggest free celebration of the LGBT+ communities in the county.

Devon County Show May 16-18 Westpoint, Exeter You know what to expect, but will it rain?

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The Bath Festival May 17-26 Venues across Bath A new flagship multi-arts festival of music and literature.

Wood Ipsden, Oxfordshire May 17-19 A low impact family friendly festival.

Rainbow’s End Holistic Wellbeing and Natural Crafts Totnes Civic Hall May 18-19 Exhibitors, demonstrations, talks, and workshops.

Shindig Weekender May 23-26 A secret location, Somerset Returning for a fifth year to the countryside near Bath.

Art Week Exeter (TBC) May 23-29 Venues across Exeter International and homegrown artists, grassroots initiatives, cutting edge artists, and more.

Exmouth Festival (TBC) May 24 - 27 Imperial Recreation Ground, Exmouth At the time of going to press the final dates had not yet been announced.

The Cursus Cider & Music Festival May 24-26 near Sixpenny Handley, Cranborne Chase, Dorset Expect cider and eclectic music.

The Masked Ball May 24-26 Beacon Cragg, Porthleven Cornwall’s little gem of a themed electronic dance weekend for over 18s, happening near Looe.

Mad Hatters Music Festival May 24-26 The Gateway Theatre, Seaton Confirmed so far are Gong, Mugstar, and many more.

Sea Change Festival May 24-26 Venues across Totnes Drift Records organised events returns at a new time of year.

Festivaaaa

Here’s our pick of the festivals and

Mello Festival May 24-26 Hanley Castle, Worcestershire The fourth year of this chilled spring bank holiday event.

Bude & Stratton Folk Festival May 24-27 Venues across Bude, Cornwall A friendly mix of folk concerts, workshops and themed events with dance displays, music and song.

Kindred Spirits Festival May 25-26 Waterloo Farm, near Launceston in Cornwall Catering for a variety of musical tastes and genres.

BrixFest May 25-29 Venues across Brixham Featuring hundreds of artists, charities, chefs and local people.

Bath Fringe Festival May 25-June 12 Venues across Bath Music, dance, theatre, art, carnival and children’s events.

Love Saves The Day May 25-26 Eastville Park, Bristol A ‘love fuelled’ weekend of bands and DJs. Manifest May 29-June 2 Dunnbridge, Dartmoor A camp for males of all ages.

The Great Estate May 31-June 2 Scorrier House, Cornwall Returning for a third year of music, art, food, comedy and fashion.

Kingsbridge Food and Music Festival May 31-June 2 The Town Square, Kingsbridge The perfect blend of local food and live music – family friendly.

Wychwood Music Festival May 31-June 2 Cheltenham Racecourse One of our favourites, familyfriendly.

Newton Abbot Racecourse Wellbeing Show June 1 Racecourse, Newton Abbot All things wellbeing and wellness.

Frome Festival July 5-14 Venues across Frome, Somerset Music, drama, exhibitions, and more at this cultural feast.

This Earth Gathering June 6-9 A venue near Caddihoe, Exeter A gathering for women.

Lemonfest (TBC) June 7-8 Newton Abbot Racecourse The 10th year of the festival!

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The Craft Festival June 7-9 Mill Marsh Park, Bovey Tracey One of the highest acclaimed craft events in the UK. Exeter Respect Festival June 8-9 Belmont Park, Exeter A celebration of the richness of diversity in the city – music, food, dance, and more (no alcohol).

Anthropos June 13-18 In central England Anthropos is a new family friendly festival billed as a celebration of humanity throughout time.

Bradninch Festival June 7-9 Various venues Bradninch Showcasing new and local performers in all genres of music, theatre, arts and performance.

Occombe Farm Festival June 14-15 Occombe Farm, Paignton Torbay’s only festival on a working farm - beer, cider, music and food.

Altitude Festival June 14-15 Blackborough, Cullompton Returning after a fallow year with The Bluetones, Land of the Giants, and more.

Live In The Wyldes June 14-15 The Wyldes, Bude, Cornwall Featuring Fatboy Slim, Paul Weller, and many more.

Falmouth Sea Shanty Festival June 14-16 Venues across Falmouth Some of the best Shanty singers around fill pubs, bars, shops and stages across the town.

Lupton Holistic Festival June 15-16 Lupton House, Brixham A summer celebration with a villagelike atmosphere.

Stonehenge Summer Solstice June 18-21 Stonehenge, Wiltshire The 10th year of the festival at Stonehenge Campsite – celebrate the summer solstice at Stonehenge with sunrise at 4.52am on June 21.

The Shaldon Festival June 20-23 St Peter’s Church, Shaldon Quality classical music concerts in the village church.

3 Wishes Faery Fest June 21-23 Mount Edgecumbe, Cornwall A family friendly festival full of fun, music, and faeries obviously.

Oceanfest June 21-23 Croyde Bay Eco-projects and a celebration of the biosphere reserve also help to make it a festival with a conscience.

Teignmouth Folk Festival June 21-23 Venues across Teignmouth Line-up is TBA as we go to Exmouth Pride June 22 Venues across Exmouth LGBT Pride celebrating div Exmouth.

Axe Vale Show June 22-23 The Showground, Axmins The 25th year of food, dri plants and flowers and mo Glastonbury Festival June 26-29 Worthy Farm, Pilton, Some You may have heard of th it’s already sold out. Thoug are expected in April.

Goren Festival June 28-30 Goren Farm, Honiton The fourth annual festival o bands, locally sourced foo as extensive children’s ente and activities.

Let’s Rock Exeter June 29 Powderham Castle A day full of 80’s music w of Billy Ocean, Belinda Ca Go West.

The Rebel Film Festival June 29-30 Plymouth Arts Centre Plymouth Film Festival has into a new event hosting in films alongside the work o of the west.

Summer Open Day at The Trust June 30 Sharpham House, Ashring Sharpham House day of a all the family.

Sunday Sessions Exeter June 30 Powderham Castle A day full of music headlin Noel Gallagher’s High Fly Eden Sessions June-July Near St Austell, Cornwall Cornwall’s Eden Project sta annual sessions.

Exeter Craft Festival July 4-6 Cathedral Green, Exeter A celebration of artists & m based in the South West Glas-Denbury July 5-6 Fairfield Farm, Denbury Down to earth happy loca festival near Newton Abb Sark Folk Festival July 5-7 Venues across Sark, Chan Home-grown talent from th Islands as well as artists fro and France.

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SouthCider Festival July 5-8 Bredy Farm, Dorset A long weekend of simple camping, quality music, cider and food at austerity busting prices.

Ways With Words Festival July 5-15 Dartington Hall, Totnes The internationally famous literary festival right on our doorstep.

2000trees Festival July 11-13 Upcote Farm, Gloucestershire Showcasing the underground British music scene.

Wonder Fields July 12-15 Dunsford Small family music festival.

Budleigh Salterton Festival July 12-20 Venues across Budleigh Salterton For lovers of serious and classical music.

Tunes on the Sands July 12-14 Blackpool Sands, Dartmouth A new festival promising major national & international artists.

OUT West Festival July 12-14 Secret outdoor location, near West Ashton, Wiltshire Expect local, national and international acts.

Tropical Pressure Festival July 12-14 Mount Pleasant Eco Park, Porthtowan, Cornwall Expect live music from world artists, dance and craft workshops, and 100% vegetarian with a World Street Food Market.

Buddhafield Festival July 17-21 Near Taunton, Somerset An intimate and joyful gathering celebrating community and connection with the land.

Larmer Tree Festival July 18-21 Lamer Tree Gardens, Dorset Music, workshops, theatre and talks, site art and a dedicated kids’ zone.

World Yoga Festival July 18-21 Beale Park, Reading The ultimate yoga retreat-meetscamping festival experience.

Seed Festival - Planting Big Ideas July 19-21 Hawkwood College, Stroud Celebrates courageous leadership, creative expression and innovation in partnership with our natural world.

Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival July 19-21 Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, Dorset Top up your activism with seminars, talks, and music.

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Chagstock July 19-20 Whiddon Down, Chagford A family friendly music festival set in open fields on the north edge of Dartmoor.

Godney Gathering July 20 Garslade Farm, Godney, Somerset A nice day out with multiple stages in Somerset.

Camp Bestival July 24-28 Lulworth Castle, Dorset A family friendly festival.

Port Eliot Festival July 25-28 Port Eliot Estate, St Germans, just in Cornwall Offers an impressive range of cultural delights in lovely setting.

WOMAD July 25-28 Charlton Park , Malmesbury, Wiltshire A favourite not-too-far away festival for Reconnect readers.

Kozfest July 26-28 Bobbie Watts Farm, Uffculme Imagine a Kozmik festival where everything is but a 30 second walk away…

Leopallooza July 26-28 The Wyldes, Bude, Cornwall Often showcases acts before they hit the big time, plus bands and DJs from around the world.

Lapstock (TBC) July 27-28 Lapford Mill, Lapford Small village festival – and all the better for it.

Honiton Show August 1 Gittisham, Honiton Local farming, produce, crafts and rural skills.

The Green Gathering August 1-4 Piercefield Park, Wales Off grid festival powered by wind, sun, and people.

Outcider Festival August 2-4 Fern Hill Farm, Compton Martin, Somerset Just eclectic music, local cider, ale, food, and a good time.

Sidmouth Folk Festival August 2-9 Venues across Sidmouth Offers more than 700 diverse events with Steve Knightley, Richard Thompson, Peatbog Faeries, Seth Lakeman, Julie Fowlis, and more.

Creation Fest August 3-9 Royal Cornwall Showground, Wadebridge Free Christian event with music, seminars, workshops, sports and family activities.

Boomtown Fair August 7-11 Matterley Estate, Hampshire A city of music, theatre, escapism, community and creativity.

Boardmasters August 7-11 Newquay, Cornwall Big commercial festival which actually has a decent spirit.

Love Summer Festival August 7-11 A secret location, Plymouth A clean, safe, fun, family event in a secret South Devon meadow.

Off Grid Festival August 8-11 Tapeley Park, Instow A 100% participatory off grid green event that’s close to Reconnect’s heart.

Dartmoor Folk Festival August 9-11 South Zeal, Dartmoor Small festival near Okehampton celebrating their 42nd year.

Plymouth Pride August 10 (TBA) Venues across Plymouth Celebrating and promoting the city’s diversity and talent.

The Green Man Festival August 15-18 Glanusk Park, Wales Expect a strong line-up and lots of interesting other stuff on the programme.

Beautiful Days August 16-18 Escot Park, Talaton Levellers own festival sells out every year and justifiably.

Cornwall Folk Festival August 22-26 Wadebridge, Cornwall The Unthanks, Steve Knightley, Granny’s Attic, Midnight Skyracer and Wizz Jones headline.

Shambala August 22-25 Northamptonshire This lovely family friendly festival used to be held in Devon.

Watchet Live Festival August 23-25 Watchet, Somerset A personal favourite.

End of the Road Festival August 29-September 1 Lamer Tree Gardens, Dorset The perfect end to the outdoor festival season.

Nourish August 31 Venues across Bovey Tracey A festival of music, craft and food.

Totnes Pride September 7 Venues across Totnes The UK’s largest rural pride event.

International Agatha Christie Festival September 12-15 Torre Abbey, Torquay For Agatha Christie purists and literary fans.

DadFest September 13-15 Forest & Beach Centre, Beeson For dangerous dads, grandfathers, male carers and their children.

Rainbow’s End Holistic Wellbeing and Natural Crafts Totnes Civic Hall September 14-15 Exhibitors, demonstrations, talks, and workshops.

Seafood FEAST September 20-October 6 Across Torbay Celebrating England’s Seafood Coast.

Two Moors Festival October 11-20 Venues across Dartmoor Classical music gigs in venues across Dartmoor and Exmoor.

Dartmouth Food Festival October 18-20 Venues across Dartmouth A free foodie event.

Newton Abbot Racecourse Wellbeing Show November 2 Racecourse, Newton Abbot Dedicated to all things wellbeing and wellness.

House of Fun Weekender November 29-December 1 Butlins Minehead, Somerset A celebration of the nutty boys Madness. l ANYTHING TO ADD? Tell us about your favourite festival – email us at editor@ reconnectonline.co.uk

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festivals & shows

The iconic River Tiddy viaduct at Cornwall’s Port Eliot Festival.

Sea Change announces first raft of acts

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E’VE been a fan of Sea Change since it first beached on these shores in 2016. Curated and presented by Drift Record Shop, Sea Change is a festival based in Totnes and has moved dates to the late May bank holiday weekend (May 24-26).

Just as we were going to press the organisers contacted us to reveal the first acts to be announced, and we’re delighted to see they include local boy Joe Mount’s band Metronomy headlining Dartington Hall Gardens on Friday. He last appeared at the festival with a surprise DJ set at the inaugural Sea Change weekend.

Trio The Comet Is Coming featuring saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings (Sons Of Kemet) are in place for Saturday night.

Drift named Earth Recordings’ ‘Bagpuss’ the soundtrack release of the year in their Deluxe Top 100 Records 2018, prompting it to regularly spill from the speakers here at Reconnect towers.

We are happy as playful organ mice that Bagpuss will be in the window at Sea Change along with Madeleine and Gabriel musicians Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner who will be performing those beautiful songs live.

Comedian and writer Stewart Lee and director Michael Cumming bring an exclusive first preview of their documentary King Rocker, with a full panel talk and live show from The Nightingales. Moshi Moshi, Fire Records, Earth Recordings, and 4AD join creative partners Heavenly Recordings, Bella Union, Erased Tapes, Rough Trade Books, Mute, and The Quietus who will present a late-night set from Gazelle Twin (and gave her album the top slot in their top 10).

Our favourite venue, the beautiful

Port Eliot: a festival that’s worth exploring

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15th-century St Mary’s Church, will host two collaborations: Hanna Peel with poet Will Burns, and Field Music’s Peter Brewis and Admiral Fallow’s Sarah Hayes (as You Tell Me).

Dutch 4-piece Pip Blom and TVAM complete the first raft acts announced.

Sea Change founder, Rupert Morrison, said: “For our fourth edition, we drew up a list of our most favourite friends and artists and went for broke... we just asked them and we’re still pinching ourselves that we convinced Metronomy to come and play a massive homecoming show on the Sea Change stage.

I guess we’re doing something right, maybe we’re just doing something different? Shabaka Hutchings’ saxophone has been a huge part of our last 18 months, as have numerous of Stewart Lee’s incendiary pearls of wisdom... and as for the saggy old cloth cat... Sea Change IV is already shaping up to be our dream line up. As ever, there is plenty more to come!”

Tickets are on sale now, see you there. Visit Drift Records or www. seachangefestival.co.uk

HE editor’s daughter Zelah Williams spent her summers growing up at festivals when her father worked in that field. She’s rather more used to those mammoth events like Glastonbury, Reading, the Isle Of Wight, and WOMAD. How would Zelah and her partner take to the much cozier Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall? We packed them off over the Tamar to find out.

We wondered whether one of our favourite local events that’s much less crowded and much, much smaller would still appeal just as much to them both. How were we to know the heavens would open?

Zelah was happy to report that despite it being on one of the few grey, drizzly weekends of a scorching hot summer, Port Eliot Festival 2018 was for her “a glorious weekend.”

The thing with many of the big festivals, is most of the festival is the crowd and the big stages. It took a little while for them both to realize that this was a festival where it’s best to explore.

Zelah reported back: “At first we sampled the main arena area, but a trip into the woods revealed hidden bars, delicious food stalls and fantastic literary readings and discussions. Strolling further through the woods towards the estuary meant that we could enjoy the musical delights from the

Caught By The River stage, whilst sitting watching those braver than ourselves take part in Paddleboard Yoga out on the water.”

The pair also realised, here was a festival where there’s so much more than just the music. Zelah added: “We also took the opportunity to learn more about letterpress printing from the wonderful team at The Letterpress Collective. The evening was when we really felt Port Eliot come to life. We were fascinated by the knife making demos at The Forge from Alex Pole Ironwork, which was paired with culinary delights from Valentine Warner.

Then venturing back into the woods we found following the warm glow of festoon lights lead the way to the fire of The Black Cow Saloon.”

So, what was her final verdict?

“Port Eliot is truly a magical festival and a treat for all, whatever your age or your passion, you’re sure to leave Port Eliot feeling relaxed, refreshed and revitalised.”

We couldn’t have put it better ourselves. See porteliotfestival.com

Sidmouth Folk Festival celebrates their sapphire anniversary THIS year sees The Sidmouth Folk Festival, happening from August 2-9, celebrate their 65th anniversary.

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HE local folk festival has been championing traditional music, dance and song every year since 1955, and become a living, breathing tradition in itself, recognised as a cultural highlight in our South West regional calendar and acknowledged as a national treasure by festival-goers from across the country and the wider world.

The festival has also marked its significant birthday with a name change – dropping the Week and adding Festival. Their evening concerts headliners include Steve Knightley & Friends in Fifty Shades of Sidmouth - tracing Steve’s musical journey from apprentice to patron, and from beach busker to Ham headliner - topping the bill along with Richard Thompson, The Spooky Men’s Chorale, Julie Fowlis, Flook, Le Vent Du Nord, Lisa O’Neill, Lady Maisery, Belshazzar’s Feast and many more. Plus there are pre-festival special concerts with Lindisfarne and Ralph McTell.

Daytime and evening concerts feature Peatbog Faeries, Seth Lakeman, The Young ‘Uns: The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff, Martin Simpson, Sam Sweeney’s The Unfinished Violin, Hannah James’

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JigDoll Ensemble, Nancy Kerr & James Fagan, Topette, Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys, a 10th anniversary Blackbeard’s Tea Party Bulverton take-over, and much more.

What makes Sidmouth so special is the wide range of small events offering opportunities to see festival guests on concert stages in more intimate settings and a wide range of storytelling and poetry events.

Some of the special shows through the week include The Road to Peterloo with Pete Coe, Laura Smyth & Brian Peters; Debs Newbold’s King Lear Retold and Rowan Rheingans’ Dispatches On the Red Dress.

Plus Ceilidhs with Whapweasel, Token Women, Banter, The Committee Band, Threepenny Bit, Out Of Hand, Kirkophany, The Gloworms, Tautas Roks and Blackbeard’s Tea Party. There’s more dance from around the world with Playford Balls, American Dances, a Scandi Night, an Irish Set Dance Ceilidh, Contra and workshops including Bhangra and Bollywood with Avtar Indian Dance.

The festival offers a huge workshop programme with opportunities to learn and develop skills in a huge variety of music, dance and song styles within a safe and welcoming community of teachers and learners.

One of our favourite parts is Blackmore Gardens,

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Richard Thompson home to the Children’s Festival and packed with opportunities for music, dance, song, making things, and seeing fantastic shows. We always enjoy the great atmosphere in the hub of the Children’s Festival where they host family ceilidhs, storytelling, puppetry, circus, songs and more.

There’s another anniversary to celebrate as the youth part of the festival, Shooting Roots, turns 25.

It also offers a great assortment of craft, dance, theatre and band workshops for 12-17 year olds.

The town will also be awash with an array of dance teams, workshops and special events.

Just thinking about it is making summer seem that bit nearer.

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festivals & shows Festival celebrates our natural world

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AWKWOOD’s Seed Festival celebrates courageous leadership, creative expression and innovation in partnership with our natural world.

This year’s focus is on Action, spurred on by the IPCC Report and inspired by movements like Extinction Rebellion; we no longer have the luxury of just talking about it. As we are at a crossroads, and with growing environmental and political challenges around the world, there has perhaps never been a more crucial time to come together and act with our future, and the planet in mind.

With over 100 contributors, workshops, activities and exhibitions over the weekend in the Cotswolds, Seed Festival provides a fertile ground for festival-goers to explore their own personal connection to the earth and the challenges of environmental change through music, poetry, debate, nature and community connection.

Celebrating and protecting our environment is central to the ethos of Hawkwood and our grounds with onsite biodynamic farm,

www.dangerousdads.org.uk/dadfest September 13th, 14th & 15th

DadFest2019

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Location: ‘Forest & Beach’, Beeson, South Devon. TQ7 2ED Awarded ‘Best Small Event in the UK’ & the only festival just for dads/ male carers and their children

campfire pancakes  archery  water rockets  pig racing spoon carving  bushcraft  star-gazing  mackerel fishing mud kitchen  kids entertainer  live music  kids' tattoos

drumming workshop  dad choir  stroke a lobster  fake wounds  award-winning local food & beers  & more...

Official 2019 World Dad Dancing Championship

starts Fri. 13th Sept - ends Sun. 15th Sept woodland, natural spring and gardens provide an ideal setting for planting big ideas. We are proud to organise and host this weekend in partnership with Seed Idea that acts as a catalyst for action, activism and creative expression. l Earlybird tickets including camping and parking are only £88. l For more information and to book tickets go to www. seedfestival.co.uk

DadFest2019 tickets must be bought in advance

Children £tbc Dads/ male carers: £tbc

+ option food ticket for the weekend + option food ticket for the weekend

DadFest Ticket = all weekend activities: no other costs Add a food ticket = six great meals & all cold/ hot drinks!

Concessions available - please contact the organisers Book early: 077317 95160 info@dangerousdads.org.uk

Best Small Event in the UK 2015

Wristbands for all occasions

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HIS part of the world is blessed to woven bands can offer UV yarn (glow have so many festivals happening under UV light) and lurex (metallic in our region. These have created – shiny gold or silver). Woven are a wealth of local businesses that David’s personal favourite: “but it all provideTel: the infrastructure for these / sales@fabricbands.com depends on what you want showing 01803 875364 events. Over the years, festival on the band which ultimately decides wristbands have grown in popularity which one to choose.” and are now a colourful keepsake “There will be some new product for many; a reminder of a wonderful developments due for 2019 such as weekend escape. glow in the dark yarn, reflective and This issue we feature one such eco-friendly printed bands, so sign up local business: FabricBands.com for email alerts via the website www. are located in the countryside just fabricbands.com to be kept up to date. outside of Torbay and specialise in The eco-friendly bands David wristbands for any and all occasions. and team supply are made from Fabric wristbands, often called a material called rPET which is festival wristbands, are appropriately recycled polyester, or to most enough popular with festivals. They people, mainly recycled plastic are popular because they are tough water bottles. Although this is a and durable and the perfect solution great leap forward for wristbands, for admission control, especially as the bands themselves cannot be they can last for a long duration. recycled again, but this is the nearest option they have in the Fabricbands’ David Daly said: industry to an eco-friendly wristband. ”It’s not uncommon to find people The rPET bands will be available as wearing last year’s festival band as the printed option only. often they are kept on as a band of honour. For this reason, they make David added: “Although the an ideal marketing tool so keep some website concentrates on fabric space on the band for your sponsor. festival wristbands we can also If you need wristbands for your event offer other varieties of bands such you now know where to come and as Tyvek/Vinyl and let’s not forget keep it local.” some lanyards too! Keep it local Fabric wristbands are supplied in two my west country chums and enjoy styles: either woven or printed. Printed the bounty of amazing festivals available in our region.” offers a full colour option and the

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Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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Photograph by Eleanor Bentall (rspb-images.com)

shoreline

Capturing life on the ocean waves PLYMOUTH based photographer Tony Fitzsimmons’ tales of capturing life at sea last featured in issue 54. We catch up with him this issue as he travels to the Falklands.

AS career paths and opportunities go post-graduation, I felt I had jumped well ahead of myself and my five year plan.

The commission with the Marine Stewardship Council was an incredible opportunity; to be flown to the other side of the world to document Patagonian Toothfish operations onboard a 60 metre Falklands Longliner, with southern Atlantic and sub Antarctic waters as my backdrop, it was certainly a far cry from my usual destination and method of getting to Penzance.

During my time as a photographer, I had strived to maintain a conscientious reasoning behind my work; to educate myself in regards to a series of lives and livelihoods that not many of us will ever experience firsthand, and in doing so, hopefully somewhat later on down the line, I could

apply this knowledge of what I had learned to others.

Covering the many individuals and occupations like fishing often taken for granted and unrepresented via social and media channels, despite the interaction and impact that they have on our daily affairs. This commission represented a huge leap in being able to take my work much further.

It wasn’t all plain sailing though.

While I had now logged three months on UK and Irish waters since beginning my candid look into the fishing industry, the most I had ever spent in one given stretch was eight days on a single vessel. With the entirety of September onboard the CFL Hunter as part of the proposal, on waters as harsh and cold as they were unfamiliar, my physical and mental state was certainly going to be tested. It also meant being away from my girls (five beautiful ex-battery hens).

Watching the project slowly take shape through a series of daily emails and weekly conference calls via myself, the

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MSC and CFL (Consolidated Fisheries Limited, the company that owned the fishing vessel I would be boarding) made me appreciate just how lucky I was.

What these two companies were trying to achieve was no small feat in the slightest; with so many logistical hurdles to consider then overcome, and all very exciting throughout. With a range of new camera equipment recently purchased, including a GoPro, I felt more than ready for my journey to begin.

Flying out from one RAF base to another, the latter situated on the other side of the world, was never going to be a simple task, especially when the destination was continually beset with windy conditions that over the last year had delayed more flights than the military and Falkland civilians probably would care to mention.

It was a little different than flying Flybe out of Exeter to say the least.

After a week at home waiting, I received a green light for the Sunday night flight out of RAF Brize Norton and I made my way to Oxford. The short version of this tale was once there and a few hours before boarding, the flight was delayed till Monday night. Then Tuesday.

Wednesday, until finally I was off on an early Friday morning packed to the rafters military grey Airbus A380.

It was hard to complain though.

Staying for almost a week within an RAF base was definitely one to tick off the bucket list. Huge military transport planes and bombers flew over daily with an unrivalled roar and grace, and while I didn’t have access to large portions of the base like those that were stationed here, there was never really a dull moment.

Eventually my flight left and I touched down at RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falklands, a place my late father knew all too well. l You can view my Life at Sea series so far at www. tonyfitzsimmons.com

Give nature a home this spring

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T’S National Nestbox Week from 14-21 February, led by the British Trust of Ornithology (BTO). So this month is the perfect opportunity to ensure your garden is nestbox ready in time for the start of the busy breeding season from the end of March.

Many natural nest sites have sadly been lost with the removal of hedges in favour of fences, the loss of trees, and modern building preferences that don’t feature eaves – nest sites for starlings, swallows, and our declining house sparrows. By putting up a nestbox you are giving nature a home, and for me, there’s nothing more rewarding than watching your feathered friends start to explore their new pad, hopefully feather a nest, and raise their young right in front of you.

Warm, fuzzy feelings guaranteed and a fantastic way to connect with nature, especially for children.

Size Matters!

Nestboxes come in different shapes and sizes depending on the species – for example robins and wrens like an open fronted box, positioned low down and hidden in either a tree, shrub or bush. Whereas sparrows, tits and starlings like their closed-box homes fixed five meters up a wall or tree.

So before you pick your perfect nestbox, familiarise yourself with your local birdlife and choose one to suit the feathered friends that share your home.

Remember also that different species need different sized entrance holes, enabling them to enter their home, but crucially keeping predators out. l 25 mm coal tits, marsh tits and blue tits l 28 mm great tits and tree sparrows l 32 mm nuthatches and house sparrows l Starlings – their boxes should be 25-30% larger with an entrance measuring 45 mm l The bottom of the entrance hole should be at least 125 mm from the floor – to prevent chicks falling out or cats getting a paw in.

If you fancy making your own nestbox here’s our step-by-step guide: http://bit.ly/2P4mZaL Or visit our RSPB Shop at Darts Farm in Topsham, where they have a full range of readymade bird homes, just waiting to be moved into.

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RSPB’s Morwenna Alldis encourages us to celebrate National Nestbox Week by giving our local birds a home this Spring.

Photograph by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com) Think minimalism over chintz Whilst there are some very decorative nestboxes on the market they’re not the most practical for our feathered friends and can put birds off. The more inconspicuous the better, so avoid bright colours, make sure the box is made from sturdy material (it needs to support weight), no perch inside, and nestboxes shouldn’t be too smooth on the outside as this makes them slippery for young birds to get out.

Location, location, location The position of your nestbox is key.

Face your box north and east to avoid strong sunlight and the wettest winds. Also angle the box forwards slightly so that rain hits the roof and bounces off.

Ensure the birds have a clear flight path to the nestbox entrance without any trees or washing lines in the way – allowing them easy access to their home and a quick, safe escape route should they feel threatened.

Don’t position nestboxes of the same type too close together as this may spark aggressive behaviour between more boisterous neighbours!

Keep a lid on it Finally, when you flip the ‘Vacant’ sign on your nestbox, remember to give the new tenants total privacy – no lifting the lid or putting an eye to the entrance hole (you wouldn’t want a giant peering through your window). Instead, sit back and enjoy giving nature a home from a distance.

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YESTERMORROW

Local Exmouth author is visioning tomorrow LOCAL author Noel Harrower, who lives in Exmouth, revealed to Reconnect the inspiration behind his latest novel.

a cluster-housing scheme, those who chose this way of life might wish to volunteer using their skills in many ways.

Despite the threats from climate-change, many people would not readily agree to all this, of course, T WAS Robert but others would.

Lowell who Noel Harrower Perhaps the best way used the phrase to spread these ideas ‘In dreams begin is to write a novel. Where will I set responsibilities.’ The world we live the story? Right here in Devon, but in is full of challenges, and there I’ve chosen to retire by the sea in the are too many dystopian novels to west country. Midland urban cities inspire hope. This set me thinking pose greater pollution problems, that, as a member of a transition town group, perhaps I should try so I’ll write about them too. My visioning a better way of living characters can go on exchange together. visits and discover how others are managing their lives through the I looked out of my front room stormy days that lie ahead. window and saw a suburban street cluttered with parked cars, many in To build a better tomorrow, we former front gardens. What would need to learn from the past, so it be like, if the road were closed my wife, Jenny, gave me the title to traffic and all the gardens YESTERMORROW. I’m changing were turned into a common plot, the geography and place names where we could grow our own but, as the story grows the food. There could be an area for characters are taking over, and children to play and another where another generation is being born. adults could sit under shady fruit I hope you enjoy the read. trees. Cars would be relegated l Noel Harrower can be to the back entries, or better contacted at noelharrower@ still, stored in a neighbourhood btinternet.co.uk to find out more garage, operating a car pool visit noelharrower.uk. system. If this were organised as

A BOOK WITH FOUR THEMES l Sustainable Living through Climate Change l Welcoming refugees from ravaged countries l Learning through the re-enactment of past events l Reconciliation through a vision quest.

In this Eco-Saga, Noel Harrower explores the lives of several families who are aiming to live sustainably through the perilous years from 2055-2099.

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The inter-generational novel is partly set on the south coast of Devon and partly in the midlands, of a future state called Britannia.

At this time the children become the teachers and lessons emerge from the ancient past to help shape a way of living together through the turmoil of climate change. The story links ideas from the Transition Town movement to those of inter-faith explorers and offers hope for tomorrow.

The book can be bought through Amazon or read on Kindle.

Minding less about self improvement CASPAR WALSH author, poet, film maker, journalist and Mindful Man decides to loosen his discipline.

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HEN is it enough? When do we stop? This column is meant to be around 400 words. What if I wrote 40? That would mean stopping somewhere along this line…? What would you think? Would it really matter?

I’ve been following a close discipline of being a good man, of self-betterment, spiritual growth, workshops, training, supervision, addiction recovery, meditation, retreats, vision quests, medicine walks, nature connection, men’s work and therapy for over thirty years. Jeez that is an exhausting list. It’s given me a freedom from behaviours that would for sure have sent me back to prison or an early tomb in some lonely old place. Many of those I’ve known with similar healing needs, did die young. So, it wasn’t an empty promise to keep me on the straight and narrow. It worked. But the selfimprovement curve has become its own kind of shackle. The freedom I’ve won has found a flip side. I’ve begun to feel a little locked in and sometimes a little too tight around the edges. And I’ve ended up in recovery from chronic fatigue and M.E. There are a lot of us walking around looking and seeming for all the world, well and resourced. Don’t be fooled.

It’s time to see what happens to

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me when I loosen the discipline that has been saving my life, daily.

What happens when I don’t run the recovery script and sounding the spiritual bells and chakra whistles? Don’t get me wrong, my life is blessed. But it also has some hard edges.

Time to stop. I’ll do this for a while, see how it goes. Slowing it down, trusting that I won’t end up on the street, a needle in my arm and a chill in my bones, will be a challenge. With all that is spinning around us in the world right now, can we, can I, risk slowing down and accepting I have, am and do enough? That its not about ramping up the fear of extinction (mine or ours) because in truth, I’m not enough to save the world, much as I might like to believe that.

As C.G. Jung said, I can choose to be good or whole. Time to ease the pace of the race to enlightenment and salvation, see what comes up beyond my very specific vision. l For signed/dedicated copies of The Mindful Man Words from the Earth and Upcoming events: wwww.wordsfromtheearth.co.uk

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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NEWS&views Join the river’s flow and add sustainability

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T THIS time when the whole wonky show is being turned on its head, all around us we see grim reminders of how far the swing out of balance has taken us from the sacred heart of life; despair, overwhelm, grief, rage are all understandable responses to our present crises, together and alone we need to grow our capacity to feel the depths of our emotions without them becoming us. The folks at AEVA hope they can be a part of assisting you in this journey.

Isabella Lazlo, part of the wonderful team at AEVA, said: “In a world where mainstream media rarely covers the true voices of women speaking out in protection of life, and magazines like ours are not made readily available to the masses, we here at AEVA know that the reflection we bring to each other at this time as women can and does embolden us to take that next step for ourselves, our families and for life itself. We feel so passionate about this that we have worked tirelessly without funds to make the vessel that is AEVA a reality.”

To now generate the necessary funds to pay the team that put

AEVA together and to invest in the community work with teenage girls and boys that is at the heart of AEVA’s long-term vision, the team have created a membership plan. Isabella explained: “By Joining ‘The River’s Flow’ you are not only giving to yourself the gift of nourishment, you will also help to make this inspirational platform for women’s voices a sustainable venture, further fuelling this time of transformational recalibration that we are in.”

She added: “We asked ourselves, ‘How can we further nourish our readers?’ and the first answer that came was, ‘With Milly’s Moontime chocolates!’ If you are local you may have had the delight to see and taste these at the local market over Christmas.

These truffles are absolutely

Veganic relocation

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delicious and made with women’s cyclical nature in mind and heart, they are food for a woman’s soul.

Depending on the level of membership you sign up to, perks also include AEVA’s own teas, bags and a monthly meditation. You can join from £5 a month!

“Please unite with us in making a stand for something new. l Find out more at www. aevamagazine.co.uk

Is CBD — the new ‘it’ drug?

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ITH a veritable tsunami of CBD products now hitting the market, there is a worry that the popularity of this magical elixir might overshadow its true therapeutic benefits . . . and yet it may just be time for Mother Nature to bestow a gift that is so beneficial, so affordable, and so available.

As more and more people choose to go down the route of natural, non-toxic, plant-based remedies without the negative side effects of prescription drugs, they are turning to cannabidiol cures. CBD is already wellestablished in the wellness crowd, many doctors believe that CBD has genuine medicinal value and it is now becoming available in pharmacies with Boots, Lloyds and other chemists stocking it. You can even find it on TV shopping channels! In fact, this cureall is now in danger of becoming a Therapia’s MediHemp Complete CBD Oil mainstream panacea for all that ails us. is produced in Austria from hand-picked, But what is it for?

EU-certified organic hemp using the latest CBD is a naturally occurring techniques so that the active ingredients of the substance in the cannabis plant plant remain in the end product as much as that, unlike its fellow cannabinoid THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), isn’t possible for better bio-availability. psychoactive and therefore won’t mess During production, use is made of a critical with your head or the law! First of all, CO2 technique with which the hemp flowers the really great thing about CBD is are extracted. Because there is no preparation that the human body is prepared for with heat, the favourable cannabinoids are it: the nervous system is bristling with cannabinoid receptors that it needs retained in the end extract. MediHemp has the for the body’s own endocannabinoid waxes removed from the extract and this gives it system to maintain homoeostasis, a lighter colour and a more pleasing taste than which in turn keeps the body in other CBD oils on the market. equilibrium. Secondly, whilst we can’t Prices start at £15 for 10ml of 2.5% (250 make any medicinal claims regarding drops/250mg CBD); £28 for 10ml 5% (the CBD and its health benefits (regulations control the claims we could or could optimum strength with 500mg CBD) and £64 not make), there is overwhelming for 30ml 5%. 10% and 18%: POA. We also evidence that it can be used to treat a stock CBD products: capsules, tea, honey, hemp range of conditions including neuroseed oil, drinks, e-liquid and more. degenerative diseases and auto-

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HE Naturally Vegan Plot, the volunteer run veganic (vegan organic) initiative, are relocating within Cornwall. The low impact vegan organic land management community have been given an exciting opportunity to manage land at Last Chance Hotel animal rescue centre in Cornwall.

There they will be creating & developing demonstration gardens and providing veganically grown produce. This arrangement includes sanctuary for many of their edible and otherwise useful trees and plants.

Elaine Avery explained: “We are in the process of moving the hundreds of trees and other plants from temporary storage in Bere Alston in Devon. Unfortunately this is proving to be very expensive with costs of around £30 per trip, therefore with about 30 trips to make over the next few weeks we find ourselves in a position where we need to ask for financial help with the costs of the move. Any and all contributions, no matter how small will be most gratefully appreciated.”

WITH an ever increasing number of cannabidiol (CBD) products becoming available Jonathan Abery, the owner of Torquay-based Therapia, which sells a complete range of medicinal cannabis products, asks what is it for and explains why they’re becoming so mainstream. immune system problems, as well as calming anxiety, lifting mood, and fighting pain. What is definitely known is that incorporating CBD products into your daily routine can have significant benefits for your physical and mental health.

Big business is also getting involved as the world’s largest cannabis company is putting down roots in Britain. Following the change in drug laws that allow it to be prescribed to patients for medicinal use, millions of pounds are being raised to get in on the CBD market.

Even shares in cannabis companies look worth a punt — before they go to pot!

Caveat Emptor — Finally, it cannot be too highly stressed that the customer should educate themselves by doing research about any company behind any CBD product. l Therapia is a Torquay-based company producing medicinal cannabis products since 2001 including the ever-popular ‘Joint Cream’ which provides pain relief for arthritis sufferers. Therapia, Fleet Walk Shopping Centre (next to TKMaxx) Torquay TQ2 5EN, open 10.30 to 4.30 daily. Info/Mail Order 0800 0747 319 / 07817 454390 www.therapiaonline.com. Member Cannabis Trades Association UK.

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wellbeing email: wellbeing@reconnectonline.co.uk

THE natural health and personal development PAGES Inside wellbeing...

Finding Active Hope

Returning to wholeness

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Find the key to improve your life Why we need acroyoga Finding your divine spark Eco-therapy sessions A sense of embodiment A life-enhancing gift

34 35 37 39 40

Retreat to the French Alps Seeking spirited singers

41 43

The classified adverts

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And there’s lots more to read inside THIS OFFER INCLUDES:

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HEN you come across something called BLAMM!!, you’d expect it to be different and dynamic – and that’s exactly what you get from new weekly classes coming to South Devon.

But while the format of the classes is new and original, the four elements at their core are already widely recognised as natural feelgood activities.

BLAMM!! is the acronym (albeit a little contrived - the best ones always are!) for Breathing, Laughter, Movement and Meditation, and it’s the brainchild of practitioner Kes Netchemu.

“The classes are designed to reconnect people to the natural feelgood forces that feed our bodies and minds – forces we often neglect in modern everyday life,” says Kes. “Breathing is the most fundamental of our bodily functions but so few of us actually breathe as deeply or fully as we need to.

“The beneficial effects of laughter are widely acknowledged. Even if you don’t feel particularly lighthearted, just making the sounds of laughter is enough to trigger the release of endorphins.

“Every effort is made to make every class accessible and beneficial to all • Full health history • Blood pressure, nerve tests, lung tests & orthopaedic tests • Digital SPINAL SCAN with stateof-the-art NASA technology • An introduction to Network Spinal Analysis care (NSA) • Written report of findings The voucher is valid for care with DC Chris Bundy only

MODERN CHIROPRACTIC CARE FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY “Network Spinal Analysis represents the epitome of body work in our time.”

Professor Candace Pert

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ages and all abilities – and this is particularly apparent when we come to movement. Some might just tap a foot, others might dance wildly – it’s very flexible and never judged.

“Finally, we explore ways of dropping the day’s tensions through meditation and end with an affirmation.”

There is a format to the classes, says Kes, but it is constantly adapted to “integrate what’s present in the group on the day”.

And she believes it’s particularly important that the beneficial effects don’t end when the class does.

“Participants leave with exercises they can use every day to relieve stress and improve the quality of their lives,” adds Kes. “BLAMM!! will enhance your life if you’re feeling great and support you if you’re feeling vulnerable. It’s an invitation to explore playfulness.”

Kes is running weekly BLAMM!! classes, 6.45-8pm, at: White Hart, Modbury (from Tues Feb 12); Totnes Natural Health Centre (from Wed Feb 13); and Plymouth United Reformed Church (from Fri Feb 15). l To find out more or book your place, call Kes on 07485 170718, email info@ blamm.co.uk and visit www.blamm.co.uk.

Kate Philbin

The home of natural wellbeing WELLBEING is the home of natural health and personal development in South Devon - the perfect place to find your perfect therapy, retreat or workshop.

And if you work in natural health, it’s the perfect place to get your message out there.

A 1/8-page advertisement, like those below, can be yours for just £41.85 a month. A 1/4-page is only £66.60 a month.

And you can tell the story behind what you offer in our free editorial - with help from our Wellbeing editor, Kate Philbin.

Our designers will even put the artwork together for you at very affordable prices.

The Wellbeing deadline for the next (April/May) issue is March 4 so get in touch today and let’s get the ball rolling.

Call Scott on 01392 346342 or email editor@ reconnectonline. co.uk

OLA CHIROPRACTIC

GIFT VOUCHER Worth £20

SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER ~ ONLY £25 (USUALLY £45)

Please telephone to arrange your appointment at our beautiful clinic in the he♥rt of Totnes

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Please bring this voucher with you to your appointment.

Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer or voucher.

Ola Chiropractic Centre, 5a Fore Street, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5DA

www.totneschiropractic.co.uk

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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WELLBEING Returning to a place of wholeness

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Leading-Edge, International Trainings in Somatic Sexology February 18 – April 21:

17 June 2019 – 25 Jan 2020:

Introductory Certifcate in Embodied Counselling

Certifcate in Sexological Bodywork /Somatic Sex Education

with Deej Juventin, CSB An introduction to somatic psychology and bodymind therapy for practitioners to practice efective embodied skills and conduct embodied counselling sessions.

21-22 & 23-24 February: Consensual Touch™ Trainings with Katie Sarra & Kian de la Cour Immerse yourself in 2 or 4 days of embodied experience with Betty Martin's Wheel of Consent.

April 13 – 17: Foundations of Somatic Sex Education with Uma Furman & Deej Juventin A 5-day professional development training for helping practitioners work somatically without touching clients, while supporting them towards more vibrant and full sex lives.

with Kian de la Cour & Katie Sarra This 6-month professional training involves detailed self-practices, online study, working with others, a 2 week Embodiment Intensive and 4 months of supervised practice.

This is the sixth UK training in this amazing and comprehensive modality.

27 June – 1 July: The Somatica Method - Working with Couples on Sexual and Emotional Intimacy Danielle Harel & Celeste Hirschman This training ofers the foundation you need to add couples work to your practice or enrich the couple's work you already ofer. You will come away with the skills and confdence you need to navigate the unique challenges of working with couples.

www.SeaSchoolofEmbodiment.com

Unique opportunity in South Devon...

Fundamentals Of Homeopathy Introductory course for anyone curious about the practice/ theory of homeopathy and the fascinating study of some of the 3,500 substances we use as remedies. Complete in itself, but has potential/credits to lead on to second year of practitioner training with The Contemporary College of Homeopathy which is accredited by the Society of Homeopaths.

Five weekends in Totnes, Devon in 2019: March 9/10, April 6/7, May 11/12, June 8/9 and July 6/7.

Tutors highly experienced homeopaths and teachers.

Cost: £1,000 For further details contact: Jacki Becker RS Hom T: 01803 867747 | M: 07792059867 E: jacki.becker@virgin.net | www.conhom.com q Totnes Clinic of Homeopathy

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EARNING to love ourselves in all our emotional states is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and the rest of humanity, says Catherine Hale, sexological body worker, empowerment coach and trauma healer.

Catherine approaches her clients holistically, welcoming all that they bring.

She said: “I see so many people struggle with expressing their emotions.

We’re taught emotions are wrong, not to be shown. We blame and shame ourselves for not being in control of our emotional responses to life.

“But human beings are not created to be in a permanent fixed emotional state, rather we live in a state of emotional fluctuation. We cannot be healthy unless we accept and experience the FULL range of emotional expression.”

Catherine believes that by learning to live in this extended emotional range, we stop creating the pain that arises from trying to avoid unavoidable pain.

She said: “We start to embrace our grief, and see it as an antidote to depression and stress by letting our tears cascade down our faces knowing their soothing balm will soften and open our hearts once more.

Grieving is an irreplaceable tool for managing the intense emotions that occur when past traumas arise.

“It supports us to go to the depths of our pain, into the death-like experience of being trapped, lost and abandoned, so bringing parts of ourselves back to life in the welcome home of our consciousness.

“Effective grieving allows us to grieve out of shame - the death of our self-compassion and our self-esteem, and out of fear – the death of feeling safe. In its place the seeds of self-compassion and selfprotection can grow.”

Artwork Barrett Biggers Catherine continued: “Anger plays a significant role in the passage of grieving, it’s the grieving technique of using aggression to shed past losses and injustices. Combined with our capacity to say ‘no’ we establish healthy boundaries and live through a backbone of selfprotection.

“With the dam of emotions unblocked the river of intimacy flows, we can connect with others and be seen and loved, without the fear that we need to hide an ‘unacceptable’ part of ourselves.

Living a life of emotional expression is the foundation to creating intimacy-enhancing relationships.

It furnishes us with the emotional flexibility required to navigate and live our lives fully.”

Catherine offers weekly sessions in Totnes supporting you to return to a place of wholeness, where your sexuality, your intimacy and your relationships can thrive.

Give yourself the greatest gift of coming home to yourself this year..

For more information visit: www. tantricawakening.org or email catherine@tantricawakening.org

Retreat for a day with Freely Given day retreats

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REELY Given Retreats are well known for their five and ten day long meditation retreats. Maybe your calendar, packed with busy work and family commitments has prohibited you from being able to attend.

If so, Freely Given day Retreats could be an option.

Held in beautiful locations across Devon, with an emphasis on practice both indoors and out, Freely Given day Retreats provide a series of meditation days available for all. Beginners are very welcome as well as those with more meditation experience.

The retreats are powered by generosity, as one of the organisers, Lea Zaccari explained: “We are able to offer our retreats free of charge as all the organisers are volunteers and the costs have been covered thanks to the kind donations previous participants have made.

All our teachers give enormously of their time and energy and do not receive a fee for leading the retreats. Towards the end of each retreat you will be given the opportunity to donate towards running costs and to the teacher, should you wish to, to support this wonderful retreat-gifting economy.”

Freely Given day Retreats work with a range of creative meditation teachers from the Insight tradition, providing an opportunity for people to delve deeper into their practice whether they are a beginner or someone with lots of experience. l For more information and for upcoming day retreats please visit: Freelygivenretreats.org/dayretreats

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WELLBEING Divine universal life-force energy WORLDWIDE there are just 64 teachers of Rahanni Celestial Healing. One of them, Hilda Kalap, is based in Totnes. We asked Hilda to share some insights into this esoteric form of healing…

AHANNI Celestial Healing is a new healing modality channelled by Carol Stacey for the Age of Aquarius. It vibrates on the pink ray of light that corresponds with the heart centre, releasing all fear-based thinking and negativity, opening us up to truth, love and compassion.

It helps us to understand and recognise our true essence, which is pure unconditional love. This beautiful healing light helps to raise the consciousness of humanity and release karmic debt, allowing everyone to move forward. It helps to balancing our masculine and feminine energies and release negative thoughts accumulated over many lifetimes.

The word “Rahanni” means “of one heart”, denoting that there is no separation, we are all from one Divine universal life-force energy.

The difference between Rahanni and other forms of healing is the vibration. Rahanni Celestial Healing works on a higher vibration and at a deeper level than any other healing modality at this time.

Everyone can benefit from receiving a Rahanni Celestial Healing,

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especially children because they are so open to these higher energies. It has been known to benefit children diagnosed with hyperactivity and Attention Deficit Disorder.

Having a Rahanni Celestial Healing is particularly beneficial for those suffering from emotional pain and trauma as it helps to reduce stress, anxiety, tension and fear.

It is ideal, too for those who wish to take time out from the busy world we live in as it promotes relaxation, general health and wellbeing.

Many people find their attitudes to life and its problems change for the better as a result of receiving Rahanni Celestial Healing. Rahanni needs to be experienced to be appreciated.

You don’t need to believe for it to work, just to have a desire to receive and accept the energy.

Animals also benefit from receiving Rahanni and have no problem accepting this wonderful healing light. l To contact Hilda about Rahanni call 07983 216793 or visit: www. hildakalap.com

Breathing - learn how to breathe effectively Laughter – get your powerful endorphins flowing Movement – stretch gently or dance wildly (your choice!)

Meditation – simple techniques to de-stress any situation Weekly classes (from mid-February) at Modbury, Totnes and Plymouth at 6.45 - 8pm. See website for details.

07485 170718 • info@blamm.co.uk • www.blamm.co.uk

tEIgnmouTh Life coAchiNg life, business and career coaching support that makes a difference

www.teignmouthlifecoach.com

teignmouthlifecoach@gmail.com

0738 765 8964

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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Juliette Medder

EMOTIONAL HEALTH WELCOME back to our exploration into all things emotional. In this edition our Emotional Health columnist Leigh Smith explores how women are affected by the menopause and how to embrace the change wholeheartedly..

“Excuse me, I’m having a menopausal moment”

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HEAR myself say as I frantically struggle through brain fog figuring out what I’m meant to be teaching to the class that has assembled. Reading through my lesson plan I feel the heat rising, a slow burn that seems to emanate from my core until my face neck and scalp are on fire and sweat trickles down my chest.

I am now fully into my 50s and this is a regular occurrence, along with other gems like night sweats, crawling skin, panic attacks and a feeling of being out of control.

Whilst the menopause is a natural transition for women it can seem like one rite of passage devoid of any benefit. Many women feel that this transition heralds the ‘end of the road’ and can fall into a negative spiral of feeling out of control of body and mind, no longer in the game, no longer able to cut it in the workplace. With reduced libido and vaginal dryness even the bedroom can feel unfairly out of bounds. It is no surprise then that for many women the onset of menopause (perimenopause) is a time of dread a battle to be fought.

What’s causing such colossal changes?

During menopause our estrogen becomes depleted, which can lead to fluctuations in hormones and biochemicals causing changes in the nervous system and altering the equilibrium in several neurotransmitter systems in the brain. This produces symptoms of night sweats, insomnia, stress, memory loss, brain fog, fatigue, skin irritations, hot flushes.

On top of that we can also experience a range of emotional issues - mood swings, irritability, stress, anxiety, lack of motivation, difficulty concentrating, sadness, and old mental health problems can reappear.

Clinically no direct link has yet been found between menopause and depression, however it is quite common for women to experience very low moods during this period which can span a decade or more. This is both a physically and mentally challenging time with a huge impact on all aspects of life which could explain the high rates of increased mental health issues during the perimenopause.

Whilst we are all ready to openly express having a ‘hot flush’ we are generally less likely to share some of the other more worrying symptoms. Fears of being labelled ‘old’, ‘losing your marbles’ and being ‘touchy,’ along with weight gain, greying hair and cellulite, can really affect self-esteem. There is a lot of pressure on a woman in her 50s in the workplace to achieve respect, and very little acceptance of the symptoms suffered during this

transition time. Therefore, keeping quiet and keeping up can add to the pressure and leave no space to openly embrace the change.

Turning this living hell into a natural transition with positive benefits.

The first thing is to accept that it is happening, the body is changing, there is no going back. Getting older is not negotiable, we cannot stop the clock, the best we can do is embrace the new phase with heads held high, and connect to the powerful force raging through the body.

This really is a powerful transition, a chance for dynamic change, personal growth and a more authentic self to emerge. I have spoken to many women who have gone through the menopause and asked them how they have benefitted. I hear tales of ‘becoming the real me’, ‘stopping worrying so much about others’, ‘no more people pleasing’, ‘taking more time to honour my own needs’, ‘more creativity’. It seems from these testaments that there really is powerful value in going through the menopause, something quite profound and beautiful.

What can we do to support this transition into wise woman.

Menopause symptoms can be managed in a variety of ways ranging from changes in lifestyle and diet to prescription medication and psychological treatments. Taking the time to stop and check in with the body, asking ‘what can I do to support myself right now? What do I really need?’

Reducing stress levels, increasing your physical activity and avoiding triggers for hot flushes can help. My triggers are caffeine, chocolate and red wine, and (unfortunately) this seems pretty standard. Taking control of what we eat, our exercise routines, and our wellbeing can bring us back into a place of empowerment. This really is a time of self-honouring, there is a powerful storm raging in the body, and it will be heard, menopause is not for the faint hearted!

Massage, meditation and yoga can help to connect on a physical and spiritual level, whilst talking to others and being creative can give expression to the experience.

Psychological treatments such as cognitive behaviour therapy may be effective in reducing the discomfort of hot flushes and night sweats and getting some perspective on the changes occurring in mind, body and spirit.

For some hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is an aid to menopause, but this is not for everyone.

So, let’s not hide away and deny the change, we can stand together in our flames and forge ourselves anew, braver, stronger and more resilient than we have ever allowed ourselves to be.

Leigh Smith is director of studies, course designer and tutor at Heartwood Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy Training.

Visit www.heartwoodcounselling.org or call 01803 865464.

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Giving meaning to symbols in the sand

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LIENTS entering the sand play room at the Nautilus Rooms are often drawn to the shelves of symbols and wonder what it is all about.

Sand play therapist, Ruth Baker said: “I invite people to pick symbols that ‘call out to them’, even the symbols they really don’t want to pick up! Symbols consciously or unconsciously become embedded with a meaning by the person using them. This meaning comes from the person’s historical, social and cultural experience. The symbol is not fixed or limited by boundaries – symbols have the capacity to change and to hold different meanings. They also have universal meanings, which are attributed to the collective unconscious.”

In sand play the aim is to access not only our current experience or personal history of life, but also our deep psyche as a resource for resolving difficulty on a journey to feeling whole.

Ruth said: “People start by putting their hands in the sand.

This experience in itself can be grounding and soothing for many. Some only work by making patterns in the sand or adding the element of water to it. Others are in a rush to pick symbols. My invitation is always to allow the mind to quieten and to allow a stillness before choosing symbols.

There is no right or wrong in sand play and no judgement in this way of working. It is simply a way of seeing what is there and holding

the potential for change.”

“When the tray is finished (I use that term loosely) we sit and experience it and begin to talk about its meaning. At this point symbols can be moved within the tray or out of the tray and new ones introduced.

It is not a static therapy; it holds the possibility for change.”

Ruth works mostly with adults.

She also uses it with couples and in supervision. She sometimes integrates sand play with making marks on paper to deepen understanding.

She said: “If you are interested in using sand or art as part of your personal journey or integrating it into other theoretical perspectives please contact me. I also run sand play and therapeutic art training, including introductory courses, CPD, Diploma course and beyond.”

For more information email: ruthbaker1@gmail.com or phone: 07736 334454

Why we all need Acroyoga

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ALKING through the park on a sunny day and you see two people doing flips, twists and acrobatics together on the grass. Maybe you pause to admire them, think to yourself “that’s impressive” and stroll on. What you just witnessed is Acroyoga.

This fusion of yoga, partner acrobatics, gymnastics and dance is growing in popularity and it is now on offer in Totnes, Plymouth and Exeter. You don’t have to be young, fit or athletic to take part and more and more people are discovering the benefits. According to the organisers of Acroyoga Totnes there are some compelling reasons to give it a go: l Get fit. Acroyoga will make you stronger, more flexible and give you more body awareness. l Have fun. Acroyoga is playful, creative and laughter inducing.

There is fun in the movement and pleasure in the sense of accomplishment. l Surprise yourself. What we do looks impressive and possibly intimidating, but when you join us, you’re joining a community that will lift you up and support you in achieving these amazing feats. l Find your tribe. We welcome everybody, you don’t have to be fit, be an acrobat, or even have a yoga mat to take part.

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l Learn about yourself. Notice how you approach fear, trust, control and failure. Acroyoga will help you to grow as an individual within a supportive community.

Find details of classes, workshops, training and social events on the AcroYoga Totnes Facebook page.

During warmer weather, events may take place outside. For more information visit: www.acrocycle. co.uk

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WELLBEING Finding your divine spark

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I’ve been reflecting ITHIN on the past 10 years every one of us lies (at least!) since my journey with you a divine spark and began. I can truly our healing journey say that my life is about finding has fundamentally the pathway that changed, that you leads us back to this have helped a unique spark, says broken, fragmented Helen Stott. person find Helen, who trained wholeness and with some of contentment. My the world’s most work with you has Helen Stott respected healers certainly transformed and has more than darkness to light.

25 years’ professional experience, From the depths of my heart I is an integrated healer and soul thank you for your bravery to keep path guide. Her practice, Living Your stepping up to your soul calling. I Divine Spark, recently relocated to know that you will bring the light to Devon from the Midlands. wherever you land, and change the She explained: “Embracing our course of lives.” divine spark leads us to a rich Helen has been working in the inner experience of self and to a Midlands as a holistic therapist. freedom of being and expression She graduated from the Barbara in everyday life. The focus of all of Brennan School of Healing in my work is guiding people on this 1996 and, since then, has carried journey of soul reconnection and out more than 10,000 private discovery. I work intuitively, with consultations. She develops and angelic guidance, to clear energy runs professional healing training blocks and limiting patterns of programmes accredited by the thought and behaviour to promote Complementary and National physical, mental and emotional Healthcare Council, as well as resilience and wellbeing. personal and spiritual development Helen offers one-to-one personal workshops and courses. Helen also and spiritual development sessions works internationally in Europe and Bermuda. as well as healing, spiritual guidance and intuitive readings.

As well as one-to-one sessions, meditation groups and workshops/ A client recently contacted her courses, Helen is available via saying: “I just wanted to let you Skype for readings and remote know how deeply grateful I am for healing. all your work, skills and gifts and that you have changed the course l For more information visit: www. of my life (and I’m sure that I’m not livingyourdivinespark.co.uk or call alone in that).

07720 782532.

Real food, Real life,

Real health Classes Targeted advice Books Eating plans Free resources Online courses Healthy recipe blog 1-2-1, online, phone/Skype ME, gut disorders, mental health nutrition, cancer recovery & weight management.

email: enquiries@trinityholistics.co.uk more info: www.trinityholistics.co.uk

Jane Hutton The Functional Foodie

T: 07841 344934

Grief: A doorway to health

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F WE can remain open to grief, rather than contracting and avoiding the feelings as most of us tend to do when we’re on automatic pilot, Carmella B’Hahn believes we will create better health.

She explained: “I gave a talk recently about grief to a packed Cambridge venue. During the talk, I hunched my shoulders, with head bowed and arms tight across my body saying, ‘We can grieve in a contracted position like this where nothing can flow in’… I then flung my arms out wide as if on a cross and said, ‘or we can grieve like this, still vulnerable and deeply feeling, but open to receive support and able to connect.’ This struck a chord with most people that day, according to feedback from the people who were there.”

But, isn’t it natural to want to contract when we’re in pain?

Carmella said: “Yes, when hurt, it’s instinctual to contract into the self for a while. This won’t harm us long-term if we open and express the feelings at some point, preferably witnessed by a compassionate listener. What is not ex-pressed is de-pressed: the unexpressed emotional charge becomes anchored in our bodies and remains as an imprint to be triggered by anything like itself for a lifetime.”

Carmella believes that opening to one grief, past or present, can be a doorway to access and clear other hidden hurts, thereby initiating greater health. She offers TRE (Trauma Release) sessions, which allow the body intelligence to find and release these imprints by using the innate natural shaking/tremoring mechanism, and/or grief support sessions in which the story can be fully heard and practical advice given if needed. l For further information visit: www.heartofrelating.com Email carmella@heartofrelating.com or call 01803 867005. There is a special deal for all 1.5 hour trial sessions.

www.reconnectonline.co.uk www.reconnectonline.co.uk

Andy Thompson, Clin. Hom, Dip. B.F.D. ‘Helping you to heal yourself’

BioEnergetic Health

An innovative testing and treatment method effective for acute, long-term and difficult-to-diagnose health problems.

Free taster sessions at the BioEnergetic Health Clinic and Greenlife in Totnes 07503 111057

www.bioenergetichealth.net

Editorial: Editorial: 01392 01392 346342 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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WELLBEING Kate does… Craniosacral Therapy

YOUR wellbeing editor Kate tries out a treatment or event or activity each issue to give you a bit more of an insight into what it’s like to take part.

This issue Kate tries Craniosacral Therapy with Felicity Clark (see advert page 45).

M

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OST of the time when I undertake a particular therapy I have a pretty good idea of what to expect. And most of the time I’m right. However, a recent session of Craniosacral Therapy with Felicity Clark proved unlike anything I had experienced before and quite contrary to expectations…

Craniosacral works with the central nervous system, helping all systems in the body to relax and to become more efficient. The craniosacral system is the fluid that surrounds and nurtures the brain and spinal cord as well as the soft tissues and bones. It has a rhythm and a motion and the therapist “listens” with their hands to this and locates areas of restriction in the body tissues.

My only experience of Craniosacral Therapy before this was when my daughter was a tiny baby. She was born by Caesarian and was quite a colicky baby, crying a lot and difficult to settle. A couple of Craniosacral sessions produced an immediate and dramatic improvement using the lightest of touch.

Felicity explained that she would carry out a basic MOT on the whole of my body.

However, less than five minutes in, having reached my hips, she asked me if I was having a problem

there. I hadn’t mentioned it to her but I have been experiencing a strange and persistent ache deep inside my hips and was unsure of the cause.

Felicity told me that there was an absence of normal rhythm in the craniosacral fluid in that area. She explained that my “inner physician” was asking for support there and suggested that I tune into the source of the pain.

Next she asked the pain to name itself. I was taken aback to hear myself say that its name was “grief”.

There followed a conversation between Felicity, myself and grief.

Felicity asked it why it was there and what it needed to say to me.

We then moved to an area of my heart that described itself as “coal-like and burnt”. We had a conversation there too.

Felicity kept her hands on the affected parts of my body as we talked, moving with the gentlest of touch. The experience was profound and emotional.

At the end of the session, she explained that this process is called Somatic Emotional Release. I was surprised to find that the pain in my hips was gone. Nearly a week later it hasn’t returned.

I’ve long been aware that physical problems can have an emotional origin but this is the most striking and dramatic demonstration of this that I have ever witnessed and I’m delighted with the results. l Contact Felicity at felicityanneclark28@gmail.com

Learn the fundamentals of homeopathy

BACK/NECK | MIGRANE | SHOULDERS | SPORTS INJURIES

IN PAIN?!

TRIED EVERYTHING ELSE?

Call:-TERRY

TIUKAAN NERVE RELEASE THERAPIST ON:-

07856 426275

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Free initial consultation and £20 off 1st treatment with code: -LIVE01 36

HAVE you ever been curious to know more about the principles behind homeopathy? Have you ever wondered about that homeopathic prescription, for yourself, your children or your pet? Would you like to learn more about the 3,500 plus remedies that are used around the world, which have the potential to heal the whole person?

Rowena Doble and Jacki Becker, two passionate and experienced homeopathic practitioners, are running a new course over five weekends in Totnes. The Fundamentals of Homeopathy is for anyone who wants to understand homeopathic medicine and why and how it works. See the advert on page 32 for details.

You will study this 200-year old system of medicine, including remedies (Materia Medica), philosophy (according to Hahnemann’s Organon), case taking and prescribing.

The aim is to help you understand your health and the range of homeopathic treatments on offer and how you can make informed choices to keep you healthy.

Jacki explained: “Homeopathy helps the body to heal itself by overcoming illness and helping it to achieve a higher level of health. This course can help you to adopt a new way of being, it may be the springboard into a new career, or you may simply be interested to study this fascinating therapy. If you wish to you could continue your studies, with some additional tutoring, by joining the second year of the professional practitioners training course with the Contemporary College of Homeopathy.”

Professor Iris Bell, American psychiatrist and alternative medicine researcher based at the University of Arizona said: “Healing by homeopathy is ancient, going back to Hippocrates, and today it is the second largest system of medicine in the world. Over 200 million people use it worldwide. Research is moving at a rapid pace, and this ‘ like cures like” medicine is not only scientifically “plausible” but also grounded in an extensive empirical research literature.”

Famous advocate of homeopathy, Tina Turner wrote: “Life in the fast lane wore me down, changes in my diet and homeopathy saved me.” l Find out more by visiting www.facebook.com/CCHBristol, email jacki.becker@ virgin.net or call 01803 867747.

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WELLBEING NATURE WISDOM

Nature~based Soul Initiation & Cultural Healing Practices Vision Quests ~ Transitional Rites & Soul Initiation Ceremonies Medicine Walks ~ Way of Council ~ Grief Tending Embodiment Practices ~ One-to-one & group work on Dartmoor

Authentic ceremony and reciprocity

A

FEELING-IN-THE-DARK process is how Rebecca Card describes the way she creates something close to indigenous, ceremonies on Dartmoor.

She said: “I feel into what is needed, and what is wanted in the moment, as well as responding directly to the land and the beings who are present – human and non-human.

Without this reciprocity I believe we can dishonour and exclude.

Whether speaking is needed or simply a prayer, song, or gesture, it feels important to her that it is aligned to the very essence of what is emerging in the moment and is a direct response to whoever is in the ceremony with you, be it spider, owl, moon or rock; not one that is prescribed from another language, another culture from a far away land where the plants, rocks and four leggeds are nothing like the beings you now find yourself amongst. For these are the ones who inspired the language in the first place and this could be the very thing that makes it ‘indigenous’.” She would like to stress here that using the word ‘indigenous’ could be a way of describing the way that we belong to earth as a whole - rather than a specific place on the earth.

Rebecca is also keen to share that she has no formal training in

creating ceremony and does not consider herself to be “an expert”.

She said: “I have watched those I respect and have taken notes, internally. I have received some extremely good mentoring and more than any of these, I have spent time being with and ‘listening’ to land where I live, to the other-than-humans and to myself. My relationship with the land and how the Otherness wants to offer Itself is the biggest teacher for me. Faith in my ability to connect and express myself from that connection is how I began, and continue, to be in ceremony.”

Rebecca believes that healing our displacement from the earth in this way could help us to co-exist with other species and live in a more harmonious way, rather than a destructive one.

She said: “This has the potential to bring us back into knowing our place as an earth community and as empowered humans beings who belong. There is healing in this; healing that is both individual and collective and that’s exactly the kind of healing that is needed right now.” l Rebecca offers one-to-one and group Eco-therapy sessions on Dartmoor. For more information visit: http://naturewisdom.life or email: rebecca@naturewisdom.life

Where is peace to be found?

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EACE is a profound human need. We now know of the countless ways in which the human system starts to crack up when it cannot find a sustainable experience of peace.

But, how do we find peace in a chaotic and uncertain world?

This is the question that Valmiki Ishaya has been exploring and his experience of ascension meditation has provided some key insights.

He said: “I’ve recognised that for years I’ve been seeking not just peace but protection from chaos and disturbance. In a way, this is an obvious strategy. After all, peace is a deep need.

But the key is how we seek to find it. What I’ve seen in myself is that I have externalised my peace, making it about being undisturbed, living in peaceful surroundings, spending time in nature, and alone.

“There’s nothing wrong with all that, but the key is what I consider to be the source of my peace.

Is it really 100% dependent on where I live and what (or who) I surround myself with? If I believe it is, then that will lead me to seek to exclude a large part of life from my experience. The chaos of the world will become threatening in a very fundamental way, as it

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Rebecca@naturewisdom.life • 07960 520128 • www.naturewisdom.life www.facebook.com/NatureWisdom.life/

Teignmouth Counselling Counselling that makes a difference

www.teignmouthcounsellinG.co.uk teignmouthcounselling@gmail.com 0746 923 4295

Theatre of Awakening & Stories for Change Funded groups for women and men:

will impinge upon my physical wellbeing, my sanity even.”

Ascension meditation teaches that peace is, essentially, an inner state.

Valmiki said: “Outer conditions can help me to remember this inner state, but they do not produce it in me, any more than the presence of someone I love creates the love I feel for them. Our essence, not our surroundings, is the source of all the peace, love and joy we have ever felt.

“Ascension helps me to let go of trying to control the chaos of the world, even the localised chaos of my own life, and establish myself in the deeper peace that underlies all conditions.

It’s a tender and profound experience to realise that even though life does not comply with my designs, it can nonetheless feel like it was perfectly designed for me; maybe not for my comfort, but for my awakening to the eternal peace within.” l Valmiki will be offering talks about ascension meditation at Jellyfish Arts Hub in Buckfastleigh on March 28 and April 26. He will also lead a weekend training on April 26-28. See the advert on page 40 and www.jellyfishartshub. co.uk for details.

Making Her-Story: Start 29 Jan and 12 Mar, tasters 26 Jan and 16 Feb

Stories of Men: Start 31 Jan and 14 Mar, taster 27 Jan

Women’s Weekend “Bringing yourself as a Gift” Sat 30 - Sun 31 Mar Dartington Tel. 0779 500 2816

www.theatreofawakening.co.uk

The Chakras – Gateways to your soul www.livingyourdivinespark.co.uk

.

.

Individual Sessions . Meditation Groups . Workshops M: 07720 782532

E: hstott57@gmail.com

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37

WELLBEING Astrology with Emma Astroyogini Totnes astrologer Emma Astroyogini tunes our readers into the seasonal cycles of the sun and moon.

I

Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD) (Stimulates the immune system to function optimally)

The Bowen Technique Arcturus Clinic, Totnes Home Visits AMANDA MORRIS

CLT – MLDUK – CertECBS – BTPA

For an appointment please call 07931 505 312

amanda@amandamorris.co.uk www.amandamorris.co.uk

N THE mountain hermitage you solemnly pledge to fulfill your Dharmic tasks. Suddenly there is a swell of thrumming sound and the figure of a naked man rises in the air above you. He lifts the silver urn of Aquarius, and pours out its liquid living light down over your crown - a baptism in spirit to cleanse the soul. The stains of the mistakes you made, the regrets and the pains of the past are washed away and you feel again your tender love for humanity and for this exquisite planet. Cleansed, clear, the time is near. You can rest, but then you must return to society, to take your role in the global awakening, the role you were born for.

After this baptism, you find yourself wending your way among green pastures beside a meandering stream. There is a feeling that everything can be forgotten, let drift. You find yourself gazing at the clouds, your mind empty and free. Old grief is released as gentle tears, and you relax all grip and grasp on the direction of your life, you feel divinely guided, full of naive trust. You can hear birdsong, somewhere someone is playing pan pipes in the valley. Everything is so beautiful...you relax into

visions of heaven. In Pisces you can transcend.

Little tiny spring flowers are everywhere, a bubbling fountain has burst forth in the meadow. You pass lambs suckling, their tails whizzling round, you experience a strong love of life, your libido is rising. You feel the need to do something epic. You feel yourself now moving forwards in a rhythmic march, there is a power and purpose in your limbs and you pick out your own particular path onwards out of the meadow. You remember why you have come. You are an Aries warrior of light and love. You have sworn allegiance to something. Your will is kindled and your heart is pulsing with courage. l Life Path Astrology Readings with Emma at www.astroyoga.co.uk or call 07530 540514.

psychotherapy plymouth

COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY IN PLYMOUTH OUR EXPERIENCED PRACTITIONERS WORK WITH A WIDE RANGE OF DIFFICULTIES INCLUDING:ALCOHOL PROBLEMS, ANGER MANAGEMENT , ANXIETY & STRESS, BEREAVEMENT, LIFE THREATENING ILLNESS, COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES, EATING DISORDERS, RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS, LOSS OF CONFIDENCE/SELF ESTEEM, LOSS OF DIRECTION AND WORK RELATED DIFFICULTIES.

BRING IT, SAY IT, SOLVE IT Call 01752 560002 or visit www.psycotherapyplymouth.com Waterloo Wellbeing Centre, 191 Devonport Rd, Plymouth PL1 5RN

38 38

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WELLBEING Dawlish’s Sea School offers a sense of embodiment

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HERE are two exciting training programmes on offer at The Sea School of Embodiment in Dawlish to start the New Year.

The UK Certification in Sexological bodywork teaching team, Kian de la Cour, Katie Sarra, Sarah Rose Bright, Dee Larsen, Joseph Kramer, Betty Martin and Ellen Heed, are welcoming applicants to this year’s 6 month training that starts in June. This is a comprehensive training in sexuality equipping practitioners with professional use of the Wheel of Consent, embodiment development practices, leading edge neuroscience research, outstanding psychosexual anatomy alongside specialist mapping and massage skills for integrating aspects of the self exiled from trusting spontaneity and pleasure. This training works with supporting and understanding deep rooted shame with routes for coming back into connection with kindness.

For practitioners who work somatically, and people interested in profoundly developing their own sense of embodiment, The Introductory Certificate in Embodied Counselling is ideal. This nine-week introduction to somatic psychology and bodymind therapy, which starts on February 18 with a three-day intensive, is aimed at holistic, somatic, and spiritual practitioners, including massage therapists, kahuna bodyworkers and yoga teachers.

It is also suitable for counsellors, psychotherapists, psychologists, educators and supervisors wanting to add somatic elements to their work.

The course provides practice in effective embodied skills, a broad understanding of psychotherapeutic theory leading to the development of body-based approaches, and practice in conducting embodied counselling sessions.

The training increases the confidence and competence of body-based practitioners to support clients with the emotional aspect of their experience. It covers various approaches to counselling and psychotherapy, how somatic approaches fit it, and the neuroscience that supports somatic work.

Foundations of Somatic Sex Education with Uma Furman

and Deej Juvenin, CSBs, is a five-day professional development training for practitioners to learn how to work somatically without touching clients, while supporting them towards more vibrant and full sex lives.

It is suitable for psychotherapists, psychologists, medical practitioners, sex therapists, yoga teachers, movement and posture practitioners, certified sexological bodyworkers and other sex educators, life coaches, Tantra teachers, meditation teachers and anyone who wants to upskill in the area of bodies and sex.

This course will teach participants how to support their clients to bring awareness into the body and to regulate the body so that the erotic aspect of their lives can thrive. They will learn to teach clients the foundations of embodied practice, how to improve solo and partnered sex and how to work through sexual issues, such as vaginismus, early ejaculation, erectile difficulty and differences in desire.

The course will cover: • Awareness (embodiment coaching; anatomy) • Regulation (state regulation, choice, variety) • Communication (body-mind-language feedback loops; consent; compassionate communication for getting your needs met, talking about sex, and lovingly coaching partners) • Agency (client-lead, consent, boundaries, awareness, co-creation) • Co-creation (interpersonal neurobiology, where do we meet, where can we grow, shared responsibility) • Integration (somatic practice, neuroplasticity, resilient edge of resistance) If you think this training might be for you but you are unsure, you can email the facilitators direct at info@ issaustralia.com The dates are February 18 - April 21, 2019. The Embodied Counselling Intensive is in Dawlish on April 19 - 21. l For more information visit: http://www. seaschoolofembodiment.com

Rachel Bolton, MPchm MACS, ITEC Animal Healer

w w w. to u c h t h e s p i r i t . c o . u k For all your dog’s physical ailments and emotional concerns.

With over twenty years experience, Rachel works remotely with the aid of a photograph and the sessions include a telephone consultation for more advice and support for you and your dog.

Tel: 01364 653 788 Mob: 07957 597 618 rachel.bolton@touchthespirit.co.uk www.reconnectonline.co.uk Discover_Dogs_18_21_Touch_The_Spirit_V3.indd

1

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk 39 08/10/2018 16:53

WELLBEING Give yourself a life-enhancing gift

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Well-Being Wisdom & Wealth Coach

Coaching for Women 07971 416630 / www.theseedcoach.com coach@katherynehope.plus.com

Totnes Harberton Parish Hall April 6-7th 2019

Coming Home Being born in the womb of our Divine Mother with Amrita Magdala

Contact:

teresagolden1@gmail.com 01803 732948 40 40

EW. It is a word that tingles with vim and vigour and it is a focus for people in the early part of the year.

Bell Bartlett, Dartington-based full-time professional psychic tarot reader with over 35 years experience, asks what “new” means to you.

“Though we may have much which is continuous in our lives, when the sap rises and the life force starts pushing up out of the dark, we may consider what ‘new’ means to us. New ways of thinking? New dreams and aspirations? New ways of nourishing the inner and outer life? Hopefully, we can feel some excitement at the possibilities and potential of the year ahead as we contemplate the many ways in which we might approach this.”

Many of the people who receive a reading from Bell spend a lot of their lives giving… giving to their families, friends, clients and communities.

To redress the balance, Bell believes Spring is a good time to give a lifeenhancing gift to ourselves and she has many to offer.

“Would a professional reading help you to flow around the offerings of the coming year with more ease?” she said. “Would you like to spend a day in the woods walking, drawing and communing with trees? Would you like to gain an understanding of the tarot or learn

how to use your natural intuition to help yourself?”

In response to requests to provide more Shamanism-based workshops, for the first time this year Bell is offering a Tree Whispering Day and Wild Drawing Days alongside her Tarot and Psychic Development Days and other workshops.

Bell’s groups are small (up to six people), beautifully crafted, carefully held and lots of fun.

She said: “Whether you have new dreams to foster, old dreams to nourish and tend or even older dreams to release, joining one of these workshops may be just the gift you deserve.” l Contact Bell on 07796 900509 or visit www.conscious-tarot.co.uk

Amrita serves as a spiritual catalyser.

This will be presented as a co-creative, interactive, non-structured space.

Please come with no expectations.

Amrita is opening this space from her heart, not from her acquired knowledge.

Please come from the same unrehearsed space.

We are welcoming the feminine. It is forgotten, still. We are remembering. We can only remember together.

COMING HOME The Creator gathered all of Creation and said: “I want to hide something from the humans until they are ready for it. It is the realization that they create their own reality.”

The eagle said, “Give it to me, I will take it to the moon.”

The Creator said, “No. One day they will go there and find it.”

The salmon said, “I will bury it on the bottom of the ocean.”

“No. They will go there too.”

The buffalo said, “I will bury it on the Great Plains.”

The Creator said, “They will cut into the skin of the Earth and find it even there.”

Grandmother Mole, who lives in the breast of Mother Earth, and who has no physical eyes but sees with spiritual eyes, said, “Put it inside of them.”

And the Creator said, “It is done.”

- Creation story from the Hopi Nation, Arizona What do you fear, lady?” [Aragorn] asked.

“A cage,” [Éowyn] said. “To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King We are born first into this world, in the physical, from our mother’s womb, but we are not truly born until we learn to die and are born again, from the womb of the Divine Mother. Only then we will truly Come Home.

To live and be born a second time and discover a new world within the old world you knew, to see with new eyes and feel the world through a new heart, is what we need to open to.

To understand this first and then comprehend it, to open to have the experiential knowledge, or wisdom, is what needs to become our ongoing practice.

Coming Home is our only wish. The only entrance towards fulfilment.

Harberton Parish Hall on April the 6th and 7th, 2019 For more information about Coming Home email teresagolden1@gmail.com or call 01803 732948.

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WELLBEING Stories to realise our potential

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HERE isn’t anybody you couldn’t love if you’ve heard their story…

So the saying goes and Agata Krajewska, founder of Theatre of Awakening and Stories for Change, has found this to be true.

She said: “At Stories for Agata Krajewska Change we approach and Phil Barber. personal story with an understanding that any difficult experience is The women’s groups - Making Herpotentially an initiation experience. story – run on 29 January and 12 Every time I listen to a person March in Dartington, with taster days share their story, my sense of them on 26 January and 16 February. The broadens and changes completely. men’s groups - Stories of Men - start on Those little things that irritated me 31 January and 14 March in Totnes, about them become precious battle with a taster day on 27 January. scars to be respected.”

Phil said: “We are all ‘story carriers’ Agata believes there is great and our personal stories have a way healing potential in telling your of opening our hearts and feeding us story. “I am deeply inspired by the vital information. When we care for understanding that our deepest our stories they feed us confidence, wound is where we find, and can guidance and wisdom. develop, our precious gifts. The “In my workshops you will be events and experiences in our lives engaging in creative ways to that caused us most pain helped to uncover and unfold stories of your make us who we are. By working in life, supported by a small community this way we free up our self-images of like-minded men. There will be and beliefs, realizing our potential writing, reflection, poetry, movement, and the gifts we have to bring. and short personal performances.”

As we explore together, we come On 30 and 31 March, Agata will across parallels, mutual recognitions be hosting a women’s weekend, and emergent collective narratives.

Bringing Yourself as a Gift, at The “We need to recall our story and feel Glade, North Woods in Dartington. it from a place of presence to really Agata said: “The weekend will let it go. Then the past becomes a explore our longings and the blocks resource for this moment, as energy to following them, working with available in the body.” presence, story and performance From the end of January, Agata as an alchemical process in an and her partner, Phil Barber, will be exceptional venue.” running separate Stories for Change The workshop is part-funded. personal development groups for women and men, supported by For more information about this and National Lottery funding. The two the Stories for Change women’s groups will come together on May and men’s groups visit www.

25 and 26 to share experiences and theatreofawakening.co.uk or call performances.

0779 500 2816.

Taking a retreat in the French alps

“

IMAGINE a place that can reach inside your heart, unravel you completely and put you back together again.” This is what somebody said after a week at La Terriade in the French Alps.

For the last few summers Caroline Lang, of The Yoga House in Harberton, has been hosting a retreat in a remote and incredibly beautiful community, part of the tiny mountain hamlet of Grimone.

She said: “There is so much that can happen internally within the immensity of this wild landscape of mountains, rivers, forests and gorges. It is an environment where we can open our horizons, allow nature to move us and feel our place in the wider scheme of things.

Practice here becomes very deep.”

Caroline is clear that this is not a

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‘luxury’ yoga retreat.

“The luxury is in the simplicity and in how much one can leave behind upon arrival at La Terriade. It is almost impossible to describe how special these retreats are; the place, the yoga practice, deep rest, the food, the sauna, the people, walks in silence, meditating in Alpine meadows…”

This year’s retreat takes place at the beginning of June.

Caroline said: “This is when the mountain flowers are at their best.

It is cool enough to light the wood burner for evening meditation but warm enough during the day to be very comfortable relaxing outside.”

For more details about retreats and the classes Caroline teaches at The Yoga House in Harberton, email carolinelangyoga@yahoo.com or visit www.carolinelangyoga.com.

Resolve Your Trauma: Unwind Your Body Claim Your Power: Open Your Sexuality Receive A Pleasure Based Sex Education Express Your Boundaries: Live In Consent

Sessions~ Retreats~ Workshops

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41 41

WELLBEING Renewal and harmony: light and sound

SHAKE

S

YOURSELF

BETTER with TRE ◆ TRE reaches parts that talking cannot reach ◆ Releases chronic patterns, calms anxiety and ◆ Allows your body intelligence to lead the healing.

Individual sessions & ‘Tremor Trios’ @ Bowden House, Totnes with Grief Guide and author Carmella B’Hahn www.HeartofRelating.com ◆ Carmella@HeartofRelating.com

01803 867005

Take a deep BREATH...

Learn how to use your breath to overcome stress and re-energise your body. Improve your health and help clear emotional blockages. Workshops and 1:1 sessions available.

Intro workshop – Torquay 9 Feb £25pp Breathe, Believe and Be Weekend – 2 to 4 August 2019. (details available soon ) – see website for more info.

Transformational Breathing Les Elms • les@breathsouthwest.com www.breathsouthwest.com

07828 566553

Teignmouth Doula Every birth is special. Whether is takes place at the hospital or at home, each is beautiful and deserving of celebration. No matter how you birth your baby, everyone can benefit from having a doula present at the moment of delivery. Contact me to learn more about my service, and how I can help you bring your own child into this beautiful world.

www . teignmouthdoula . com Email: teignmouthdoula@gmail.com Tel: 0738 765 7428

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INCE the Winter Solstice, the sun’s light has begun to increase a little bit each day.

Like many of us, sound therapist Teresa Wicksteed feels uplifted by the turning of the year.

She said: “Light renewing is a powerful wake-up call physically, emotionally and energetically; everything in nature responds to the growing energy of daylight, especially the birds.

“I hear their urgent songs from inside my Mongolian Healing Yurt, punctuating the silences in Sound Healing sessions, or joining in with my voice. The birds’ clear calls to action raise our own energy levels.”

Teresa practises Healing in a yurt overlooking the sea, so birds, wind and waves are the backing tracks to her practice.

She explained: “Light and sound waves are forms of invisible moving energy that can powerfully affect us.

“In all major spiritual traditions, creation myths feature life beginning with light and sound, reflecting how ancient societies experienced the renewal of light and sound as a time of re-birth. Energy can never be destroyed, but always transforms into another form.”

Teresa applies sound wave vibrations to the body, including energy fields around the body, to bring about a state of healing.

She explained: “My practice is centred in the voice, most simple, powerful and easily accessible to us all. The human voice has elements not found in any other instrument: it has a physical

aspect, emotional colour, but most significant, a spiritual resonance that comes from the intention of the individual who speaks, sings or tones.

“The significant role of healing intention is something I have become increasingly aware of, since qualifying as a Sound Healing Practitioner. Intention can carry more power than the sounds the healer is making: it focuses the healing energies into an intensity of sound-waves, entering the aura, transmitting into energy fields and through organs.”

Although she keeps to a formal structure in each sound healing session, Teresa uses her intention intuitively to channel powerful energies for the client.

Silence is complementary to sound in the healing sessions; in the safety of silence the client can re-coalesce, as the sound vibrations mingle and merge with their whole being.

Teresa said: “All the organs, bones and tissues of the human body have their individual healthy frequencies, and these all resonate together when a person is in a balanced state, allowing the whole person to heal from within.” l For more information email: teresa@teresawicksteed.co.uk

The liver is central to our overall wellbeing

J

ANUARY’S Yin Deep easily upset - it works workshop at Chapel both ways.”

House Studio in Totnes Liver chi is also proved such a success connected to our that Natalie Austin has capacity to make plans scheduled a second on and put them into Saturday 23 February action; and our ability to from 3-6pm. evaluate a situation and This session will focus act accordingly, with the on releasing tension capacity to be flexible and opening up the and open to change. hips. On a deeper “When we have level, it will work on the an excess of liver/ meridians of the liver gallbladder chi we tend Natalie Austin and gallbladder. to make rash decisions Natalie explained: “Healthy liver and when the chi is depleted, we can energy is central to our overall experience hesitation and timidity,” said wellbeing. Liver energy (or chi) Natalie. “Yin serves to rebalance our governs the healthy flow of energy energy systems in a physical way as around the whole body and is well as encouraging us to slow down, responsible for creating a peaceful pay attention to what is really going internal environment and balancing on in our bodies and be accepting of emotions. On an emotional level, all whatever it is we discover. aspects of resistance are connected l The workshop costs £35 and to liver chi dysfunction. When it’s out booking is essential. If you pay for of balance, we can find ourselves the workshop in advance, it is £30. experiencing emotional irregularity, Natalie also holds weekly Yin classes from minor annoyance or irritation on Mondays and Wednesdays at through to all out rage. When we’re Chapel House Studios. Contact : chronically angry, we are stressing natalie@loveyogatree.co.uk, call our liver chi; conversely, when our 07516 720246 or visit website liver chi is functioning less well, we can find ourselves getting angry or www.loveyogatree.co.uk

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WELLBEING Journey to understanding who you are

O

NE in four people today are living with a mental health condition. If you are one of them, Psychotherapy Plymouth wants you to know that you are not alone and that they can help.

Founded ten years ago this year, the Waterloo Wellbeing Centre run

by Psychotherapy Plymouth quickly became the city’s leading provider of talking therapies. Five years later, in 2013, it opened a second centre at Crownhill Fort and the organisation is continuing to grow and expand its range of services.

Director Julie Jeffs said: “When nothing seems to work you can feel desperate, lost, lonely and in pain.

But I would like to reassure you that, whatever the cause, whether it is trauma, bereavement, anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties or a really bad depressive episode, we can help you. Our therapists understand that asking for help and attending your first counselling session can be daunting. For this reason, from your very first contact with us we will do whatever we can to put you at ease.”

Care has been taken to create a welcoming, friendly space rather than a clinical one. Practitioners are friendly, warm and gently encouraging. Their mantra is “bring it, say it, solve it”. They are experienced, qualified in a wide range of different therapies and work to a strict code of ethics.

One client turned up for his first therapy session with a clipboard and

“to do” list. Julie said: “It wasn’t long before he let go of the list and started to experience new insights into himself and his emotions. It was a big step forwards.”

Among the benefits of professional counselling and psychotherapy are stress reduction, greater stability and an improvement in mood, personal insight, greater clarity and selfacceptance, inner fulfilment, improved relationships and better overall wellbeing.

Psychotherapy Plymouth offers professional counselling, psychotherapy and supervision.

Therapists work with a wide range of issues including alcohol problems, anger management, anxiety and stress, bereavement, coping with life-threatening or terminal illness, communication problems, eating disorders, relationship difficulties, loss of confidence or self-esteem, loss of direction and work-related issues.

Julie said: “Care for your own wellbeing is a great gift that you can give to yourself. It can help you to overcome problems that are holding you back and put you in touch with your true self. Our therapists are passionate about helping people on the journey to discover who they truly are. Whether you are looking for counselling, Psychotherapy, CBT, EFT, or Acupuncture we have a therapist to help you.” l For more information visit www. psychotherapyplymputh.com or call Julie Jeffs on 01752 560002

Gong, Himalayan and Crystal Bowl Practitioner based in Devon Sessions for groups and individuals.

Bathe in timeless sound waves and rest in deep, nourishing relaxation.

Gong baths, Bowl and sound meditations for groups and individuals

Sound creates movement, Movement creates change

Sally Free • 07719 770660

www.soundsforthesoul.co.uk ● sally@soundsforthesoul.co.uk Find us on facebook

Are you a spirited singer?

I

T’S winter, it’s cold, it’s dark, that can only mean one thing… Time to sing!

Local musician and composer Steve Banks is seeking spirited singers to join a new choir that will perform the world premier of his latest work Unitas Multiplex for choir, soloists and orchestra. He is also looking for patrons to help finance the performance.

Steve describes the new work as “groundbreaking”. It is based on the Integral approach, developed by American mystical philosopher Ken Wilber. The Integral model focuses on unity in diversity and has formed part of Steve’s Buddhist meditation practice for more than 20 years.

Steve leads Integral workshops and gave a presentation about Unitas Multiplex last May at the foremost gathering of Integral practitioners and thought-leaders in the world, the Integral European Conference.

Steve said: “The oratorio expresses the unity-in-diversity of the human race, of the earth, and of the cosmos. Also the ‘non-dual’ understanding of spiritual experience: that the deepest experience of self is both utterly transcendent and utterly immanent. The piece intends to draw the listener into here-and-now meditative experiences of profound freedom and fullness.”

The Integral model is a new understanding of human consciousness and spirituality, developed primarily by Wilber since the 1970s.

Wilber has been described as the first ‘world philosopher’, because the Integral model integrates the ancient spiritual wisdom of the east with the modern developmental psychology and scientific understanding of the west.

Steve is looking for soprano, alto, tenor and bass singers who can read music, and have some experience of choral singing. You can find out more about the piece, listen to mp3s of several movements, and look at the vocal scores at www.stevebanks.info. Contact Steve at steve@ stevebanks.info.

www.reconnectonline.co.uk

Editorial: 01392 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk

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WELLBEING Suspended between life and death Four days of Advanced Therapist Training in East Devon 14th ~ 17th March 2019 For your clients: • • • •

Create clear energetic boundaries.

Learn to handle and balance skeletal energy.

New approaches to physical conditions.

Provide clients with the opportunity to release old trauma.

• Take your clients into a deep still place.

For you:

• Feel embodied and energised in your work.

• Receive in depth energy bodywork.

• Become centered in your Self as you work.

For full details call Richard Walters 07811845862 Read more at richardwalters.org/workshops

The Green Funeral Company’s Rupert Callender and his wife Claire dwell between two worlds.

I

LIVE in a first floor flat, just within the old town walls, on one of the oldest High Streets in Britain.

The house is early Regency, but has been a significant dwelling since this place was a hill fort.

The front door is right on the busy street, but my windows that look out the back are 30ft higher than the road, and look out on the town churchyard.

The sills exactly match with the level of the soil; my bed is literally under the sod, same depths as the last burials in the late 17th Century, facing the same way. Their headstones are my headboard. The house is like a dam preventing an avalanche of bones spilling onto the town, an unruly riot of the past, flash flooding our present.

It’s cheesy how symbolic of my vocation it is. If it was television it would be contrived, but it does actually feel like living in an animated tarot card, the daily tramp of now below, against the silence of then, above.

It is where I am meant to be, suspended between these two worlds, an intermediary, a flight of stairs, a night porter checking in late arrivals.

Our friend the poet Salena Godden wrote recently a poem which begins, “I know a lot of dead people now.” Of course she was meaning that place in life when you have lost friends to the darkness, an age when death is not an edgy T-shirt, but an aching for friends and family you thought would always be here and will never see again.

I have that too, and more than most; it’s why I became an undertaker, but I also have a curious, almost metaphysical aspect to this experience, for I know a lot of dead people I never met, only their empty vessel.

And yet weirdly, I do know them.

Not all, we have been doing this for over 18 years now, but some, some I know vividly, through spending time with their family in order to be able to tell the story of their life, or at least expose the kernel of it’s truth.

I know their foibles, their joys, their secrets and sorrows.

I know what they would do in a given circumstance, what would make them laugh, where their weakness would trip them up, where their courage would make them shine.

I know things I have intuited about them that I have not been told. I knew them at their prime, and at their apocalypse. Some of them I actually consider friends. Friends I never met.

And so the year turns again, with all it’s loneliness and regret as present as the companionship and warmth, all hidden just under the wrapping paper and the tinsel and the candlelight, and still I move from one side of my flat to the other, looking out of one window at the beggars and the shoppers, children on their way to school, the old women trudging up the hill, the drunken carousers galloping down; the street life of a millennia, and out of the other, the silence of the grassy graves, the thousands of jumbled dead, the town’s ancestors who climbed that same street in life.

And for me, in my head and heart, and on the staircase, are the people I meet, in the cracks in between.

Add a new dimension to your practice

C

ALLING bodywork therapists.

A new Zero Balancing practitioner training workshop is running in East Devon with Richard Walters from 14 to 17 March for anyone who wants to add a powerful new dimension to their professional practice.

This gentle yet powerful system of touch, developed by doctor of osteopathy and medicine, Fritz Frederick Smith MD, integrates Western scientific models and Eastern principles of energy and healing. Dr Smith was keen to combine his unique insights into the relationship between chi (energy) and structural anatomy in the body.

He created Zero Balancing in 1975.

Richard said: “Zero Balancing can connect you to your coreself, bringing about a feeling of joy and peace, and a sense of wellbeing that doesn’t depend on what happens in the outer world. It supports you to know and understand yourself, and to be in the moment. There are many paths to this deep inner connection - meditation, psychotherapy, and spiritual practice, for example.

Zero Balancing combines elements of these paths, plus crucial additional factors.”

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So what are the additional factors that make Zero Balancing such a profound therapeutic treatment?

“Most bodywork therapies are beneficial for relaxation and physical complaints but Zero Balancing adds the element of energetic touch at the bone level,” said Richard. “This can help speed up the connection process and can put the person into a deep meditative state that allows a deep connection to their core self within a matter of minutes.

“Working directly with the bones bypasses the emotional body and allows an experience of deep stillness and stability that lies within us all. Zero Balancing is very good at reducing or removing blocks in our bodies, be they emotional or physical, that can make it harder to access our true self. As we let go, it is easier to access that deep, still, stable part of ourselves. This is a treatment that feels wonderful, helps a myriad of problems; and frees and unifies the body, mind and spirit in a way that permits and encourages deep peace and wellbeing.” l For more information visit: www. richardwalters.org/workshops. Or call 07811 845862

www.reconnectonline.co.uk

WELLBEING Understanding chakras - The Heart

THERE are seven primary chakras in the Human Energy field. Helen Stott, graduate of the Barbara Brennan School of Healing, and founder of Helen Stott – Transformation and Training, introduces the Heart Chakra in this next in a series of articles…

S previous articles have discussed, our relationship with others and the outside world is exchanged through our chakras.

The chakras and the degree to which they are functioning correctly provide a clear map to our physical, emotional and spiritual health. Each chakra has a particular function and it is important to remember that there is a strong link between emotional issues and physical manifestation.

On a physical level, the heart chakra feeds energy into our physical heart, circulatory system, thymus gland, vagus nerve and upper back.

On an emotional level the heart chakra is all about love.

Developmentally the heart chakra begins to fully function at about the age of 9 or 10 when we become aware of feelings and emotions

A

In need of a professional organiser?

H

OME should be a place of sanctuary, warmth and cosiness, an office or workshop a place of creativity, and productivity. But too much clutter can turn them into places of dread… a door closed to conceal accumulated stuff; a desire to invite friends over that is unfulfilled; time wasted searching for vital tools for the job.

Feeling the overwhelm of too much stuff can lead to a physiological response, including raised cortisol levels, which is a stress hormone that can lead to an increased risk of health problems, such as anxiety, depression, digestive and sleep problems, and weight gain.

A sense of having too much stuff and lacking organisation produces a strong emotional response because we have an expectation of home or office should look and function.

But there’s another reason, too.

A study into the reasons people choose not to engage the services of a professional organiser found that they feel they should be able to do it themselves. Sometimes it can feel shameful to admit help may be needed.

Jason Burns helps people to deal with their overwhelm and create space in their home and work environments. He said: “There are two main reasons why I believe

towards others. Before this time we are more aware of our feelings and instincts relating to ourselves.

Our first experiences of love and emotions towards others can form our patterns of relationships as we mature. The heart chakra holds memories and clues that can help form and heal our relationships and, on a physical level, keep our heart stronger and healthier. An emotionally tight and wounded heart chakra can lead to a tight and wounded physical heart.

The heart chakra is also important to our overall healing journey as it is the central chakra of the main seven. It serves as a link between the first three chakras, often referred to as the earth connection chakras, and the higher three chakras which link us to more cerebral dimensions.

When the heart chakra is clear and strong, we are able to connect fully to all of our chakras and the gifts and lessons that they hold.

On a spiritual level the heart chakra opens us to awareness of the other dimensions of life outside of the human journey and it is the link to the collective universe. At this time in the world the heart chakra is becoming increasingly important as we move towards awareness of such matters as the environment and the health of the planet. We are opening our hearts to planetary need. Some would say that we are beginning to embrace the true meaning of the Aquarian age and the heart chakra is one of the drivers towards these much-needed changes. l For more information visit www. livingyourdivinespark.co.uk.

that asking for help is key.

“One is motivation.

Procrastination can be a killer of action, and may lead to stressful paralysis. It’s easy to avoid getting unpleasant stuff done better to go out, watch a movie, have a look on Facebook! Having someone alongside you as you face the difficult task of clearing the house, workspace, or shed is an incredible source of energy.

The perceived cost fades away, stuff and stress disappears and inspiration increases.

“Another is having a critical eye.

Emotional attachment to stuff can prevent it from leaving the house or office; there is a sense of it belonging for reasons that no longer apply to your life. I use a particular process to help people in their decision-making, and this, alongside my gentle challenge, leads to possessions being let go of effectively, and sometimes at breakneck speed!”

Contact Jason for a free, no obligation consultation and find out how to release the trapped energy in your home, office, and inside yourself.

Call 07886 353504 or visit: www.space-works.co.uk

Deepening the connection to ourselves

H

OW do we create cultures and patterns in our families, work and relationships that support us and nurture us towards our wholeness?

The global 8 Shields movement, founded by author and specialist in nature-based community building Jon Young, has spent many years researching how established cultures around the world do this, and sharing ways to understand and bring those principles into our modern daily lives. The Institute has developed powerful tools for deepening our connection to ourselves, to each other and to the world around us and this work is available to us here in South Devon.

Peter Cow who, along with Rebecca Card, has been running 8 Shields-inspired courses on Dartmoor for the last four years explained that Devon is one of the international hot spots for the movement, with a lot of practitioners and events happening here.

The first Bringing it Home course, has just completed its first year. Twelve people took part in the 10-month journey over four weekends. It helped them to bring 8 Shields practices more fully into their lives - practices such as gratitude, grieving, nature connection, making cultural agreements and storytelling.

Lerryn Korda, one of the participants, described the course as “a profound journey to authenticity”. She said: “I didn’t know what a healthy culture looked like, so this has been an absolute gift – to see what is possible.”

One component of the course is to create a ‘village’ amongst the participants and staff, a safe and supportive group where they experience and co-create a holistic, multi-layered sense of community that can often be missing from our cultures.

The course supports people to take these practices and ways of being out into their lives, ‘bringing them home’ to themselves and their people, for the good of all. l The next Bringing it Home course runs from April 2019 to January 2020.

Visit www.bringingithome.life to find out more. For more information about the 8 Shields Institute and its work, visit www.8shields.org

www.reconnectonline.co.uk www.reconnectonline.co.uk

New year - new you, resolve that general feeling of ‘being a bit under par’ and feel good again.

Give loved ones, friends and family a new year that that will have them feel terrific with £10 vouchers available with CranioSacral Therapy, a hands-on holistic therapy, where touch is gentle, suitable for all ages, working with the central nervous system to assist in improving the efficiency of the whole body so that systems can relax.

Felicity Anne Clark CranioSacral Therapist Member of the Cranio Sacral Society Upledger UK www.upledger.co.uk East Cornwall and Plymouth M: 07878 259650 E: felicityanneclark28@gmail.com

Treatment to make you feel good or for a wide variety of conditions: low energy; headaches; aches and pains; musculoskeletal problems including backache; ‘frozen shoulder’; sciatic and other nerve issues; anxiety and panic attacks; depression; posttraumatic stress disorder; gynaecological issues; fibromyalgia; chronic fatigue and many other issues.

Cost of Treatment is £40 for an adult for an hour; £30 for a child for half an hour. Please don’t hesitate to call to discuss treatments or book a free consultation.

Editorial: 01392 01392 346342 346342 editor@reconnectonline.co.uk editor@reconnectonline.co.uk Editorial:

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MBACP Accredited Integrative Counsellor, offering Counselling, Supervision & Food Coaching (Plant based V & VG). Central Totnes and Exeter. www. tracygrovescounselling. com, 07599882741.

COUNSELLING

IF you’re reading this, you probably want to know that whatever is going on for you now, you don’t have to do it alone. As a Humanistic Integrative Counsellor I work creatively and sensitively alongside you with a warm, unstuffy and present approach.

Vonny Prout MBACP 01626 249676 www. accantocounselling.com between Totnes and Newton

EXPERIENCED Integrative Counsellor individuals and couples. Trained in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) Totnes and Exeter.

Ingrid Koehler MBACP 07932-734387 www. ingridkoehler.co.uk

Aerial Aerial yoga frame with silk hammock and caribinas.

FOR SALE: £190. Good condition. Owner lives nr Exeter. 07828 560622 PSYCHOTHERAPY

REFLEXOLOGY

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DAVID OXLEY MA: Fully qualified Accredited BACP counsellor and psychotherapist.

Psychosynthesis and Core Process. Working with Relationship, Depth, Integrity and Soul. Central Exeter, Totnes and Plymouth. www. davidoxleycounselling. co.uk, 07876051093.

A VERY relaxing FOOT therapy. REFLEX points on feet for all body systems. Cleanse, balance, release inner energetic tension. £30 hour treatment (£5 discount first treatment), 07522344291, nicolasuzanne@hotmail. co.uk based Totnes Natural Health Centre.

KATE Coombs DipShi MRSS TRANSFORMATIONAL SHIATSU Offers support for your nervous system to relax, ease for your aches and pains and welcome for the deepest level of your being.

Ashburton and Exeter www.katecoombs. co.uk 07928731246

crystals

CREATIVE counsellor.

Heartful, Supportive Counselling. Creative Exercises with Art, Sandplay etc. Adults, Couples and Young People. Ruth Jenni MBACP. 07974097787 www.oakflower.co.uk - Dartington, Newton Abbot and on Skype

HOLISTIC counsellor specialising in trauma/abuse, and for those feelings/ emotions difficult to put into words working with art, sand and outside amongst nature. Annie, www. natureswaycounselling. co.uk, 07760 439760.

Scaravelli Yoga And Deep Rest Meditation

With Caroline Lang at The Yoga House, Harberton, near Totnes Classes, one-to-one, days, retreats that are profoundly nourishing and transformative.

http://www.carolinelangyoga.com 01803 865252

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HUMANISTIC Counsellor, Gestalt, Person-Centred, CBT. Become more of who you have the potential to be. Utilising creative techniques including sandplay and experiments. Newton Abbot. Jason, 07886 353504 / www.spaceworks.co.uk

FOR READERS... an at-a-glance guide to services and products - plus diary dates.

FOR ADVERTISERS... an affordable way to get your message across. Boxes are £55 and £98 and the lineage ads cost just 90p a word, with a minimum of 20 words.

THE DEADLINE... for the April/May issue is March 4. Call Scott on 01392 346342 or email adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk.

JANE Jones ICGT Grad.

A variety of authentic Crystal & Earth Cycle Workshops. For more details see www. crystalearthwoman. co.uk 07791939208

movement

MOVEMENT Medicine open classes with Ailsa Lucas. Dance for awareness, healing, freedom, power, resources and transformation. Monthly Saturday mornings.

Dartington / Plymouth. movementmedicine association.org, ailsa. clare.lucas@gmail.com, 07999 486059

YOU NEXT? YOU could advertise here for just 90p a word - a minimum of 20 words.

And you can have a free picture too, while space allows. Call Scott on 01392 346342 for more details.

JAY Ramsay MA: Oxon, UKCP. 20+ years experience with individuals and couples, Psychosynthesistrained, now working in Totnes: www. jayramsay.co.uk 07752-719331

TREE CARE

meetings frack free totnes

Meetings are held at the Seven Stars The Plains Totnes at 7pm on last Sunday of the month.

TOMMY Hutchinson BSc (Hons) Forestry, ND Arboriculture, NPTC Qualified. Sensitive, professional tree care.

Free consultation. Call: 07837486388 Email: universaltreecare@ outlook.com and https:// universaltreecare. wordpress.com

£18.00 Small ads with BIG impact!

You can advertise in this classified section for as little

as £18 (therapists also get a free picture, while space allows - first come, first served). Call Scott now on 01392 346342 or email adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk.

Advertising: 01392 346342 adverts@reconnectonline.co.uk

www.reconnectonline.co.uk

T HE NAUTILUS R OOMS

Fabulously located in the centre of Totnes yet tucked away in a quiet alley with easy access to parking.

The Nautilus Rooms specialises in mind-based therapies beautifully supported by carefully selected massage therapists and those who specialise in mind/body treatments.

Our therapists are carefully chosen for their range of experience, qualifications and simply the quality of who they are. Everyone is insured and belongs to a professional body.

Therapists are trained in a range of modalities including: Byron Katie, CBT, Core Process, Couples Work, EMDR, EFT,

Family Therapy, Gestalt, Integrative, Mindfulness, Psychodynamic, Psychosynthesis, Sandplay and other creative therapies.

Short and long-term coaching, counselling and psychotherapy for all age groups, children, individuals, couples and families. Groupwork, workshops, supervision, counselling and mentoring.

Check our website for details of each therapist and their approach and for details of groups and workshops.

www.nautilusrooms.uk

Association of Integrative Sandplay Therapists Courses Foundation in Integrative Sandplay Therapy (2 day course): 27th and 28th April 2019 Enquire for a July date 26th and 27th October Diploma in Integrative Sandplay Therapy (4 3-day weekends): 1st, 2nd, 3rd February 2019 22nd, 23rd, 24th March 2019 3rd, 4th, 5th May 2019 21st, 22nd 23rd June 2019 Advanced, Diploma in Integrative Sandplay Therapy to follow on from Diploma course

Continuing Professional Development Courses: Introduction to the Archetypes through Sand 2-day course Diploma in Integrative Sandplay Therapy

(4 3-day weekends):

starting Autumn 2019/ Jan 2020 Please enquire Introduction to Integrative Therapeutic Art 2-day course Introduction to the Enneagram 3-day course The Lady and the Unicorn Symbols of the Souls Journey 2-day course Introduction to Alchemy: The work of Edward Edinger 3-day course Return of the Goddess 4-day course for those who have completed the Diploma in Integrative Sandplay Therapies.

The Meaning of the Shell: Symbolism, Hand Images and Sand Sculpture in Sandplay 3-day course for those who have completed the Diploma in Integrative Sandplay Therapies.

Foundation in Therapeutic Art: Please enquire for 2019 dates For more information email: ruthbaker1@gmail.com

The Nautilus Rooms • 35a Fore Street • Totnes • TQ9 5HN www.nautilusrooms.uk • nautiluscentre@gmail.com Call Ruth on 07736 334454 or Peter on 07826 414404