74 for web by Blue Sax Publishing Ltd

inspiring change since 1993

autumn issue 74 • sept - nov 2013

WIN! organic hair care, dinner for six and a family night in

keep your house cosy: spotlight on renewable energy banking on your brain: dementia care & research the war on food waste

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people

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planet

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body

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soul

unique local events ● everything from acupuncture to zen in our A-Z directory

your three-month guide to green & ethical living in the West

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9/8/13 14:01:56

Buying Good Energy is like shopping at a farmers’ market, not a supermarket

We get our electricity from clean, natural sources like sunshine, wind and rain. A third of it comes from the South West too, produced by a growing community of independent generators and our own wind farm in Cornwall. We’ve also been voted top of the Which? customer satisfaction survey for energy suppliers three out of the last four year. Hard to believe we usually cost less than the Big Six’s standard tariffs, isn’t it? Switch your home to our electricity supply quoting Spark and we’ll give you £50 off your first bill

Image: 5kW solar PV array, South Penquite Farm, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall

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19/07/2013 10:28

9/8/13 14:01:59

The Spark

the spark issue 74 autumn edition free, thinking and independent: welcome to the UK’s biggest ethical quarterly.

welcome…

What a lot to celebrate! The sun came out this summer and Bristol was awarded European Green Capital status for 2015, news of which came on the eve of another massively successful BIG Green Week festival. Congratulations to everyone involved. We’re proud to have been promoting the green message locally for the last 20 years, and this issue we look at energy - from boiling a kettle to fracturing the very earth beneath our feet – and how we can all have a positive impact. We’re also really excited to be launching our inaugural Spark Awards. Please help us by nominating your green/ local heroes. More info on the back cover. Love from the Spark team x

the team

q&a

Secret City tour guide Alex Krizsan

energy special

get your house in order, plus news on fracking, nuclear & renewable energy

ignite

what’s on this autumn in the West

photo: Hannah Sarah Johnson

events diary

courses, events, meets and retreats

Spotlight on energy

green energy in the home and in the news

OUT!

we put the ghoulies up you 2.

planet what’s going down at Bristol’s Enterprise Zone?

(1) Darryl Bullock, publisher (2) Ann Sheldon, advertising manager (3) Max Whiting, advertising sales (4) Beccy Golding, production manager (5) Andy Ballard, ad & cover designer (6) Naomi Ross, finance worker. Contributors: Tilly Black (proof reading), Tony Benjamin, Louise Brooks, Darryl W Bullock, Eugene Byrne, Kate Evans, Beccy Golding, Juliet Garcia (intern) Fiona McClymont, Jessie Marcham, Miguel Mendonca, Will Simpson, Melanie West, Vicki West. Photography: Jo Halladey, Andy Ballard, Hannah Sarah Johnson. The Spark was created by John Dawson

what we do

The UK’s biggest free independent ethical quarterly, The Spark reaches 100,000 readers in Cheltenham, Gloucester, Stroud, Taunton, Glastonbury, Swindon, Bath and Bristol. Our editorial is independent so no advertorials for us. We report on local solutions and people making a difference to their lives and their communities, while our adverts can connect you to a huge range of talented, professional people. We’re looking for new freelance writers to write about environmental issues, so get in touch if that’s you!

social change 5 q&a

Secret City guide Alex Krizan

22 OUT!

the West’s most haunted spots

marketplace

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www.pefc.org

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green goodies, ethical products

spark listings 24 planet

growing in Glastonbury

26 social change

locals can make a diference

A-Z directory of complementary therapists, eco-services and more

changemaker

Mel McCree, arts and play devotee

letters & comps

your views; win some amazing goodies

advertising info

rear view

buy an ad to reach 100,000 people

Kate Evans’ cartoon; announcing the launch of the Spark Awards

editor@thespark.co.uk

PEFC/16-33-228

family

dementia care; homeopathy; shadow play

Tuesday to Thursday 10am-5pm

This product is from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources

waste & food poverty; wine making in the west

body & soul

Tel: 0117 914 34 34 www.thespark.co.uk

PEFC Certified

food

teaching in the wild; craniosacral therapy

86 Colston Street Bristol BS1 5BB

The Spark is printed on PEFC-certified paper. Please recycle when you’re done.

setting up a community action group

the small print

Advertisers are advised that all copy is their sole responsibility under the Trade Protection Act. All adverts must comply with the British Code of Advertising Practice. We reserve the right to refuse, amend, withdraw or otherwise deal with advertisements submitted to us at our absolute discretion and without explanation • Blue Sax Publishing Ltd can accept no liability for any loss or damage resulting from omission or inaccuracies relating to telephone numbers, wording, spacing or positioning or other material regardless of how caused • We reserve the right to vary print run by 1000 up or down• Blue Sax Publishing Ltd, who publish The Spark, cannot take any responsibility for the quality of an advertiser’s service or advertiser’s conduct. In choosing an advertiser you may wish to consult the appropriate professional bodies • The Spark title can only be used under current licence from Blue Sax Publishing Ltd • Intellectual copyright remains with the publishers of The Spark - Blue Sax Publishing Ltd© All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without permission of the publishers.

28 food

challenging food poverty

thanks to handknittedthings.blogspot.co.uk for the wonderful knitted house on the cover.

changemaker

outdoor play with Mel McCree

9/8/13 14:02:03

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Shiatsu 09/07/2013 11:44:32

MSc in Creative Writing for Therapeutic Purposes

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• Next intake October 2013 at Engineer’s House, Clifton, Bristol Creative writing offers an innovative intervention to engage with a wide range of health and community needs, as well as a broad spectrum of the problems of living presented by those seeking coaching, mentoring, counselling or personal guidance. This unique programme prepares participants to work at this growing edge. Participants will develop and enhance their ability to work in this field via personal creative and reflective writing, groupwork and research and inquiry projects. Tutored by five published writers with extensive experience of using therapeutic writing in health and community settings. This course offers excellent support in personal and professional growth. For more information go to:

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9/8/13 14:02:06

The Relaxation Centre To relax is to enjoy life

q&a

Alex Krizsan Secret City tour guide Interview by Fiona McClymont • photo by James Sharkk Alex Krizsan, 46, is the Head Guide of Secret City Tours, a social enterprise that runs walking tours of Bath guided by people who have experienced homelessness in the city

Hidden in a quiet street in Clifton The Relaxation Centre is so much more than a health spa – it is a secret which you discover. We are an oasis in the middle of the city. A place to let the cares of the day slip away and replenish your vital energy. There are only a few decisions you’ll have to make. A sauna perhaps? Maybe a steam? Relax in the hot tub or are you brave enough for the cold plunge pool? We also have a blissful relaxation lounge and a full range of treatments including holistic massage, reflexology and hot stone therapy.

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and want to work their way to a better life. The brainchild of local PhD student Luke Tregidgo, the tours combine Bath’s famous landmarks with secret spots & hidden histories. Alex spent 18 months living rough in Bath, selling the Big Issue. He now combines this with his work on the tours. Chosen because of his skills as ‘a born performer and natural comedian’, he lives in temporary accommodation in the centre of Bath (provided by homeless organisation Julian House) & is saving to move into a rented flat. What’s the best thing about living in the West? I ended up in Bath by accident – I came on a day-trip and never left; one of the luckiest moves I’ve ever made. I’ve been here three years now. I love the architecture, the history, the friendliness of the people (in general), the lack of violence and that undercurrent of tension and menace that I got in London. I’m originally from Luton, which is a dump, and now I live somewhere that thousands of people from all over the world pay a fortune to travel to and visit, so it feels like a gift. What would you like to see more of? I wish there was more social inclusion. What’s happening in Bath now is basically ghettoisation. Soon the centre of Bath will only be for the rich. Also I wish there were more dog-friendly cafes and more night shelters that allowed dogs in. I’m lucky because the hostel I live in now has a threedog rule. Organisations have to realise that when you’re homeless and have got nothing and no-one, you need your dog – for protection, for warmth, but most importantly, for companionship. What’s your favourite part of Bath? I like Walcot Street, because of its history as the place where ordinary, working-class people lived. How did you become involved in the Secret City Tours? A lady called Sam, who works in the Big Issue office, recommended me to Luke. Part of my training was a workshop with the Natural Theatre Company, designed to help you with your confidence: I loved every minute of it! You have to be passionate about it and really interested, because there’s a hell of a lot to learn. Luke gave me a script but said “Don’t stick to it”. I found more information myself by getting books out of the library and learning all sorts of things about the city. What’s been your biggest achievement? Getting off the drugs, because I was a heroin addict. And also these tours I’m doing at

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the moment – I don’t know if you’d call it achievement, but I’m being recognised for the skills I have. It’s really great for my self-esteem – I shy away from the word ‘ego’ although it’s true that it is brilliant for my ego! What’s been your biggest mistake? Thinking that trying heroin would be a good idea and that I wouldn’t get addicted because I’d be much stronger than that: “only idiots get addicted to heroin, I’m smarter than that.” Big mistake. How is a Secret City Tour different from any other tour? You’ll get all the information you’d get on any other tour, but not quite so much of the stuffy, dead facts and figures. I do know all the dates etc. but who really cares if it was a Monday or a Thursday when the Romans came? You’ll get entertained, informed, educated, and you’ll have a good laugh. You’ll also get stories you won’t hear anywhere else: for instance there was a massive gunpowder industry round here linked to the slave trade, but did you know that it all came about thanks to Bath’s class-A pooh and wee? Saltpeter, used in gunpowder, is basically crystallised human pooh and it has to be watered down with human wee, but not any old wee - it had to be the wee of drinking people. Bath was a big drinking town (still is); the gentry came here to drink, dance and gamble; they just drank themselves silly. So the city was a great source of alcohol-rich urine and people would be employed to go round the taverns collecting it all. What a wonderful job it must have been going round the taverns collecting buckets of wee and pooh! The watered-down pooh would be left to crystallise in trays, out to the east of the city – it must have stunk! The winds around here come from the west, so the gentry lived uphill, in the west, as the winds would blow the smell away from them. Not much has changed really, has it? What inspires you? I’m aesthetically moved by Bath – is that the same as inspired? I love it; just walking around here picks me up. And the tours inspire me because I’m taking a long-term view – good things are coming out of this for me. What’s your greatest fear? Something happening to Harley, my dog. He’s five and a half and is my constant companion, best friend, is a brilliant listener and always there for me. Also, I really fear making a success of my life (I’m not necessarily talking in money-terms), but having no-one to share that with. I suppose I can always share it with Harley – he wouldn’t give a monkey’s if we ended up in a tent again. What drives you mad? Animal cruelty and people who don’t like dogs. If I find out someone doesn’t like animals I just don’t trust them; there must be something iffy about them. Also, more seriously, I can’t stand wealthy people who have absolutely no idea how the rest of society live and pour scorn on us and look down on us. Homeless people get beaten up, they get kicked to death; people will set light to you as you’re sleeping: this happened recently (in Liverpool). When you’re on the streets, sleeping in a doorway, you never, ever - no matter how cold it is – zip your sleeping bag all the way up. Why? Because, and it happens very often, someone may come along and kick

the living hell out of you, and if your arms are trapped down by your sides in your sleeping bag, you can’t do anything about it. You always need your arms free, so you can defend yourself, put your arms over your head at least. What gets you into trouble? Talking about things like that, loudly, in public places! What’s next for you? I want these tours to lead to something. I want to do two or three tours a day and make it a full-time job. If not the tours then something related, involving performance. I love acting. I wanted to be a rock star but that didn’t quite work out. It’s taken me forty-six years, but I think I’ve finally found where my talents lie. What has life taught you? To take nothing at face value. People say trust your first impressions but first impressions mean nothing. The amount of times I’ve met someone I thought I couldn’t stand and they turn out to be brilliant, and visa-versa. Also, the importance of social inclusion - give everything and everybody a chance – don’t just automatically say no to something or someone because you think you don’t like it – it’s like a kid who says “I don’t like carrots” even though they’ve never even tried one. I don’t mean go out and do whatever you want: have some common sense! What I mean is, don’t knock something until you’ve tried it – be open-minded and most importantly, don’t judge. A Secret City Tour lasts 1.5-2 hours. www.secretcitytours.co.uk, 01225 354650.

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Energy costs are rising and everyone is feeling the pinch. And we all know we need to reduce our fuel consumption and move towards a more resilient energy future. Vicki West asked the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) what we can do to save energy in our homes for the coming winter, and what funding is available to help. Photos by Hannah Sarah Johnson

here are some practical ways to save energy in your own home and these fall broadly into two camps: insulating your house and improving your heating system. Many of the following measures can be installed yourself, depending how conﬁdent you are with DIY, and other more tricky/expensive ones are eligible for Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding (which we explain on p7).

loft insulation Insulating your loft is a really simple and effective way to reduce your heating bills and will typically only set you back around £250 to have done professionally, or less if you do it yourself. If your home has an accessible loft with no damp or condensation, then it’s really worth getting this done. Mineral fibre insulation is the most common type but you can use other materials such as sheep’s wool (more natural and environmentally friendly but also more expensive).

If your loft has no insulation at all then getting it fully insulated can pay for itself within a couple of years, and will be effective for at least 40 years. Mineral fibre insulation can be bought in big rolls (also known as ‘blankets’ or ‘quilts’) from builders’ merchants or DIY stores. Remember to wear protective gear including a full overall, face mask, eye protection and heavy duty gloves if you’re doing it yourself. If your loft is hard to access, then another method is to use loose, fireretardant insulation material, which is blown into the loft using special equipment, but you’ll need a professional installer to do this.

‘skins’ with a small gap between them) and the cavity can be filled with insulating material. If your house is pre-1930s then you probably have solid walls with no cavity. One way to tell which you have is to check any visible bricks on your house. If they are laid in an alternating long-short-long pattern then it is likely to be solid wall; if you can see only the long edge of the bricks then there is probably a cavity. If your home is really new (ie, built in the last 10 years) then it’s likely that the cavity is already insulated. To check if previous owners have insulated your home look for evidence of holes drilled in the mortar between the bricks. If it hasn’t been done then a registered installer can tell you if your home is suitable. Solid wall insulation is a much more expensive business. You can apply external insulation on the outside of a building and coat it with a protective render or cladding. You’ll definitely need a specialist to do this and it costs between £9,000-£13,500 for the whole house. Internal solid wall insulation is slightly cheaper although this will still set you back a hefty £5,500-£8,500.

If you want to use your loft for living space, you could look at insulating the roof of the loft rather than the floor. The most common way to do this is to put rigid insulation boards or insulation foil between the roof rafters.

draught-proofing and secondary glazing

cavity wall insulation Cavity wall insulation is another cost effective way to make your home warmer. It’s not a DIY job but still only costs £300-500 depending on the size of your house. It will make a big difference to reducing heat loss, make your home much cosier and will pay for itself in around three to four years. If your home was built after the 1930s the chances are that it was built with cavity walls, (ie. two external

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Most houses, particularly old ones, have cracks and gaps that let warm air out and cold air in. On a DIY level, you can sort loads of these out yourself: the gaps between or around floorboards; gaps around windows and doors; the gap through the letterbox; where pipework comes through external walls; around the loft hatch and around electrical fittings. Most DIY shops sell a variety of relatively cheap draught-excluding kits for doors (£1020) You can also make your own draughtproofing snakes from old tights or leggings stuffed with newspaper to put against the bottom of external doors. Never block boiler flues, air bricks, or window trickle vents and avoid over draught-proofing windows in

kitchens and bathrooms where moist air needs to be able to escape. DIY secondary glazing is a brilliant way of reducing heat loss through your windows. In its most basic form it comes as a transparent plastic film that looks like cling film. You can buy a kit from a hardware store for about £20, and stick it around your window frames using double-sided tape.

hot water cylinder insulation jackets If you have a central heating system that uses a standard boiler (not a combination or “combi” boiler) then you will almost certainly have a hot water cylinder, usually in an airing cupboard or the loft. Fitting it with an insulating jacket will help reduce heat loss by over 75%, and can save you around £50 a year on your bills. This is a DIY job for most people. Jackets typically come in two standard sizes: 900mm x 450mm and 1,050mm x 450mm and cost about £15.

changing your heating system You should definitely make insulating your home the first priority to cut your bills and make your home cosier. However, if you can also afford to upgrade your heating system then these are some of your options:

upgrade your boiler If you have gas or oil central heating, and your boiler is over 15 years old, it may be worth replacing it. In the majority of cases, the lifetime savings from installing a new boiler will be greater than the initial outlay. For example, replacing a G-rated boiler (less than 70% efficient) with an A-rated boiler

9/8/13 14:02:12

spotlight on energy

7 heating and renewable energy measures. It is an unsecured loan and if you take out Green Deal finance and then move house, the repayments stay with the new householder, not you. The idea behind this is that you only ever pay for energysaving measures while you are directly benefiting from them.

Is the Green Deal for you?

(minimum 88% efficient) in a typical gas heated, semi-detached house will save you £300 a year on your fuel bill. If fuel prices continue to rise, as they seem likely to do, these savings will also increase. Try to get at least three different quotes from qualified heating engineers who are registered with either the Gas Safe Register or OFTEC (for oil systems). You can check online or by phone to see registration details. If you can’t invest in a new boiler, you could still cut costs by upgrading your heating controls. Timers, room thermostats and thermostatic radiator valves are relatively cheap, quick to install and will give you a better level of control over your heating system which will improve its efficiency.

The Coalition have launched two new schemes to enable people to make these improvements: the Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation. These are ambitious initiatives – and do have their critics – but it’s worth explaining the main principles of each.

how do you pay for this?

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the ‘golden rule’ The Green Deal will only offer finance if the repayments work out the same or less than the predicted savings you will make on energy bills. This means that no-one who takes up the Green Deal should be out of pocket: the down-side is that it won’t work for all measures for every household. If your house needs more work than the Green Deal finance can cover – and you can’t make up the shortfall yourself – then you may be able to implement some measures but not others. It may not work for you at all, but the ECO initiative (launched to complement the Green Deal) offers further options (see below).

low carbon heating options The next level of heating system – in terms of cutting carbon and using sustainable fuel – is to consider installing a ground or air source heat pump, or biomass boilers instead of a standard boiler. These are progressive ‘green’ alternatives for heating your home, but they come at a price and are not always ideal for your typical city dweller: you are likely to need external buildings to store the kit and wood-fuel (for biomass systems) and, in the case of the ground source heat pump, a big garden with room to lay underground pipe work. The good news is that many of these types of systems currently qualify for funding through the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) which offers a grant of £600-£2,300 depending on the type of technology being installed. Many heat-producing systems are also likely to be included in the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which launches in spring 2014 and will offer payments for the units of heat that the system produces. For any of these technologies, an important thing to check is that both your products and your installer are registered with the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) and ideally look for an installer that is a member of the REAL Assurance scheme.

If you live in a cold, energy-inefficient home with high bills and are unable to pay the upfront costs of new insulation measures then the Green Deal could be worth a look. In theory, you won’t experience any increase in your bills and your house will be cosier. If you use a lot of energy (for example, if you live in a big house) then your savings on energy bills will very likely outweigh your loan repayments. Alternatively, if you are on a low income and receive benefits you might be eligible for free measures through the ECO Affordable Warmth scheme (you can contact CSE for information about schemes running in your area). However, if you have some cash available then you might want to use that instead as it may work out a lot cheaper: you won’t have any interest repayments and you’ll see an immediate saving on your energy bills. Even if you don’t have the cash lying around there may be more sensible ways to pay for energy efficiency improvements to your home, especially if you intend to stay there for a long time. You could get finance through standard loans, 0% interest credit cards or by extending your mortgage (if you have enough equity). With interest rates currently low, the total repayment through any of these options could work out lower than the Green Deal repayment (as interest on Green Deal loans is around 7%). We recommend that you weigh up all these options and get financial advice.

the Green Deal

he Green Deal can enable you to make improvements such as solid wall insulation or a new heating system to your home by reducing the up-front cost to you. It is based on a ‘Pay As You Save’ (PAYS) principle where you are loaned the money to install the energy-saving measures and pay this back over time, using the savings you make on your bills. These repayments will be automatically added to your electricity bill and shown as a separate charge on signing up to a Green Deal Plan. The Green Deal can offer finance for 45 different energy-saving measures. These include various kinds of insulation,

how do I get it? Firstly, you need to get your property surveyed by an accredited Green Deal Assessor: you’ll find them all listed at www. gdorb.decc.gov.uk/consumersearch. They will produce a Green Deal Advice Report that recommends suitable measures for your home and will be the basis for calculating your Green Deal finance. If you want to go ahead, you then choose a Green Deal Provider who will offer you a Green Deal Plan. You will work out a contract with your provider, which details all the costs and terms of the plan, the repayment schedule and any applicable interest rates and warranties.

Energy Company Obligation (ECO) Running alongside the Green Deal is the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) which obliges the big energy companies to fund works that reduce the amount of CO2 produced in the homes of their domestic customers (and thereby reduce their fuel bills), including funding specifically for some of the more expensive measures, such as solid wall insulation. This type of work is unlikely to meet the ‘golden rule’ of the Green Deal but could be jointly funded by a mixture of Green Deal finance and carbon-saving ECO. There are two elements of the ECO: Carbon Saving (which includes the Carbon Saving Communities obligation) and Affordable Warmth.

Carbon Saving Communities obligation The CSCo will focus on low-income households in certain localities across the UK. If you live in one of these areas, you might be eligible for schemes offering solid wall, loft or cavity wall insulation. As the energy companies have to meet demanding targets for ECO you’re likely to hear more about this if you live in a CSCo area.

affordable warmth This funding is intended to support low-income and vulnerable households who receive certain benefits, and covers any measure which improves the thermal performance of a property, including new heating systems and basic insulation measures such as cavity wall and loft insulation.

for more information CSE’s home energy advice website www.cse.org.uk/loveyourhome Microgeneration Certification Scheme www.microgenerationcertification.org REAL Assurance www.recc.org.uk/scheme/members HETAS (official body that approves biomass heating appliances, fuels and services) www.hetas.co.uk Gas Safe Register www.gassaferegister.co.uk OFTEC www.oftec.org Renewable Heat Premium Payment scheme www.gov.uk/renewable-heat-premium-paymentscheme Renewable Heat Incentive (for organisations and groups, not private individuals) www.gov.uk/renewableheatincentive Feed-in tariffs www.gov.uk/feed-in-tariffs The Green Deal www.gov.uk/green-deal-energy-saving-measures www.greendealinitiative.co.uk Energy Companies Obligation (ECO) tinyurl.com/bvkl426

9/8/13 14:02:14

8 spotlight on energy solar

olar water heating, often referred to as ‘solar thermal’, uses solar panels to absorb the heat of the sun and transfer it to your water. On warm summer days a solar thermal system could provide all your hot water needs. During winter the output will be less. Most domestic solar water heating systems cost somewhere between £2,000-£6,000 and a well-installed and properly used system can save a household £55 a year when replacing gas heating or £80 a year when replacing electric immersion heating. Systems fitted by MCS accredited installers are eligible for grant funding through the RHPP scheme and will also be eligible for the RHI payments. Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels convert light from the sun into electricity. You can

Jessica & Matt’s story use this electricity to run appliances in your home and export any surplus electricity you don’t use back to the grid. Once installed, you can register your solar PV system for the feed-in tariff. Under this scheme your fuel supplier will pay you for every unit (kWh) of electricity your system produces, regardless of whether you export it to the grid or use it yourself. The costs of solar PV systems have reduced significantly over the last few years and a 2kWp system now costs around £4,000. Most systems require little or no maintenance although the inverter may need to be replaced after around 10 years at a cost of about £1,000. Solar panels need maximum exposure to the sun, so you will need to have an approximately south facing roof that does not receive shade from trees or other buildings.

essica Smith and Matthew Gitsham live in a 2-bed, mid-terrace house in Horfield, north Bristol. The walls are solid brick and they have gas central heating. “We wanted to get our energy bills down a bit and cut our carbon but most of all we wanted to make our house more cosy as it was often chilly,” says Matt. “We got some advice from a local community group called Bristol Green Doors to see if there was any funding available and they told us about the Bristol Home Energy Upgrade (BHEU).” This was a government pilot scheme designed to test some of the principles behind the Green Deal. An energy assessor came round and estimated that the couple could save around £96 a year on their heating bills, if they put in solid wall insulation. They were then offered grant money to help pay for the installation, through the ECO government initiative. They made up the shortfall themselves, although they could have taken out Pay-As-You-Save finance for the remainder of the cost. “That grant helped massively,” says Matt. “We definitely wouldn’t have done it without that.”

As part of the assessment, Matt and Jessica were told how much they would have got under Green Deal finance, which was a lot less than the grant threshold: around a seventh of the total cost (£1,141). So would the Green Deal have worked for them? Matt says: “In my opinion, solid wall insulation either needs to get a lot cheaper or energy bills need to get significantly more expensive if the Green Deal is ever going to be a reasonable way for people to pay for this particular type of external wall insulation.” Depending on your situation, you might be able to access other funding for the more expensive measures such as Matt and Jesica’s work through a combination of Green Deal and ECO finance. The BHEU scheme has now closed.

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9/8/13 14:02:22

spotlight on energy

biofuels

nuclear

By Jessie Marcham

he arguments for and against nuclear energy continue to provoke widespread debate. Groups including Greenpeace vigorously campaign against nuclear power because it is seen as an unacceptable risk to the environment and to humanity; in the wake of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima that hardly seems debatable. Yet the government insist that that nuclear energy has an important role to play to deliver secure, low carbon, affordable electricity and environmentalist James Lovelock (the man behind Gaia Theory) has gone on record to say that that “only nuclear power can now halt global warming”. Here Eugene Byrne brings us up-to-date on the state of nuclear power locally. If – or more likely, when - new nuclear power stations are built in Britain, all of them will be built next to existing or decommissioned plants: proposals to build reactors in a new location would be met with furious opposition from everyone living locally. For those living near existing sites, though, new stations mean jobs and a danger they’re accustomed to living with. You’ll find opponents of Hinkley C, for instance, are a minority in the nearest big town, Bridgwater. Hinkley Point in Somerset will almost certainly be the site of the first new British nuclear power station in a generation. EDF Energy is planning to build a Hinkley Point C station (A was closed in 2000, B will run until 2016 or longer), but has been playing footsie with the government for years over the details, particularly over the amount the

nce hailed as the future of green energy, fuel made from crops such as corn, palm oil and rape seed are now being blamed for rising food prices and environmental destruction. When would-be energy company W4B applied for planning permission to build a new 50MW biofuel power station at Avonmouth docks in 2009 they were met with a wave of local opposition, and their application was rejected by Bristol City Council. Concerns focused around the proposed fuel for the station: palm oil. Palm oil plantations have been associated with widespread human rights abuses and clearance of virgin rainforest. Some researchers argue that, once land use changes are taken into account, palm oil power plants may not even be cutting carbon emissions compared to conventional gas fired power stations. W4B appealed against the City Council decision and in 2011 Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Local Government, gave the power plant the go-ahead, on the basis that it should burn only certified, sustainable biofuel. But campaign group BiofuelWatch say that the government definition of sustainable biofuels is “inadequate” and that the carbon accounting behind it is “flawed”. They also allege that existing sustainability certification schemes are often corrupt or difficult to enforce. Ironically, the W4B plant is likely to attract around £24million per year in government subsidies for green energy, through the award of renewable obligations certificates. W4B are currently waiting for decontamination works to be completed at the Avonmouth site. In a

bid to stop the plant being built, local campaign group Action for Sustainable Energy for Bristol are lobbying the government to follow the lead of Germany and The Netherlands in scrapping subsidies for biofuel power stations. Without state subsidies, campaigners believe the plant would be “uneconomic”. Whilst some biofuels are clearly failing the sustainability test, others can offer genuine ecological and social benefits. Bristol is home to several businesses producing biodiesel from locally-collected waste cooking oil, which not only makes good use of a local and otherwise wasted resource, but also cuts carbon emissions and air pollution. Interestingly McKeown Biofuels, which started producing the fuel for use in their company vehicles in 2008 and then went on to sell to the public and local businesses, say they have had to scale back production recently as increasing demand has raised the price of used cooking oil. Action for Sustainable Energy in Bristol: www.acseb.co.uk To find biodiesel in Sparkland and beyond go to www.biodieselfillingstations.co.uk

Severn barrage By Eugene Byrne

eople have been talking about putting some sort of barrier across the Severn since the 1840s, and they’ve been talking about using it to generate electricity since the 1920s. In the 1920s and 30s a barrage would have been a job-creation scheme, from the 40s to the 60s it just seemed like the smart modern thing to do, and since the 1970s it’s been seen as a way of reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Nowadays it’s presented as being a sustainable solution – once you get over the potentially stupendous carbon spend involved in building the thing in the first place. Down the years a succession of major construction firms have put forward serious plans while various individuals, from freelance professionals to eccentric enthusiasts, have come up with proposals of their own. In recent years we have also seen a number of alternative generation proposals, the most notable being smaller tidal “lagoons” which would have less environmental impact. All these plans have come to grief against the massive costs. There have also been objections on conservation grounds – marine and birdlife populations would be affected, opponents say - while the Bristol Port Company, which operates Avonmouth & Royal Portbury docks, has emerged as a serious opponent because of the

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effect a barrier would have on port business. In June, plans from Cardiff-based company Hafren Power for a £25bn barrage between Brean in Somerset and Lavernock Point in South Wales were savaged by the Commons energy select committee. The scheme, said the committee, did not make economic sense as the barrage would require large government subsidies and was unlikely to be able to compete financially with emerging low-carbon technologies. Hafren, MPs claimed, had failed to address environmental concerns and the likely impact on Avmonouth. If history teaches us anything, it’s that the barrage is never completely off the agenda. But if the select committee is correct that a barrage doesn’t stack up financially compared with other renewables, then almost 200 years of talk will soon come to an end. It’s worth betting, though, that smaller schemes will mean the tidal power of the Severn will be generating electricity before too long. Friends of the Earth Cymru’s 2007 report on the Barrage (PDF): www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/the_severn_ barrage.pdf Severn Estuary Partnership tidal power resource page – loads of useful links: www.severnestuary.net/sep/resource.html

French government-owned firm can charge us for Hinkley electricity. Hinkley C’s two reactors are a major part of government plans to move the country away from fossil fuels while ensuring the lights are kept on. Around 20% of Britain’s existing generating capacity is set to come offline by 2020, as EU regulations force the closure of ageing coal-fired plants. With old nuclear reactors also reaching the end of their lives, the calculation of many experts is that renewables can’t plug the gap. Of the other nuclear sites in the region, Berkeley in Gloucestershire is being decommissioned, though the job won’t be finished until around 2080 when radioactive decay will have made the site safe. There are no immediate plans for new generation on this site. The reactors at Oldbury-on-Severn have also now been closed down. Horizon Nuclear Power, a joint venture of German firms E.ON and RWE, which had proposed two or three new reactors for Oldbury, shelved its plans last year. Since then, however, Horizon has been acquired by Japanese giant Hitachi, who plan a £20bn spend on new reactors at Oldbury and at Wylfa on Anglesey. If these plans do go ahead, it will only be after a great deal of detailed negotiation with government. www.stophinkley.org www.stopnuclearpoweruk.net Site Stakeholder Groups – information on decommissioning of old reactors. www.sitestakeholdergroups.org.uk

wind

vonmouth, the suburb, port and major industrial centre on the Severn Estuary, is fast becoming the West’s hub for wind-power. Alongside the three Ecotricity turbines which have graced Avonmouth Docks’ Wind Park since 2007, Bristol-based green energy firm Triodos Renewables are currently constructing four turbines on the site of Wessex Water’s sewage works there, and Bristol City Council is erecting a further pair of turbines on a former Shell tank site, making Bristol the first local authority in the UK to fully own and develop a wind energy project of this scale. Bristol’s turbines are seen as central to reducing the city’s carbon footprint as well as fulfilling the need to provide affordable, renewable energy. According to Renewable UK, the green energy trade association, a typical onshore turbine produces enough electricity to meet the average annual needs of 1,000 homes and prevent the emission of 2,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. The Council-owned turbines should be producing electricity by October, with the Triodos Renewables turbines due to begin generating power by the end of the year. “We originally teamed with GENeco, the recycling and renewable energy arm of Wessex Water,” Monika Paplaczyk, of Triodos Renewables (whose members invest their money into climate change projects), explains. “GENeco’s remit was to make Wessex Water’s site self-sustaining and carbon neutral but, by the time we had received planning permission,

they had already achieved that with the construction of an anerobic food waste digester. We’d worked really hard to get the project off the ground so it seemed sensible for us to take over the whole scheme.” This is the 11th project from Triodos Renewables, all of which have been constructed on brownfield sites. So far the average TR shareholder has saved 7.9 tonnes of CO2 annually. “We hope to start generating power in November or December and should be fully operational by January,” Monika says. “Directly connected to the National Grid, the turbines should produce enough power to run around 4,500 homes annually.” www.geneco.uk.com www.renewableuk.com www.triodos.co.uk

9/8/13 14:02:26

10 spotlight on energy fracking

by Jessie Marcham

ast September the UK’s new ‘dash for gas’ arrived in Somerset, as Welsh company UK Methane submitted a planning application to start test-drilling for coal bed methane near Keynsham. Whilst the government has high hopes for this new source of gas, concerns have

been raised by campaigners about the potential dangers of the extraction methods and the wisdom of investing in yet more fossil fuels. Particularly controversial is the method of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, where water, sand and chemicals are injected deep in to the ground at high pressure, creating micro-fractures in the rock to release shale gas. Though common in the USA and Australia, fracking is new in the UK and was temporarily banned by the government during 2011-12 when small earth tremors were recorded after fracking in Lancashire. It’s now claimed that the earthquake risk is extremely low, but elsewhere fracking has been associated with toxic chemicals leaking in to ground and surface water, air pollution, water shortages and industrialisation of the landscape. In Keynsham, part of B&NES, local residents mobilised under the banner of Frack-Free Somerset to oppose the drilling plans. UK Methane withdrew their application in December, stating that: “The level of information that is being requested is far higher than that for any other previous application that we have been involved with in other parts of the country”. Campaigners can be encouraged by the council’s apparently rigorous approach to the application, but the story is not over yet. UK Methane say they are planning to submit a new application before the end of the year, for ‘full production’ at the Keynsham site, and are also exploring sites in the Mendip villages of Ston Easton & Compton Martin. Ministers seem determined that fracking should go ahead; tax breaks for the industry were announced In March, as well as plans to offer ‘sweeteners’ to local communities and councils affected by drilling. In the meantime, local resistance is building. Frack Free Somerset say their coalition is growing, with new local campaign groups formed across the county over the summer, and high levels of attendance at public meetings. Shortly before this issue of The Spark went to print, anti-fracking campaigners converged on the Sussex village of Balcombe, where energy company Cuadrilla has begun exploratory drilling for oil. Protestors are concerned this could open the gates to fracking in the region. www.frackfreesomerset.org Search Facebook for Get The Frack Out of the Mendips and Frack Free Chew Valley

community energy

witching to a green energy provider is one of the most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint, and it won’t cost you any extra money. Providers including Ecotricity and Good Energy don’t pay huge bonuses to executives but plough profits back into developing more renewable energy. Using proven technologies such as solar panels and wind turbines, community energy co-ops are also springing up all over Sparkland. Funding for these schemes generally comes from community share offers, and any income generated is used to directly support the local community, pay investors and develop further projects. Bath and West Community Energy and Gloucestershire Energy Co-op both have established schemes, and Wedmore Community Power Co-op has just

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launched an £800,000 solar share offer. The Bristol Energy Co-op (BEC) and Bristol Power Co-op have also both run successful solar community share offers. The BEC offer raised £125,000 from over 150 member-investors. BEC is running a second share offer this September. In addition, BEC recently signed an innovative agreement with REG Windpower, developer of the proposed wind farm between the M48 and M4 motorways which gives BEC an exclusive option to buy the wind farm should it be built, enabling local people to invest. Direct contributions to the local community from wind farm income would amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds over the lifetime of the turbines. The wind farm could generate enough electricity to power between 2,800 and 3,100 homes in an average year. It would bring local job opportunities too, as REG has pledged to use local firms where possible on the project. A decision on the

Win retrofitting guides

ith rising energy bills and the desire to cut carbon emissions high on the agenda, the need for sustainable, energy-efficient buildings is becoming increasingly urgent. Written by Roger Hunt & Marianne Suhr (co-presenter of BBC2’s Restoration), and with an introduction from Channel 4’s Kevin McCloud, the Old House Eco Handbook shows homeowners, architects and builders how to make houses – from humble terraces to palatial piles – energy-efficient and low carbon without devaluing their future sustainability or their character. Throughout their lavishly illustrated book, the authors consider the knock-on effects of eco-improvements to a building in relation to everything from improved airtightness and thermal insulation to the installation of solar panels. By examining the potential impact of these changes, the Old House Eco Handbook provides practical solutions for anyone who cares for an old building, helping to safeguard the future of our built heritage. The Spark has three copies of the book, worth £30 each, to give away. Simply tell us the name of the TV show that Kevin McCloud is most often associated with. Send your answers, along with your name, address and phone number on a postcard to Eco Handbook Comp, The Spark, 86 Colston St, Bristol BS1 5BB. Entries must be received by October 24. You can also enter online at www.thespark.co.uk/competitions. The Old House Eco Handbook is published by Frances Lincoln: www.franceslincoln.com

wind farm is likely to be made in the early autumn. There are many potential investors in community energy in the area, but they may find that there’s no share offer open when they have funds available, or that the minimum subscription exceeds the funds they have to hand at the time. With this in mind, BEC has teamed up with the Bristol Credit Union to set up the “Bristol Community Energy Saver” account. This is a special account that enables you to save money with the intention of subscribing to a future share offer. Once you’ve saved enough money, and a share offer is open, Bristol Credit Union writes to you with the details of the share offer, and you can transfer your money into BEC shares. Bristol Power Co-op (BPC) raised its target of £145,000 by the end of March this year, enabling the group to put solar panels on the roof of Hamilton House in Stokes Croft, and 258 solar panels on 23 residential homes in Lockleaze. On the strength of this, BPC is being loaned another £90,000 to put solar panels on 25 further homes in south Bristol. It is now launching its second share offer in September, this time aiming for half a million pounds to put more solar panels on Bristol roofs, and is planning a community solar farm for the city. www.bristolenergy.coop www.bristolpower.coop

9/8/13 14:02:30

Invest in Bristol’s green future with free solar energy Invest in cheaper electricity

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Community-owned solar Bristol Power Co-op is community-owned and operated. We save costs by installing at scale, streets at a time. We work with the public to create neighbourhood solar groups, with the bonus of building resilient communities. All profitsare channelled back in the local community.

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It’s time to take the power back

Bristol Energy Cooperative Investing in renewables, cutting carbon, building community The story so far Formed in 2011, we’re a not-for-profit, community-owned green energy company. We run renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects in Bristol and the surrounding area, and fund these through community share offers on a revolving fund model. Last year our first community share offer raised £125,000 from 150 investors. We used the money to fund solar panels at Easton Community Centre, Hamilton House, and Knowle West Media Centre, who all benefit from the electricity generated. We provide social, financial, and environmental returns to our investors, plus a nice warm feeling from benefiting the community!

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The next phase ● Our second share oﬀer - for more solar panels - runs from

September to November 2013. ● We’ve just launched a Community Energy Savings account with the Bristol Credit Union. ● We’re involved with a wind farm project to the north of Bristol, between the M4 and M48 motorways.

Like to know more? To ﬁnd out how to invest, volunteer, or do both, visit www.bristolenergy.coop Bristol Energy Cooperative is the trading name of Bristol Community Energy Limited, a Community Beneﬁt Society registered in England, Registration No. 31313R.

9/8/13 14:02:30

12 ignite september compiled by Juliet Garcia

get involved!

the main event: Love Life Day, Bristol

email editor@thespark.co.uk to give us info on your campaigns, events & projects

we Love Life! on September 28 Bristol’s

Windmill Hill City Farm is hosting Love Life Day, a family event to promote sustainable, green, healthy living, to the local community. Bike charity Lifecycle will be running a children’s bike swap as well as a bike rodeo and Dr Bike will be on hand to offer expert bike care tips. Parents4play will be making models from junk; there will be complementary health taster sessions, plenty of great food and drink, and of course lots and lots of music. The Spark will be there too, giving away free goody bags to the first 100 or so families through the gates. Come and say hello! £3 adults, £1 kids. www.windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk

strings attached Aug 30

-Sept 8 This year’s Bristol Festival of Puppetry includes Aardman characters, a late night Smoking Puppet Cabaret and the Creatures of Southville Carnival. With shows & films for adults & children, the festival is a unique look into the world of puppetry. www.puppetplace.org/festival

Now in its sixth year Zero Waste Week, which runs from September 2-8 invites you to reduce landfill waste and cut down your impact on the environment while saving money. Get involved and make your pledge to be a zero hero: you’ll get daily emailsthrough the week to keep you on track and you’ll be in with a chance of winning some fabulous prizes too. Sign up now at www.zerowasteweek.co.uk

Oriental images until Sept completely batty Sept 6 27 To Capture a Shadow, at the Royal Bath Literary & Scientific Institute, is a collection of rare photographs dating from pre-1860s China. Free to enter, this exhibition gives a rare insight into an ancient culture.10am-4pm (closed Sundays). www.brlsi.org/events-proceedings/events

The Vallis Veg Bat Walk is a chance to find out what species are living on the farm, just outside Frome. Join the walk as dusk falls, exploring the darkened woods using bat detectors to try and find these elusive creatures. 7.30pm; £4 adults, £2 kids. Places limited. www.frome-tc.gov.uk/events

Bristol’s Better Food Company is holding their second Better Food Festival - eight days of events celebrating local food - from September 14. The week kicks off with Down On the Farm Day, which includes visits to four local gowing projects including the Yeo Valley farm and The Community Farm in Chew Magna, and continues with talks on food and nutrition, a ‘pub’ quiz and ends with the return of their popular Meet the Producer day on September 21: an opportunity to talk to some of the great people who provide the food on your plate. www.betterfood.co.uk Based in Bruton, Somerset Wyke Farms, the UK’s largest independent cheese producer, is inviting primary schools across the Brue Valley to help launch an important new green initiative which will ensure that the company becomes entirely energy self-sufficient. Wyke Farms’ new biogas plant is a first for the dairy industry. To celebrate this important innovation the company is looking for creative young people to think green and sustainable and create decorations for a special launch event taking place on September 19. For more information about how to get involved contact charlotte.davies@wykefarms.com

eat up your greens Sept

14-15 The Incredible Edible Somerset Open Gardens weekend will show off the county’s edible assets, community orchards & home gardens. With free workshops & projects, it’s a chance to learn new skills, tickle your tastebuds and be inspired! www.incredible-edible-somerset.ning.com

yoga is as yoga does

September 20-22 Events are taking place in Camerton, Exeter, Plymouth, Torbay, Bristol, Manchester and Brighton for this year’s Yoga for Peace weekend. Why not join in, help celebrate peace & raise money for charities supporting people affected by war.? www.yogasara.co.uk

almanac

Full moons: Aug 21 (sunrise 6.08am; sunset 8.34pm), Sept 19 (sunrise 6.54am; sunset 7.18pm), Oct 19 (sunrise 7.44am; sunset 6.11pm) Nov 17 (sunrise 7.34am; sunset 4.31pm). Clocks go back Oct 27; Winter issue of The Spark out Nov 25.

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super suppers

Sept 14-29 Love food? Then you’ll love the Weston Super Food Festival, a celebration of all that’s good about the wonderful food & drink made in the West. Explore vibrant food markets, grab a snack from the street food stalls & pick up some tips from professional chefs. www.westonsuperfoodfestival.co.uk

father of India Sep 22 Arnos

Vale Cemetery honours India’s social reformer, who died in Bristol in 1833, with a Rajah Rammohun Roy Commemoration. Find out about his inspiring actions, including efforts to abolish both child marriage and sati, where a widow was forced onto her husband’s funeral pyre. www.arnosvale.org.uk/events Congratulations to western outlaw Jesse James and the late pop superstar Freddie Mercury, who both celebrated their birthdays on Sept 5; Sept 8 is the UN’s International Literacy Day; poets and starcrossed lovers Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning were married on Sept 12, 1846; Shaka

film fest Sept17-22 Bristol’s annual

Encounters Festival brings some of the best unseen short films, animations and new talent to the city with pop-up cinemas, workshops and music to enjoy. Ich bin’s Helmut, (above, Nicolas Steiner, 2009) is just one of the Swiss-themed attractions this year. www.encounters-festival.org.uk

doors of perception Sept

28-29 Bristol Green Doors brings together householders & organisations to celebrate how people can make their homes fit for the future: a unique chance to peek behind front doors & discover energysaving measures from low-energy lighting to biomass heating systems. www.bristolgreendoors.org

kaSenzangakhona, also known as Shaka Zulu, the most influential leader of the Zulu Kingdom, died on Sept 22, 1828. Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I Have a Dream’ address was copyrighted on Oct 2, 1963 - six weeks after he gave the speech! 100 years ago, on Oct 7, 1913, Henry Ford instituted

Celebrate World Peace Day with Bristol Makes Peace, September 21 - an afternoon of talks, music, meetings & discussions. Speakers include the Barefoot Doctor, Jo Berry, Rissa Mohabir and some big names to be announced! Promoted by local laughter guru Joe Hoare (author of Awakening the Laughing Buddha Within) and the former team from the much-missed Pierian Centre. City Hall, College Green, Bristol: entry free! www.facebook.com/BristolMakesPeace Bath & North East Somerset Council have launched a Bike Loan Scheme for people living or working in the area. Supported by Bike It in Radstock and Take Charge, Bath, loan is free and people can chose from a robust road bike, an electric bike or a folding bicycle. Simply call the nearest participating bike shop to make an appointment and check availability, then turn up and collect your bike, lights, lock, and panniers. The bike can be used for up to four weeks (subject to demand) and a returnable deposit is required. Free cycle training, journey planning advice and bus taster tickets are also available. Email travel.roadshow@westofengland.org or call 0117 3521105 for more information

the world’s first moving assembly line. Had he lived, Dylan Thomas would have been 99 years old on Oct 27; Nov 7 is the centenery of the birth of footballer, philosopher and Nobel Prize-winner Albert Camus: ‘what I know most surely about morality and the duty of man I owe to sport’.

9/8/13 14:02:36

Avalon

Faery Fayre + Ball 25 - 26 - 27 October

! m E fil 5W w R e v r n sK ou j29 ch /u at be W tu. u yo

Interested in using creative arts therapeutically in healthcare or education?

Friday 8pm: At Assembly Rooms 'Goblin Market' performance by Elizabeth-Jane Baldry & Maxine Fone of Christina Rossetti’s poem £15

If so, come and attend our Creative Arts Therapies Introductory Workshop.

Find out more about our Creative Arts Therapies Foundation Degree spark_BFC_Autumn13_nofonts.pdf commencing September 2013 – places still available! Sat

29/07/2013

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& Sun from 10.30am: At Town Hall, Avalon Faery Fayre with Jasmine Becket-Griffith, Josephine Wall and many more, + stalls FREE

Saturday 7 September 10am-4.00pm

Saturday 8pm: Avalon Faery Ball with The Dolmen and debut UK performance with RAPALJE from Holland - Tickets £25

Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3QY Cost: £15.00 To book your place or find out more about Creative Arts Therapies Foundation Degrees

0117 312 5171 |

www.cityofbristol.ac.uk

CMY

0117 9351725

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Wednesday 4th September 1.30-3.30 Bath Small group psychodynamic reflective practice sessions to support clinical supervision explored through the medium of dramatherapy.

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9/8/13 14:02:41

14 ignite october/november get involved! email editor@thespark.co.uk to give us info on your campaigns, events & projects

what’s the story? October

Celebrating and remembering unique, important & influential people as well as key events in the struggle for racial equality, this year’s Black History Month sees events & exhibitions taking place around the UK. www.blackhistorymonthuk.co.uk Picture: Memoirs of a Black Englishman www.tangentbooks.co.uk

watch the birdie Oct 2 Stoke great and small October 4 Park Estate’s Owl Prowl is the perfect evening stroll for anyone with an interest in our feathered friends. During this woodland walk Ian McGuire will attempt to introduce you to these mysterious animals. 7-9pm, Tickets from £3, pre-booking required. www.bristol.gov.uk/EventViewer

was chosen as World Animal Day because it is the feast day of Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals. Rescue shelters run fundraising events, animal conservation is taught in schools and many donate to animal charities. Check out the website to get involved. www.worldanimalday.org.uk

If you live in Bristol you cannot have helped but notice the monthly Make Sunday Special events, where streets in the city centre are closed off to traffic, and people are encouraged to enjoy markets, street performers and historic tours. The events are part of a six month trial, and the last two dates in the trial run are September 29 and October 20, the last of which sees Bristol host the World’s largest cycle powered, cycle-in cinema. A decision will be made shortly on whether to make Make Sunday Special permanent: use it or lose it! www.bristol.gov.uk/page/leisure-and-culture/ make-sundays-special

sing if you’re winning

Oct 11-12 Now in its 4th year the Gathering Voices Festival of Song is an inclusive, intergenerational celebration of the human voice. Covering a variety of styles and taking place across the region, enjoy live performances, workshops, masterclasses & more. www.festivalofsong.org.uk

food for thought

Oct 26-27 Taking place on UWE’s Frenchay campus, the Bristol Home, Food & Drink Festival features loads of local produce, celeb chefs (including Martin Blunos, Chris Wicks & Toby Gritten), and showcases the very best food, drink & homewares the city has to offer www.homeandfoodfestival.co.uk

pump it up

Nov 15 Welsh folksters Allan Ny Y Fan have taken their traditional, rootsbased music to audiences around the world. Now they’re bringing their mix of Welsh & Celtic tunes to the Village Pump Friday Folk club, the Lamb Inn, Trowbridge; a great chance to enjoy their cheerful, passionate sound. www.villagepump.org.uk

did you know?

Dozens of carnivals happen around Sparkland throughout the year, perhaps the most famous of which are the Somerset Guy Fawkes carnivals that take place every November and raise thousands of pounds for local good causes.

Spark74_DWB7.indd 14

book ‘em! Oct 19-27 Unputdownable, Mexican stand off Oct 26 the Bristol Festival of Literature, is back for a third year. Featuring 40 brilliant writers in 30 events, books are off the shelf and coming alive in caves, pop up shops, cafes, outdoor trails & art hubs. Get to grips with thrillers and fiction, see books performed & try writing yourself. www.unputdownable.org

The Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday that not only remembers the dead but also celebrates life. During the Day of the Dead Festival Bristol will take on a Latin American flavour, with salsa, mariachi, pumpkin carving lessons and ghost walks. www.dayofthedeadfest.co.uk

the wheel goes round

choose your mask Nov 3

October 31 Celebrate Chalice Well’s Wheel of the Year Festival with a relaxing day in their World Peace Garden. Join the meditation at 12pm for reflection and gratitude. Entry into the stunning gardens is free from 10am - 12pm; gardens close at 4pm. www.chalicewell.org.uk

The hypnotic, spectacular Hindi drama Kathakali at the Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford-on-Avon, features lavish costumes, mask-like make up, captivating dance, flamboyant headdresses & traditional rhythms. Dance & make-up workshop included in ticket price. www.wiltshiremusic.org

cinemagic November 28-Dec 8 xmas xomes early from This year’s Bath Film Festival, will show more than 40 films including features, documentaries & shorts from around the world, how-to events, talks by film industry insiders & a special programme dedicated to sci-fi art & design. www.bathfilmfestival.org.uk

Nov 29 The Spiegeltent returns to Bristol for its festive celebration: a unique dinner & entertainment evening featuring some of the UK’s finest cabaret performers, including Mat Ricardo, hoola hoop expert Lisa Lottie and hilarious ballroom dancers Barry & Yvonne. www.christmasspiegeltent.co.uk

Part of an ancient tradition which stretches back to the 17th Century, when towns and villages in the county used them to mark the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, the processions take place at night and include dozens of illuminated floats, known locally as ‘carts’.

The carts are up to 100 feet long or more and are covered in as many as 25,000 lightbulbs fantastic visually for the crowds but not exactly eco-friendly, but things are changing. Bridgwater carnival (which takes place this year on November 2), is the largest illuminated event of its kind in

October 21 is ‘officially’ Apple Day, although there are events taking place all over Sparkland throughout the month, including at Coleridge Cottage, Nether Stowey on Oct 26, where you can join in apple-related fun, games and activities, have your apples identified by the experts from Charlton Orchards and enjoy the day discovering the former home of the author of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan. More events at www.commonground.org Abolish Empty Office Blocks (AEOB) is a new group set up to do something about the growing number of office buildings left empty while ordinary working people cannot afford to buy or rent homes. According to AEOB, Bristol currently has over 2 million square feet of unlet offices - a staggering 50 acres of unused space. The group, which is seeking charitable status, is issuing a Community Share offer so that local people can invest in buying up some of this empty office space and converting it into permanently affordable homes. AEOB are negotiating to purchase a site in the Whitehall area of Bristol that could potentially provide homes for up to 60 people. The building would be run as a co-operative, with a community café, permaculture gardens & playspace for children. Investments from £50 upwards welcome. www.aeobhousepeople.org.uk Wessex Water has launched a new environmental grant scheme, supporting water saving projects across the West. Running until March 2014 Sustainable Watermarks provides grants from £150 to £1,500 to groups involved in environmental projects, from schools, and parish councils to community organisations. www.wessexwater.co.uk/watermark The Woodland Trust & The National Trust have joined forces to buy 825 acres of ancient woodland on the northern fringes of Dartmoor. Visitors to Fingal Woods have been unable to enjoy much of the stunning scenery as there is little public access. The partnership aims to open 45km of new footpaths but needs your help to make it happen. www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/fingle-woods

Europe: last year 900 low-energy bulbs were used to light the official Guy Fawkes cart, which led the procession. Carts in the Burnham-On-Sea and Glastonbury carnivals have also started to employ low-energy lightbulbs in recent years. www.somersetcarnivals.co.uk

9/8/13 14:02:45

Foundation Course, Teacher Training and Yoga Therapy Courses, Classes, Workshops and Retreats in Devon and North India.

The Devon

School

Yoga

Telephone: 01392 420573 Email: info@devonyoga.com

www.devonyoga.com



sustainability



spirituality



well-being



HAWKWOOD

Courses & retreats—NEW brochure available now! SEPTEMBER: The Story of Food ~ Transition Skills ~ Being of the Earth ~ Soap Making

OCTOBER: Meditation ~ Drawing Nature Enneagram ~ The Forgotten Tongue ~ Textiles Contemplative Photography ~ Biodynamic Food Playback Theatre ~ Woodcarving: whittling

A member of the Independent Yoga Network.

yoga

arts

NOVEMBER: Raw Food ~ Sounding Bowls Creative Crafts ~ Poetry ~ Moving from Fear to Love ~ Aromatherapy ~ Natural Skincare Lots more courses all year round. Only 40 mins from Bristol in lovely grounds. Warm welcome PLUS DELICIOUS FOOD! Hawkwood College, Painswick Old Road, STROUD GL6 7QW 

www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk



HAWKWOOD 6-8 Sept Rumi—Andrew Harvey 20-22 Sept Peace in the Body 21-22 Sept Singing—Helen Yeomans 27-29 Sept Happiness—Miriam Akhtar 3 Nov Raw Food for Winter Wellness

20-22 Peace in the Body Gerda Boyesen’s work 21-22 Glorious Songs Helen Yeomans 27-29 The How of Happiness Miriam Akhtar

01453 759034



Plus Ignite section Personal Development Workshops and Coaching

17 Nov Poetic Edges—Jay Ramsay 40 mins from Bristol near Stroud GL6 7QW

(no previous experience of horses needed) Enhancing: • Authenticity • Emotional and Self Awareness • Intuitive Communication • Personal Empowerment

01453-759034

www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk

sustainability

6-8 RUMI— Love in Action Andrew Harvey

Learning with horses is a wonderful & powerful experience

25-27 Oct Playback Theatre



Highlights

SPARK ISSUE 74 19 Aug—end Nov 1 /8th page 88mm h x 132mm w

Courses & retreats

arts

September

Rosie Withey 

spirituality

HAWKWOOD



International personal development coach well-being Eponaquest and Riding Coach (BHSII)

SPARK ISSUE 19 Aug—end N Logo + 110 wo

Call Rosie on 01761 453168 / 07775 594294 For more info and dates – or www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk Visit www.horsesasteachers .co.uk

Dynamic courses, tranquil surroundings, delicious food. Only 40 minutes from Bristol/Bath. September: Rumi, Andrew Harvey * Biodynamic Bodywork * Glorious Songs, Helen Yeomans * Happiness * Being of the Earth * DIY October: Meditation * Drawing Nature* Equine communication * Enneagram * Contemplative Photography * Biodynamic Food * Playback Theatre * Mindfulness November : Colours and Soul * Raw Food * Sounding Bowls * Esoteric Philosophy * Creative Crafts * Poetry * Moving from Fear to Love * Aromatherapy * Natural skincare Year-round courses * venue hire * sculpture studio For full programme and information, contact us now: Hawkwood College, Painswick Old Road, Stroud GL6 7QW 01453-759034 info@hawkwoodcollege.co.uk www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk

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16 events diary

advertise your events for just 90p a word • book your ad at www.thespark.co.uk

regular Mondays

Who are the Quakers? What do they do? Come and find out at a Quaker meeting near you. Between Saturday 28 September and Saturday 5 October Bristol Quakers are hosting special events to invite the Bristol public to find out more about us and our Meetings for Worship. Everyone welcome. Saturday 28 September,

Drop-in

Horfield Meeting House 300 Gloucester Road, BS7 8PD, 10.30am-3pm Visit the meeting house, come and talk with us. Light refreshments.

Sunday 29 September,

Bring A Friend Sunday

Bedminster Meeting House Wedmore Vale, BS3 5HX, 10.45-11.45am …but you don’t have to find a Quaker to invite you, just come along!

Sunday 29 September,

Open Meeting for Worship

Thornbury Quaker Meeting The Chantry, BS35 1HB, 10.30am A special welcome to anyone who’s wondering what we’re all about.

Sunday 29 September,

‘Lover of Souls’:

a dramatic evocation of the life of Elizabeth Hooton Frenchay Meeting House Beckspool Road, BS16 1NT, 1.30pm Elizabeth Hooton was a 17th century travelling Quaker minister who endured persecution and imprisonment and ended her days in Jamaica. Collection for Seir Women’s Co-operative, Palestine. For further details call 0117 956 7337

Tuesday 1 October,

Quaker Worship & how it guides our lives Horfield Meeting House Light refreshments 7pm, discussion at 7.30pm

Saturday 5 October,

Redland Quakers at Whiteladies Road Market Apsley Road, BS8 2ST, 8.30am-2pm Come & meet us on our stall selling Fair Trade goodies.

For locations & times of Quaker Meetings in Bristol, Bath, Weston-Super-Mare and the surrounding areas, please see our Listings ad in Spiritual Paths & Practices.

www.bristolquakers.org.uk

0117 942 9142

Spark74_DWB7.indd 16

Free Happiness Workshops from Light Box - unlocking people’s creative potential to be happy. 2-4pm. Different theme each week. Broadmead, Bristol. Book online: www.wearelightbox.co.uk or call 0117 329 0908 Tuesdays Easton Community Choir. A fun, friendly and vibrant choir singing a glorious range of songs, 7.30-9pm. www.eastoncommunitychoir.org.uk Tuesdays Yoga: Beyond the Physical, towards the Spiritual through the Philosophy. Bristol-based study group. Evenings, starts 24th September. Email: b.yogastudygroup@gmail.com 0779 189 2362 Tuesdays, 3rd Monthly Bristol Laughter Workshops with Joe Hoare. Learn to laugh more, for your health, wellbeing and happiness. 7.30-9pm, from £7. Also Laughter Facilitation Skills: www.joehoare.co.uk www.bristollaughterclub.com Wednesdays Bristol South Music Workshop & Choir - open to all. Please apply by 23/9/13 for first meeting 2/10/2013. See ‘Music’ in Listings. First Wednesday of the month Reflective Practice - for Therapists and Group Workers. Monthly – Bath. 1.30-3.30pm, starts 4th September. Small group sessions to support clinical practice, explored through the medium of dramatherapy. Scenario Arts in Personal Development 01225 427601 www.dramatherapy.org.uk Rachel@scenario59.freeserve.co.uk Wednesdays - monthly Bristol Feral Choir. Fun, feral and friendly improvising choir exploring voices at play. Grow creative confidence and vocal technique • Drop-in classes, 1st or 2nd Wednesday each month, £7/£5. Fab green Bristol location, Greenhouse Studio, 292 Ashley Down Rd www.bristolferalchoir.org.uk / www.goingferal.org.uk email bristolferalchoir@gmail.com text 07837 599239 or find us on Facebook Thursdays Free Signposting Service from The Happiness Project - visit the signposting wall for a monthly roundup of Bristol’s events and opportunities for enhancing your wellbeing. Open from 10am. Broadmead, Bristol. Come and drop in. Free tea! More information: www.wearelightbox.co.uk or call 0117 329 0908

september

Fridays – 2nd monthly Sound Bath / Meditation, nr Whiteladies Road, Bristol, BS6 6TN. 7.30–8.30pm, £10. Experience deep relaxation of mind and body, immersed in the cosmic vibrations of gongs and singing bowls. celia@soundscape.org.uk 07742 131549 www.soundscape.org.uk

Sunday 1 September

GRAND SPIRITUAL EVENT

Saturdays - monthly

Bristol’s Fastest Growing Holistic Fayre! SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 1ST Grand Hotel, Broad Street, Bristol BS1 2EL 10.30am - 5.30pm Over 70 stands including diverse range of therapies, workshops, aura photography, renowned mediums, gifts ranging from incense & candles to gems & crystals. Entry £2 Entry with all workshops £5

Reiki Exchange, 4 sessions, £40/£20 (conc). www.learnreiki-bristol.co.uk Saturdays - monthly Bristol Spiritual Discussion Group. Informal discussion group with spiritual, philosophical and psychological topics. Meetings on Saturdays 3-5.30pm. www.meetup.com/SpiritualDiscussion-Group-in-Bristol Tel: 0750 445 1954 Saturdays and 2nd Wednesdays Your Community Clinic: enjoy holistic therapies for less. Weekly Saturday clinic in St Werburghs and monthly Wednesday clinic in Broadmead. Qualified, insured therapists offer massage and other therapies for £13-£35. Everyone of all ages welcome whether suffering from long-term health problems, or after some “me-time”. Reiki shares and courses also available. For full treatment list and further info: www.yourcommunityclinic.com or 07809 736187 / 07982 243804

autumn

arts



sustainability



spirituality



www.starnation.co.uk 0117 955 2455 / 07796 696 568

well-being



HAWKWOOD

Thursday 5 Sep - Thurs 17 Oct

Energetic Becoming: An Energy Courses & retreats—NEW brochure available Psychology andnow! Process group. Introduction 5th September (£20). SEPTEMBER: The Story of Food ~ Transition louanne@energycounselling.co.uk Skills ~ Being of the Earth ~ Soap Making 0787 110 5335 OCTOBER: Meditation ~ Drawing Nature September Saturday 7 September Enneagram ~ The Forgotten Tongue ~ Textiles

Highlights Contemplative Photography ~ Biodynamic Food Playback Theatre ~ Woodcarving: whittling ‘Into the Forum’ Bristol. Exploring 6-8 RUMI— Love in Action Andrew Harvey the empowering practice of Forum NOVEMBER: Raw Food ~ Sounding Bowls Theatre & its facilitation in

Creative Crafts ~ Poetry ~ Moving from Fear to group work. Love ~ Aromatherapy ~ Natural Skincare

Scenario Arts in Personal

20-22 Peace in the Body Gerda Boyesen’s work 21-22 Glorious Songs

Lots more courses all year round.01225 427601 Helen Yeomans Development Only 40 mins from Bristol in lovely grounds. www.dramatherapy.org.uk 27-29 The How of Happiness Warm welcome PLUS DELICIOUS FOOD! Rachel@scenario59.freeserve.co.uk Miriam Akhtar

Hawkwood College, Painswick Old Road, STROUD GL6 7QW

Saturday 7 September



www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk



01453 759034



Glastonbury Free Festival of Light. Assembly Rooms, High Street. Readers, Healers, Therapists, Associated Trade Stands. Free Admission 10am-5pm. www.festivaloflight.biz

HAWKWOOD

SPARK ISSUE 74 198Aug—end Nov Saturday 7 - Sun September 1 Art /8th page Workshop in the of Fooling with Jonathan Kay: Getting Out 88mm h x 132mm w Of The Audience. The Camino

Courses & retreats

6-8 Sept Rumi—Andrew Harvey 20-22 Sept Peace in the Body 21-22 Sept Singing—Helen Yeomans 27-29 Sept Happiness—Miriam Akhtar

Centre, Glastonbury. £125/£100 conc. www.johnathankay.co.uk

25-27 Oct Playback Theatre 3 Nov Raw Food for Winter Wellness

Plus Ignite section

17 Nov Poetic Edges—Jay Ramsay

Sunday 8 - Friday 13 September

40 mins from Bristol near Stroud GL6 7QW

01453-759034

The Catalyst Programme. For young adults 18-25 who want to shape their future and make a difference. arts sustainability 01647 spirituality 252 983well-being New Dimensions clare@embercombe.co.uk HAWKWOOD Bristol Positive Living Group Embercombe, Nr Exeter, Devon. www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk A monthly meeting of like-minded people, www.embercombe.co.uk/catalyst www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk 



to hear talks on a wide range of esoteric subjects

Thursday 12 -delicious Sun 15 September Sunday 15 September 2013 Dynamic courses, tranquil surroundings, food. Only THE POWER OF RECONNECTING 40 minutes from Bristol/Bath. TO MOTHER EARTH PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL September: Rumi, Andrew Harvey * Biodynamic Bodywork Andy Baggott www.andybaggott.com Sunday 20Songs, October 2013 * Glorious Helen Yeomans * Happiness * Being of HOW TO REAWAKEN THE LIFE theLEARN Earth * DIY YOU DESERVE 4 Days October: * Drawing Nature* Equine communicaDennis Lindsey Meditation www.thelindseypractice.co.uk Thursday 12 – Sunday 15 September, Sunday 17 November 2013 tion * Enneagram * Contemplative Photography * Biody11 am – 8 pm THE MAGIC OF CLAIRVOYANCE namic Food * Playback Theatre * Mindfulness Jenny Ann www.jennyann.co.uk : Colours and Soul * Raw Food * Sounding November Held at: The Friends’ Meeting House, arnolfini.org.uk 126 Hampton Road, Redland, Bristol. BS6 6JE Bowls * Esoteric Philosophy * Creative Crafts * Poetry * Everyone welcome. Refreshments included @arnolfiniarts / #4Days 3.00pm – 5.00pm Entrance £5.00 Moving from Fear to Love * Aromatherapy * Natural skinFfi contact 01749 678834 care leasurs@tiscali.co.uk www.positivelivinggroups.org.uk Year-round courses * venue hire * sculpture studio For full programme and information, contact us now: Hawkwood College, Painswick Old Road, Stroud GL6 7QW 01453-759034 info@hawkwoodcollege.co.uk www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk

9/8/13 14:02:49

SPAR 19 Au Logo

A LTERNATIVES St James’s Piccadilly / London

Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling in Schools (Psychodynamic Approaches)

This one year course is open to: ●

●

Experienced school counsellors seeking to develop their practice and update their knowledge & practice within a psychodynamic theoretical framework Diploma Graduate Counsellors looking to take on work as a school counsellor / working with young people in other settings. Counsellors who work with young people in FE colleges and elsewhere (16-19)

Delivered by The Bridge Foundation and Wessex Counselling Service. Participants are awarded a Wessex Diploma on meeting course requirements. Run in parallel with Bath Spa University for those who also wish to enrol on a Post-Graduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice at Masters level alongside the training. Twelve Saturdays per annum from October 2013 September 2014, in Bristol/Frome Cost: £1,500 per annum (monthly payment option). Excludes cost of clinical supervision which can be undertaken locally with an approved supervisor.

Events inspiring heart, mind and soul

Once-weekly Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Training - September 2013-2015 Wessex Counselling Service are now recruiting for our Advanced Diploma Training. Applicants with a Diploma in Psychodynamic Counselling or equivalent & certificated previous learning experience from a similar training are invited to apply. ● Leads to registration as a psychodynamic psychotherapist practising once-weekly psychotherapy (application to BPC for direct accreditation). ● Graduates are granted direct entry onto the Bath Spa MA in Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice (see below)* ● This qualification provides a foundation for psychoanalytic psychotherapy training and for further training to achieve a licence to practise twice-weekly psychodynamic psychotherapy with Wpf-therapy. ● The course has a pluralist ethos within the psychodynamic and psychoanalytic traditions. * Completion counts towards the MA in Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice - at Bath Spa University (BSU). The seminars and supervision take place on Fridays in Frome. Attendance at two Saturday workshops p.a. is also required. Cost: £2,500 per annum (monthly payment option). Includes cost of clinical supervision but excludes cost of personal therapy. Application for direct BPC accreditation in process for Autumn 2013

ANITA MOORJANI Dying to Be Me

Saturday 28 September

Saturday 5 October

www.alternatives.org.uk

Two-Day Introduction to Transactional Analysis: 9th and 10th November at the Vassal Centre BS16 2QQ The official ITA 101 course. £150 Foundation Certificate in Transactional Analysis: Counselling; Psychotherapy; Coaching; Personal Development: From January 2014. Ten weekends. £150 per weekend Advanced Training in TA Counselling & Psychotherapy. Next entry in January 2014 For further information contact Peter Flowerdew on 0117 950 3420. peter_flowerdew@hotmail.com.

For further information and to apply see

www.wessexcounsellingservice.co.uk or tel: 01373 453355

The Contemporar y College of Homeopathy

Homeopathy

BRANDON BAYS Living the Journey

Complementary Therapies for Mind, Body and Spirit

Well-established complementary methods of treating individuals & assisting in their journey towards good health.

Getting others better

We offer individual appointments with highly qualified & experienced practitioners in the heart of South Bristol. • Acupuncture • Osteopathy • Cranial Osteopathy • Homeopathy • Counselling • Reﬂexology • Holistic Massage • Shiatsu Please call reception for more details 0117 923 1138 visit our website www.centreforwholehealth.org

•Free open days •A four year part-time training •Weekend introductory courses practitioner The four year course is ideal for those •A one year foundation course either looking for a vocation, or those

in homeopathic medicine •A free clinic for patients (either GP referred or independent bookings)

The South West’s most prestigious training provider for massage therapy since 1987

considering changing their existing one. The course runs ten weekends a year with directed home study

◆ Professional Training Courses in Holistic Massage, 2 intakes a year in February and October. Level 4 MTI Diploma. ◆ NEW for 2013. Level 4 MTI Diploma in Remedial and Sports Massage. Starts September.

Courses run at Engineers House, Clifton, Bristol

◆ Introductory weekends running throughout the year

For more information please phone Kate on 01275 877083 or visit www.conhom.com

◆ Advanced Workshops and Massage Practice days ◆ Regular Supervision Groups with BCMB tutors

T: 0117 377 1201 E: enquiries@bristolmassage.co.uk W: www.bristolmassage.co.uk

The College is accredited by the Society of Homeopaths and all major homeopathic organisations

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18 events diary Friday 13 September

Saturday 21 - Sun 22 September

P/T Dramatherapy Foundation Course. 5 themed weekends (one a month). An enriching journey of the models, methods & application of Dramatherapy. Sep 2013 - Jan 2014. Scenario Arts in Personal Development 01225 427601 www.dramatherapy.org.uk Rachel@scenario59.freeserve.co.uk

Sustainable Beekeeping - Learn the theory and practice of sustainable beekeeping in the beautiful Forest of Dean. Hands-on with honey bees, their natural lives and landscapes, pollination and biodiversity, making low-cost hives. Phone 01600 714848. Online: www.beesfordevelopment.org

Saturday 14 - Sat 21 September

Saturday 21 September

Better Food Festival. Celebrate amazing, local, proper food with a week of tours, talks, quizzes and tastings. Includes • Down on the Farm Day, Sat 14th, £7.50 coach trip takes you to the Severn Project, Yeo Valley, The Story Group at Wrington Vale (with a stop for BBQ lunch) and the Community Farm, Chew Magna • Better Food Festival Pub Quiz, Fri 20th • Meet The Producer Day, Sat 21st, in both Better Food shops • and more! For details visit www.betterfood.co.uk or call 0117 935 1725 or pick up a newsletter in-store: 94 Whiteladies Road, Clifton and Sevier Street, St Werburghs.

www.festivaloflight.biz Winter Gardens, Weston-super-Mare. Free Admission 10am-5pm • Readers • Healers • Therapists • Crystals • Presentations. 01934 624939

Sunday 15 September EFT, Trauma and Embodiment, a day for transforming trauma. 10am-5pm, Fulcrum, 3 Grove Road, BS6 6UJ. Booking essential. www.energycounselling.co.uk LouAnne 0787 110 5335, louanne@energycounselling.co.uk Monday 16 - Fri 20 September Heart of Leadership. For business leaders who want to grasp ‘the extraordinary gift of business: to make things happen for the greater good’. www.embercombe.co.uk and click ‘for businesses’ Tuesday 17 September Bristol Laughter Workshop. See Tuesdays Tues 17 - Thurs 19 September Reiki Courses, 12 weeks, £120/£60 (conc). www.learnreiki-bristol.co.uk Friday 20 September Environmental Expressive Arts Programme starting at Bicton College, East Devon. Deepening our creative relationship with the Earth and each other. For more info www.bicton.ac.uk Friday 20 - Sun 22 September Ante-Natal Retreat, The Lighthouse, nr Frome. www.wideopenarts.co.uk

Sunday 22 - Fri 27 September The Journey ‘Finding Earth, Finding Soul’. A powerful week for people who want their lives to make a difference to our world. 01647 252 983 clare@embercombe.co.uk Embercombe, Nr Exeter, Devon. www.embercombe.co.uk/journey Monday 23 - Fri 27 September Five day workshop in the Art of Fooling with Jonathan Kay: Finding What’s Behind The Fool. The Camino Centre, Glastonbury. £350/£250 conc. www.johnathankay.co.uk Thursday 26 September Early Bird deadline for The Spark winter issue. Get the discount for your seasonal fayres, celebrations & inspirational events - winter issue covers Xmas AND the new year. 0117 914 34 34 sales@thespark.co.uk Book and pay for ads online at www.thespark.co.uk Saturday 28 September Love Life Day at Windmill HIll City Farm, Bedminster, Bristol, midday-4pm. A family afternoon with fun events, workshops, complementary health taster sessions, food and drink, and live music. The Spark will be giving away free goody bags to the first 100 families through the gates. £3 adults, £1 children. www.windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk

book an ad online at www.thespark.co.uk or email ads@thespark.co.uk • 90p a word!

october Friday 4 - Sunday 6 October 3 Day Intensive ‘The Spontaneity of Change.’ Inspiration & technique for CPD through a practical exploration of the models & application of dramatherapy. Bath. Scenario Arts in Personal Development 01225 427601 www.dramatherapy.org.uk Rachel@scenario59.freeserve.co.uk Saturday 5 October Fate, Justice and Reincarnation Workshop in Bristol 13.30-17.30. What determines our fate and our destiny? Is everything pre-ordained or do we determine our own fate? Can fate be unjust? We will examine the prevailing ideas about fate. www.meetup.com/SpiritualDiscussion-Group-in-Bristol Tel: 0750 445 1954 Saturday 5 - Sunday 6 October Windmill Hill and Victoria Park Arts Trail. 12-6pm (performance till 10pm). Over 100 artists & performers in compact South Bristol neighbourhood. Visual arts, performance and arts workshops in private houses and community venues. www.artonthehill.org.uk Saturday 12 October Healing & Spirit Fayre, Burnham on Sea Community centre, 10am till 4pm. Admission on door, for more details see www.reiki2you.co.uk Pete Nicholson 0774 986 8473, email pete.nicholson55@hotmail.co.uk Saturday 12 - Sun 13 October Workshop in the Art of Fooling with Jonathan Kay: Getting Out Of The Audience. The Camino Centre, Glastonbury. £125/£100 conc. www.johnathankay.co.uk Saturday 12 & Sun 13 October

Saturday 28 - Sun 29 September Medicine for the Earth. How do we heal our selves, heal our land? This weekend, non residential workshop will give you tools for transformation. The venue is The Asha Centre in the beautiful Forest of Dean. Details: maxinesmillie.com 0784 593 3860

Sunday 13 - Sunday 20 October

Friday 25 - Sunday 27 October

101 Introduction to Transactional Analysis, 13th & 20th October 2013. Cost £145.00 (£90 Student). The official Introduction to Transactional Analysis - a theory of personality and offers a range of models that can be used to understand communication and relationships. Come and join us in an exciting journey of discovery where you will be introduced to the main concepts of TA. Kerri Warner MSc. STA.CTA, Dip Couns. 0117 909 0784 kerriwarner@aol.com

‘The Art of Being Human’ - a weekend introduction to meditation taught by Joe Litven. Begins Friday evening with a public talk. Email: suzyulrich36@yahoo.co.uk call Suzy: 0790 095 8145 or visit bristol.shambhala.info

november Friday 1 - Sunday 3 November

Tuesday 15 October Bristol Laughter Workshop. See Tuesdays Saturday 19 - Sun 20 October Join us, and Phil Chandler of ‘The Barefoot Beekeeper’, for a weekend of Natural Beekeeping. www.westfield-farm.co.uk/bees nlv130613 Chelt Ad 50x65mm.pdf Saturday 19 - Sun 20 October

Cheltenham 19th & 20th October Holistic healthcare Complementary medicine Alternative spirituality www.naturalhealthshows.co.uk Sunday 20 October Embercombe Apple Day. Seasonal fun for all the family. Embercombe, Nr Exeter, Devon. www.embercombe.co.uk/events Monday 21 - Tues 22 October Bach Centre approved Level One Course. In Bath with experienced Registered Practitioner, Celia Stewart. Discover more about these gentle healing flower remedies. More information: www.bathholistic.co.uk 07761 016521 Friday 25 October “Being who you are: Simplicity in an age of chaos” - a free public talk by Joe Litven on Friday evening. Email: suzyulrich36@yahoo.co.uk call Suzy: 0790 095 8145 or visit bristol.shambhala.info

Kundalini Dance & Yoga Woodland Retreat 1-3 November 2013, West Wales Time for new beginnings at the Celtic New Year & New Moon: Powerful and fun transformation 1 14/06/2013 11:22 with Kundalini yoga & dance, ﬁre ritual, nature wisdom and play. All inclusive from £239.00 For bookings and further information contact Mark T.J Keane 07726 892 631 welshpioneer@yahoo.com www.sleepingserpent.com

Saturday 2 - Sun 3 November Workshop in the Art of Fooling with Jonathan Kay: Getting Out Of The Audience. The Camino Centre, Glastonbury. £125/£100 conc. www.johnathankay.co.uk Sunday 3 - Friday 8 November The Journey ‘Finding Earth, Finding Soul’. A powerful week for people who want their lives to make a difference to our world. 01647 252 983 clare@embercombe.co.uk Embercombe, Nr Exeter, Devon. www.embercombe.co.uk/journey Tuesday 19 November Bristol Laughter Workshop. See Tuesdays Monday 25 November New mag out today. The winter issue will inspire, excite, enthuse & delight you - so get cosy with a cuppa and the new Spark. 0117 914 34 34 sales@thespark.co.uk Wed 27 - Friday 29 November Speaking Out. Find your authentic voice on the issues that matter to you. 01647 252 983 clare@embercombe.co.uk Embercombe, Nr Exeter, Devon. www.embercombe.co.uk/ speakingout

just can’t get enough? for exclusive articles, news and reviews; to enter competitions, browse our a-z directory, or to read this issue on your computer go to

facebook: the spark

Spark74_DWB7.indd 18

www.thespark.co.uk

@spark_magazine

9/8/13 14:02:53

A complete Qi Gong System Founded by Dr Shen Hongxun and taught by Andy Henry

Bristol Workshops 2013 12-13 October Learn a simple yet powerful system of Chinese healing exercises to clear your body, energy system and emotions. Old tensions are quickly released leaving a sense of lightness, clarity and vitality. Students will also receive healing from the teacher. Open to all. £95 per w/end 10am - 5pm Sat & Sun

Contact: Bristol Weekend Workshops and Healing Clinic T 0117 3770103 / 07766 100383 E Taijiwuxigong@waitrose.com

Philosophy

for living!

We see and listen to so many things, yet few are significant. Trivialities may mesmerise, seduce us from the real riches and happiness of life. This introductory ten week course is designed to engender fresh perception and discussion with those interested in seeing past life’s troubled surfaces, and mere opinions, to what is reliable, lasting and true. Sort out the ideas; find depth of being. ‘Without vision the people perish’ Good use of the mind and positive emotion may follow from the profund wisdom of great teachers. Explore the world’s great schools of thought, great ways of living, from the East and the West.

PERFORMANCE

Live Art Theatre Season 18 October – 9 November Four weeks, five unmissable shows and three masterclasses.

Prior knowledge of philosophy is unnecessary, yet an open mind is always attractive and useful.

He tastes nothing who does not taste for himself .

Bath.

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20 events diary Saturday 30 November Christmas Craft Fayre and Market, 10am-4pm, Horfield Quaker Meeting House, 300 Gloucester Rd, Bristol, BS78PD. Beautiful gifts, decorations and accessories with a focus on earth-friendly, upcycled, homemade and local stalls and goods. Demonstrations and children’s craft activities. Tea, Coffee, Soup and of course, yummy cake. Entry by donation to M.S. Society. www.facebook.com/ events/301730413305659/ Enquiries to kole.morgan@yahoo.co.uk 0777 089 7373 Saturday 30 November Exploring the Healer Within. Everyone has the capacity to heal themselves, their community. This one day workshop is a starting point for your inner exploration, finding your ‘healer’ within. Details: maxinesmillie.com 0784 593 3860

december Monday 9 - Friday 13 December Five day workshop in the Art of Fooling with Jonathan Kay: Finding What’s Behind The Fool. The Camino Centre, Glastonbury. £350/£250 conc. www.johnathankay.co.uk

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ignite

22 OUT! The West’s most haunted three months of essential events and more • 80p a word

Melanie West gets spooked in Sparkland

photo: Philip Vile photo: Ludovic Hirlimann

The Red Lion Inn, Avebury, Wiltshire This old hostelry sits within the ring of monoliths that make up the Avebury stone circle.The landlord claims to sleep well within the stones but not so well outside of them! Some of his patrons may disagree. The inn apparently harbours not one but several ghosts and is rated as one of the top ten most haunted places in the country by Visit Britain. One spectral visitor is Florrie, the ghost of a 17th Century women slain, alongside her lover, by her husband.The unfortunate Florrie ended up down the 86 foot deep well, which is still visible in the pub today.The well mouth is glassed over to provide a drinks table, yet this doesn’t stop her appearing through the top, preferring to target men with beards apparently, so be warned! More dramatically a horse drawn carriage has been reported to clatter up on the cobbles, ignored by landlords, as a harbinger of tragedy for a loved one. www.red-lion-pub-avebury.co.uk

The Choughs Hotel, Chard, Somerset nt is This 16th Century establishme hidden and s way sage pas replete with old the tury Cen h 17t the ing rooms. Dur against Duke of Monmouth rebelled y of Man ed. James II and was behead on the th dea to put e his followers wer us orio not the eys, Jeffr e Judg orders of el. hot the ‘hanging judge’, who stayed at n bee e hav to ed Jeffreys’ form is report in ch whi , lace rep ﬁ the by seen crouching is a it into Set y. stor own its s turn hold ion which headstone with a faint inscript down. ide ups reads “Winifred” written na bee e hav to ed our Winifred is rum in ved ser pre w) cro (or ugh witch; a cho e hav to said a cofﬁn found in the hotel is at ed aim hy rap tog been her familiar. Pho red and the the headstone comes out blur p is said to sna a take to ng tryi of very act our has arm bring bad luck. A knight in full lady land a by , too been sighted upstairs t of par was he t ugh tho who mistakenly ! day that ival the carn www.thechoughs.co.uk

photo: Into Somerset

Dunster Castle, Minehead, Somerset Besieged, defended, demolished and renovated: Dunster Castle has a very colourful history spanning a thousand years. Due to its heritage and age it is unsurprising that it also has its ghost stories. The most frequently reported sighting is that of the Grey Lady, often seen by castle staff. She has been sighted in the billiard room and the library (how very Cluedo) as well as ascending a particular oak staircase, sometimes leaving an icy chill in her wake. She has scared many who have witnessed her and it is speculated she may have been a mistreated serving girl. A footguard wearing a tricorn hat has also been sighted within the castle’s walls; both ﬁgures appear as blurred and shadowy. The castle possesses a macabre oubliette too - an underground pit that, in medieval times, people were thrown in to starve. The ghostly cries of men and women have been reported nearby. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/dunster-castle

Spark74_DWB7.indd 22

Jamaica Inn, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall Unsurprisingly, with its’ long history of sheltering passing travellers in a remote location, Jamaica Inn has attracted a few ne’er-do-wells and underhand dealers. The Cornish coastline held many smuggling hotspots: a few tales would be told if the walls could talk and it seems sometimes they do! There have been reports of voices chattering in a foreign language, perhaps the old Cornish tongue. An old tale has it that a man was once called away from his drink outside, he left and never returned. His body was later found on the moor. His ﬁgure has been spotted sitting on a wall outside the pub, never moving or acknowledging any conversation. The sound of footsteps walking toward the bar are reputed to be him hoping to ﬁnish his drink! It is claimed that the clatter of hooves and metal rims are also heard outside, 22 perhaps trying to outrun a ghoulish highwayman? www.jamaicainn.co.uk

The Bristol Old Vic, Bristol No theatre would be complete without some reports of paranormal activity. At one time in the Old Vic’s history it was said that people preferred to walk around at night in pairs, unsettled by the evening’s unscheduled performances. Tales abound from theatre managers, staff and actors of strange occurrences. A security guard reported one evening that he caught a strong scent of lavender and his dog started barking loudly. He heard a woman’s voice tell him to “get out”; whether he returned for another shift is unknown! Andrzej Blonski, the architect leading the redevelopment of the Old Vic, also reported sensing the same lavender scent before seeing a woman wearing a crinoline dress, possibly Sarah Cready, a former theatre manager. He took her friendly demeanour to mean she approved of his work. A boy who perished in the paint shop in the 1950s is another reported apparition.

Gravel Walk, Victoria Park, Bath Not all reported ghost sightings happen within four walls; this particular pathway has had its fair share. 1976 was a high point for sightings when a young man with a school group spotted a whitehaired man in front of him, but was later too scared to talk further about it. Another group of walkers also sighted a similar apparition later that year and believed it to be a hoax. Unfortunately one person was badly shaken and is reported to have received medical attention. Naturally the area now features on guided ghost-walk tours of the city and the sightings have continued to occur, with some people reporting seeing a white mist or even the sensation of ﬁngers touching them. The old gentleman apparently has his hair tied back in a ponytail with a black ribbon, yet whether he was a local man of social standing remains a mystery. www.ghostwalksofbath.co.uk

www.bristololdvic.org.uk

k Harper photo: Brockley Combe Road - Dere

Brockley Combe, North Somerset n reported Various apparitions have bee Brockley rby nea the at in the area and erly woman, Manor and church. An eld of 90 after age who died of fright at the y haunt ma , into ken her home was bro carriage m nto pha A a. are the woodland charge to drawn by four horses is said it as os cha down the road causing rred refe ul, gho er oth vanishes away. An to said is st”, gho ing und to as the “bo tly ligh ng be seen in the woods springi also is It it. s nes ahead of people who wit a ry ntu Ce h 17t the rumoured that in Hibbetson, man – thought to be John il rumoured locally to be a dev squire al loc worshipper - nursed the ry. inju s iou ser a r back to health afte hid a e tur ges ble rita cha rdly His outwa squire the d terrible secret; he encourage a him ion ort app to re-write his will to d kille n the and e tun for good share of his m roa to him. Hibbetson’s ghost is said at night. e mb Co the h oug thr d the roa

St Briavels Castle, Lydney, Gloucestershire One of England’s more unusual youth hostels also has its fair share of ghost stories. In some areas of the old castle a baby’s cries have been heard. People have reported feeling their clothes being touched or experiencing icy chills. One room, the “Hanging Room”, so-called as the unfortunate had to wait here before their untimely end, has had reports of feelings of restrictions on the throat area. Other sightings are of a black dog roaming the corridors, and a knight in full shining armour who has appeared walking the castle grounds around the keep. Red orbs have been seen in certain places, as well as shadowy ﬁgures and humming, scufﬁng and rattling noises. Indentations have even been reported as if someone was sitting on furniture. Certainly enough allegations to keep even the most avid ghost hunter intrigued! www.yha.org.uk/hostel/st-briavels

r.webs.com www.Brockleycombemano

9/8/13 14:03:10

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9/8/13 14:03:18

24 planet an appetite for Avalon

Louise Brookes is part of a new growing project in Glastonbury

photo: Ingrid Crawford

his spring, I joined eleven others to visit the Incredible Edible (IE) project in Todmorden, Yorkshire- a town overtaken by community gardening and inspiring, edible efforts in public places. PC Bentley has cabbages growing outside his police station; bus stops have become little green oases and a Bee Route leads you from the medicinal garden outside the Health Centre, via theatrically-themed planters outside the theatre entrance to a community farm on the edge of town. Starting with small beds on the High Street, the members of IE Todmorden are now providing sustainably-produced food, building community and fostering food-related enterprise. Since returning to Somerset, each of us who participated in the trip have been thinking of ways to apply what we have learnt to our own villages and towns. For me, living in Glastonbury and having already started local gardens, the need to step-up and scale-up local food production has long been a passion. I’ve been part of an ambitious project to bring 100 hectares of new land into community food production: the Somerset Land and Food Project, and I’ve certainly learnt a thing or two over the

last three years about getting communities organised to start gardens, allotments and other projects. However we’ve always been stretched by having to cover such a huge county. Now our intentions are to scale down to Street, Glastonbury and the surrounding villages and focus on working with existing landowners & food producers, as well as local people. With support from Somerset Community Food and their Sustaining Impact Funding,

enterprise allowance? Y

ou may have heard about Bristol’s new Enterprise Zone, the redevelopment of more than 70 hectares of former industrial land surrounding Temple Meads station, but what exactly is going on there? Specialising in the creative, green and digital technology sectors, the Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone (TQEZ) is one of the most successful of the two dozen Enterprise Zones dotted around the UK, with approximately 450 jobs created there since it officially opened for business in April 2012. Central to the future of the site is the redevelopment of Temple Meads itself – including ambitious plans to convert the Victorian passenger sheds into a new platform for electric-powered trains to London and to transform the approach to the station into an Italian-style piazza. “Transforming Temple Meads railway station is fundamental to the future success of the Enterprise Zone,” says Patrick Hallgate, route managing director for Network Rail Western. “Being one of the busiest stations in the country and one of the most congested, we believe the redevelopment is much needed. We are already seeing nine million passengers through here a year and we predict that will increase by up to 44% by 2020.”

ﬂagship project

The Temple Quarter Enterprise Zone is the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership’s (LEP) flagship project. Almost £21 million has been allocated from the LEP’s ‘Revolving Infrastructure Fund’ to improve accessibility in and around the TQEZ, including over £9 million for Temple Circus and improvements to the cyclist and pedestrian routes, and £11 million is being invested to create a new access bridge to accommodate service traffic to new developments on the Diesel Depot site which, it is hoped, will become the site of the city’s muchdiscussed and debated 12,000 seat indoor arena. “My vision for Bristol is to create a welcoming city that gives a great first

Spark74_DWB7.indd 24

we are developing a social enterprise called Feed Avalon. Feed Avalon aims to optimise food availability from our doorsteps, combining the edible ideas of IE Todmorden (such as the ‘propaganda gardening’style planting on the high street to get people excited about local food), with real investment in developing local staples and bringing more land into food production by becoming a ‘community land trust’.

www.FeedAvalon.org.uk www.somersetcommunityfood.org.uk www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk Interested in getting involved? Email: louise@FeedAvalon.org.uk

Darryl Bullock investigates Bristol’s new Enterprise Zone

impression and embraces people arriving here,” says George Ferguson, Bristol’s Mayor. “The redevelopment of Temple Meads railway station in the heart of the Enterprise Zone is key to delivering this vision. In the last year, the building blocks for the Zone have started to be put in place. Space is being filled in the existing buildings such as the Engine Shed, Temple Studios and Rivergate; new building developments are coming forward at Glass Wharf and Paintworks; and alongside this, projects like Creative Common are making innovative use of derelict sites to ensure Temple Quarter becomes a desirable place that people want to live and play in, as well as work.”

misgivings

We want to take grassroots action to reclaim the food system locally and work for 100% resilience. For us this means growing food staples sufficient for the existing population within our community, identifying local niche markets, creating a People’s Kitchen, drop-off points for fresh produce, a processing unit and encouraging the Pay it Forward schemes that have become so successful in the US. To us, food sovereignty is about knowing our food is lovingly produced and processed, and that what we choose to put on our plates is making our community as resilient to economic or environmental change as is humanly possible. Above all, Feed Avalon aims to strengthen our food independence and give back to our home community by ensuring that our local produce is the best option for all of us. Hopefully soon the delectable bread and beans we buy might have been Avalon-grown, in our thriving, resilient natural environment.

But not everyone is happy with the plans. Several businesses and community enterprises are already using the site and some are concerned that, as big business moves in, they may be squeezed out. Matthew Tucker of the Bristol Wood Recycling Project tells us: “There is no doubt that development of this area is to be welcomed, especially a development that offers more than just ‘high end’ flats and office space. The Arena; converting the Old Sorting Office eyesore; development of the waterfront; the new access to Temple Meads and so on will bring jobs and services for local communities like St Annes and The Dings who desperately need them. This area has been unloved for far too long. “But this is home, to us and to a collection of other businesses that have carved a niche here, and we have been concerned by the lack of consultation or consideration for us and our futures. Despite having included pictures of our project in their promotional material, we had to invite ourselves to the TQEZ meetings, and tweets to Mayor George Ferguson to publicise our concerns have gone unanswered: it seems a foregone conclusion that our project is seen as part of the past and not the future.

“The stark reality for us is that, as a not-forprofit company that makes a tiny surplus, our reserves are not enough to allow us to survive a change of location and all the associated expenses and loss of earnings that would involve. Creating Bristol’s ‘Green Future’ tomorrow may involve destroying one of its most admired projects from the present.” The Severn Project, which works to help educate, support and train socially excluded individuals – including those who are struggling or have struggled with the effects of substance misuse, ex-offenders and those with low level mental health issues - has constructed polytunnels on part of the site and is currently supplying restaurants and individuals throughout the city with salad vegetables. “We’ve yet to see how the development will affect businesses and community projects already using the space,” the Severn Project’s Simon Howlett tells me. “But there is a real potential for the city and its commercial

partners to demonstrate that here in Bristol the health of the community is as important as its wealth. We are looking forward to promised opportunity to work with the TQEZ’s commercial stakeholders in ensuring that this is not merely words but a real commitment to creating a regeneration project that is a true collaboration and expression of the business and grassroots communities cooperating and flourishing for the benefit of the all and not merely a few.” The Severn Project have no objections to the plans at present but, as Simon explains “As the plans move closer into being a reality we hope we remain a valued part of the conversation and so avoid any concerns becoming issues. If things become objections it means dialogue and collaboration has broken down and people have stopped listening and in the long run that is no one’s benefit.” www.bristoltemplequarter.com

photo: Hannah Sarah Johnson

9/8/13 14:03:20

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26 planet social change

Got a passion for green issues and experience of writing? email editor@thespark.co.uk

care about the community Will Simpson meets a residents’ group making a real difference

ou might have noticed the recent increase in news stories about groups of people banding together to change things in their locality, with community groups saving local shops, pubs and in some areas taking over services that were once the preserve of local government or even taking over government buildings. Indeed the coalition government’s Big Society wheeze was, in part, an attempt to hitch itself to this existing bandwagon. Whatever the reasons behind the trend, there is no doubt that community volunteering is on the increase. But how do you form a community group, particularly if you aren’t used to getting involved in such things? It’s an interesting question, and one which I put to Stella Hender, an artist who has become the motivating force behind a residents group based in the Bristol suburb of St George. A group that, with little more than their own determination, has vastly improved the state of their local neighbourhood. When Stella first moved to her estate she could see that it left much to be desired: “It had been rebuilt but had been left like a building site. There were lots of things wrong: damp problems in the homes, pieces of broken concrete everywhere and some parts of the estate were impassable. It was awful.” Many of the residents are elderly and unable to get about as much as they once did. Stella felt that something had to be done and, as one of the younger ones, she should get the ball rolling. “We started off with a petition asking for improvements. But with things like that it can take years to get through to the council, if you

get through at all. I thought ‘well the only way that they will listen to us and take us seriously is to have a properly organised community group.’” So the residents constituted themselves into WASP (the acronym of the four main streets: Whitehall Road, Alder Drive, Sycamore Close and Plummers Hill), they produced a regular newsletter, organised meetings and started making themselves heard. And Bristol City Council was forced to listen. The group’s pressure led to extensive repair work being carried out across the estate as well as repairs on individual homes to make them warmer

and more liveable. The group even managed to organise a free community bus service for the estate. But perhaps most importantly the group has revived community spirit and empowered a group of people all too often ignored and patronised. “It’s made them feel that they can do things themselves, that they have the right to complain if things aren’t done properly,” says Stella. “People felt very isolated and didn’t know how to complain. That has changed now.” The main problem in getting a group like WASP off the ground, she contends, is

really saying something

photo: Jo Halladey

iguel Mendonca came to Bristol eight years ago, attracted by the green reputation of the city. He began working within the green movement at the Schumacher Society, based at the CREATE Centre, has written and campaigned on renewable energy, and started the campaign for a UK feed-in tariff. A few years ago I was working successfully as a sustainability writer and campaigner for an international NGO. But one morning I awoke to find my toes were numb. After six months of tests I was diagnosed with MS, and my life changed dramatically. I became too ill to work,

Spark74_DWB7.indd 26

and lost all motivation. Eventually, I chose to live again, to contribute again, and I journeyed inward. I followed a path of meditation and mindfulness, which centred me, and restored much of my appetite for knowledge and experience. I had begun to write short stories since the illness began, and last Christmas I set myself the task of publishing them, though I had no idea how. In March, my first collection of short fiction, entitled Quick! Act Normal, was self-published, direct through Amazon. The stories focus on the philosophical, emotional and spiritual aspects of our lives. I wanted to connect particularly with young adults, and help them to understand that the world is a social construct and that they can construct something better if they choose to. My relationship with my teenage stepson, and my involvement with the Prince’s Trust, were key to this development. We all have something of value to share with the world, and today the tools exist for us to do just that. Direct publishing means it’s possible to get your message out there, communicate new or radical ideas and effect change. We can all pass on what we’ve learnt, make our voices heard and make the world a better place. Direct Publishing allows authors to sell their work directly to the public without the need for a traditional publisher. The

breaking through the apathy. “People would go ‘what’s the point, the council never listens to us anyway, what difference does having a community group make?’ But we’ve proved that it has made a difference and everybody seems to be really happy with it now.” One of the essentials in setting up a group is a core of dedicated people who are willing to take on an increased workload. “It takes time. And effort,” she laughs. “You can’t do it half heartedly. And you need one or two people prepared to put their heads above the parapet - the person who will put their name up front, who could get sued if it came to that.” Whilst Stella is proud of what WASP has accomplished she is all too aware that their battle isn’t over yet. “Ideally, once we’ve achieved everything we‘ve set out to achieve we could wind the whole thing down,” she says. “I think though that the reality is that there are always going to be things that need to be done. Personally I’ll carry on with it as long as I’m upright.” It sounds as if she is on a mission. “What we’ve done in this country is decide that people should live in their own homes; what we have ended up with is little ghettos of old people where many can’t even go out. Groups like ours are trying to counter that and I hope that there are others out there like us. I meet other people who do other kinds of community work all the time so hopefully we are part of an emerging trend.” The “WASP Bus” runs every Friday for those living on the estate: search WASP at www.bristolcommunitytransport.org.uk

Miguel Mendonca discovers how to get your message across

publishing world is undergoing a radical shift in the digital age. Low-cost production tools and web and smartphone-based social media channels are enabling people to sidestep the traditional gatekeepers and to connect with others directly, as we’ve already seen through blogging, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace etc.

Want to self-publish?

There are numerous companies providing print-on-demand, ebook and direct publishing services. Print-on-demand is a new business model which uses digital printing to print copies as they are ordered. An ebook is an electronic book, which can be read on a dedicated ebook ‘reader’ or on computers, tablets and smartphones via dedicated apps. The main companies offering a direct publishing service include Amazon CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Smashwords, Lightning Source and Lulu. Some will set up your book for print-ondemand, some as ebook only, and some will do both. Ebook readers include Kindle, Kobo and devices made by Sony and Apple. When you submit a book to one of these companies, it is automatically checked by software which detects content and language, and is then checked by hand. You get to set the price, and to keep up to 70% of the royalties. Don’t go into this process expecting to make money though: you may

be disappointed! Dedication and imagination will be required in order to get your work noticed, but there are traditional routes, for example getting copies reviewed by magazines and websites. As the market grows, more websites are appearing which review ebooks and there are already a number which, if your ebook is free, will feature it. Writing one book with the express purpose of giving it away as an introduction is a reasonable idea. Giving away chapters on your own website, tweeting quotes, or using the website Pinterest (an online scrapbook) to make ‘posters’ with quotes from your book will all help circulate your work. Once you build a readership you may find it easier to make a success of any further titles, and perhaps even get a book deal with a major publisher. If you wish to share your ideas, record a memoir, collaborate on projects, publish illustrated books and so on, you can now make it happen. It can be hard work but you can buy-in proofing and editing services, cover design and such things, depending on your need (and your budget!). The hardest part is the tax situation: if you are paid through an American company, such as Amazon, you will need to get a U.S. tax number and do some form filling, but it is worthwhile, as you will otherwise lose 30% of your royalties to the IRS. www.miguelmendonca.com

9/8/13 14:03:28

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9/8/13 14:03:32

28 food what a waste Tony Benjamin talks to the groups tackling food waste, and the growing problem of food poverty

the listening bank The sad thing is the number of people who say ‘I never thought I’d have to do this.’ They’re embarrassed, even ashamed.” Clevedon food bank project manager Paul Gale finds it helps to be blunt. “I say – look, we’ve been given it for free so we’re giving it to you. Have a cup of tea and tell us what you want.” Since the first UK food bank opened, in a garden shed in Salisbury in 2004, 350 more have sprung up across the country. Last year 350,000 people needed their help (triple the number for 2011/12) and overseeing charity the Trussell Trust reckon 650 more could soon be needed. Paul finds people are surprised that his comfortable-seeming North Somerset seaside town has a need for one: “The way it’s going I predict over 1000 people will use us next year. Happily it’s a generous

ccording to the researchers at WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) the UK throws away over 15m tonnes of food every year, 50% coming from households and 80% of it avoidable. Some estimates claim that nearly 50% of all edible, healthy food produced across the EU is routinely thrown away. That costs about £50 a month per household: it’s wasting valuable resources at a time of increasing food poverty and it’s wasting the planet: 20% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are associated with food production, distribution and storage. Just over a year ago Bristol East MP Kerry McCarthy introduced a bill in Parliament that would have forced supermarkets and food manufacturers to donate edible surplus food to charity. Her bill ran out of Parliamentary time but raised cross-party and public support: in the following months Tesco and ASDA announced that they would divert food to the food distribution charity Fareshare in future, something Sainsbury’s had already been doing for some time. While welcoming these developments Kerry is still wary of purely voluntary action by the retail sector, including the industry-wide Courtauld Agreement aiming to reduce waste by 5%. “I don’t think the (voluntary) targets are nearly ambitious enough, especially in comparison to those in Norway and Holland,” she told us. “I think regulation is important for keeping up the pressure on the food industry to reduce their waste.” As a beneficiary of the supermarkets’ new policy Fareshare South West project director Jacqui Reeves was equally cautious: “It’s really great that they are on board, but even after this Fareshare gets less than 1% of the waste out there. It’s frustrating: everyone I speak to in the industry says they hate waste but dumping it into a skip is easy & cheap.” Fareshare South West delivers 30 tonnes of rescued food a month – equivalent to 17,000 meals - to over 100 projects across an area including Somerset and Gloucestershire. In June this year they re-staged ‘Feeding The 5000’ in Bristol, their most spectacular (and tasty) campaigning action, in which local chefs made a free lunch using ingredients destined for landfill. “We fed 4,324 people and our Greener Grocer sold off the surplus veg at £1 a bag! It was a brilliant day that really raised the profile of the issue,” Jacqui explained. “Everyone could really see the potential value of all that ‘waste’ food. We got plenty of signatures for our

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petition to get Bristol to become the first UK city where all surplus food is used.” In times of austerity it’s not surprising that concern about wasting food has moved up people’s agenda. Shane Jordan, aka The King of Leftovers (who we interviewed in issue 69 of The Spark), is a young vegetarian chef who’s been working in schools across the South West helping parents and children to understand what they can do. His tips range from more careful shopping (“check your cupboard, make a list – it’s the obvious things that make a difference”) to unlikely recipes for Apple Peel Biscuits and Banana Skin Curry (“They’re not just edible – they’re delicious!”). He’s particularly concerned about portion size and the waste left on the plate: WRAP estimate we throw away 105,000 tonnes of potatoes annually, most of which could have been used for another meal. He’s publishing his thoughts and experiences in a book, ‘Food Waste Philosophy’: his recipes have already featured on WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste website, where smartphone users can download an app to help plan their shopping and which also offers imaginative meal suggestions for awkward ingredients. Even unavoidable waste needn’t go to landfill. Community Composting Networks are enabling local groups to turn food waste into lucrative compost. Nicky Scott from Devon’s Proper Job recycling project helps the county’s schools and communities get on board: “It’s not a sexy subject, composting, but once schools realise they could save nearly £1,000 a year on their rubbish bills it’s a different matter,” he says. Improved technology means quite small sites can be set up and even urban streets are getting involved alongside rural collectives. There’s still much to be done, but the encouraging news from WRAP is that annual food waste in the UK is down by a million tonnes since 2006. It’s a promising start to dealing with what is, inevitably, a really rubbish situation. www.fareshare.org.uk www.wrap.org.uk/food Sign the Fareshare South West petition at www.facebook.com/FareShareSouthWest Download the Love Food Hate Waste app at england.lovefoodhatewaste.com Find your local Community Composting Network (or start your own) through www.communitycompost.org

community.” Food banks are generally run from a church with volunteers distributing donated food to people referred by social services or other agencies. The majority of users only ever claim their three days allocation of food once, with a significant proportion being in low-paid work laid low by unexpected bills. “If someone’s hungry, they’re hungry – we make no judgements – but it blows apart the myth of benefit scroungers,” Paul affirms, though recent benefit changes seem to have increased the number of people referred. “People are finding it very, very difficult in these times.” www.clevedon.foodbank.org.uk If you want to get involved, donate, or need help you can find your nearest food bank at www.trusselltrust.org

the grape escape By Darryl Bullock

hen I think about buying wine I usually default to the full, robust flavours of New World wines, made from luscious grapes grown in the Australian, South African and Californian sunshine, I don’t dream of drinking the juice of grapes grown in a small village in Somerset. Yet for the last few years one nascent wine producer has been cultivating her vines just south of Bristol in Wrington, the home of the Barley Wood Walled Garden, the Ethicurean restaurant and, perhaps more fittingly, of the award-winning Butcombe Brewery. Dunleavy Vineyards launched their first wine at the end of May this year: so great was the demand that the entire stock sold out in less than a week – which sadly means that if you want to sample a glass you’ll have to wait now until 2014! Owner Ingrid Bates (pictured) began her viticultural career seven years ago when she started maintaining a small vineyard at Thornbury Castle. She planted her first vines at Dunleavy in 2008, shortly before the birth of her first child. Surprisingly, perhaps, she’s not the only wine producer in Somerset: Hugh Tripp at Pennard Organic Wines (the Avalon Vineyard) near Shepton Mallet planted his first vines in 1981 and now produces fruit wines, liqueurs, mead and a white table wine.

Brian Shirley and Jacky Brayton took over the Wraxall vineyard in 2007, restoring it to its former glory after years of neglect and have recently won two prestigious awards for their wines; likewise Oatley Vineyard, near Cannington, won silver and bronze medals at this year’s International Wine Challenge. Steve Brookesbank at Bagborough Vineyard near Shepton Mallet produces very small quantities of his own wine, but also processes grapes from other local vineyards. Dunleavy Vineyard’s first release, a rosé, was produced from Pinot Noir grapes, ideal because they thrive in a cooler climate. Grown around the world, Pinot Noir is one of the three main varieties of grape used in Champagne production. “We’ve had really positive reaction to the wine,” Ingrid tells us. “It sold out in five days! Everyone has really liked it. This first harvest was just a couple of hundred bottles but we should be producing a few thousand per year in the future.” “The vines are trimmed back and trained for the first three or four years before they are ready to have their grapes harvested,” she explains. “They start growing every year around the end of April, forming little flowers around mid-summer which, if pollinated, form grapes which are then harvested around the end of September. It’s not that difficult to grow good grapes in this country in an average year: last year was a tricky one due to the wet weather but it was the worst many growers have experienced in a lifetime. Certain aspects of the weather, such as spring frosts, can really affect the plants but they’re pretty tough really. Wasps and birds can decimate a crop very close to harvest time; I have had problems with wasps but no birds yet.” Here’s hoping I’m in time to try a bottle next year! www.dunleavyvineyards.co.uk www.oatleyvineyard.co.uk www.pennardorganicwines.co.uk www.ukvines.co.uk/vineyards/bagbro.htm www.wraxallvineyard.co.uk

9/8/13 14:03:33

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cherry tomato tarte tatin

serves 2 or 4 (depending on how hungry you are), prep 10 mins, cook 30 mins Heat the oil and butter in a 23cm ovenproof frying pan. Add the sugar and balsamic and season with salt and pepper. Put the garlic bulb cut side up in the middle. Scatter over the marjoram and arrange the tomatoes cut side down around the garlic. Cook for 5 mins. Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs. Cut the pastry to the same size as the pan, lay it over the top of the tomatoes and tuck in the edges. Brush with beaten egg. Bake in a 220°C oven for 20 mins, until golden and crisp. Remove from the oven and leave to sit for 5 mins. Run a knife around the edge of the pastry to loosen it, place a plate over the top and tip it out. You may need to do some tomato patching, depending on how nonstick your pan is. Cut into slices, squeezing out the garlic to spread over the tarte.

1 tbsp olive oil 40g butter 1 tsp caster sugar 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar ½ whole head of garlic (cut in half crossways) 4 sprigs fresh marjoram or oregano 250g cherry tomatoes, cut in half through the middle 1 tbsp dry breadcrumbs 320g sheet all-butter puff pastry, rolled out to 3-4mm thick 1 egg, beaten extra virgin olive oil, to serve

Recipe by Kirsty Hale, Riverford Cook

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Spark74_DWB7.indd 29

9/8/13 14:03:36

30 family Darryl Bullock with the latest family news

What is Craniosacral Therapy?. Millie Wood Swanepoel RSCT

raniosacral therapy works with the body’s natural ability for self-repair to treat a wide variety of conditions, allowing you to reconnect mentally, emotionally and physically with the health that is always present but often hidden. It can resolve problems experienced by mothers, babies and children, and can pave the way for a well-resourced birth experience, bonding and breast feeding. During pregnancy Craniosacral therapy can help to ease tension and back pain, relaxing the mother and benefiting the unborn child. It may help the mother feel more connected and in touch with their unborn babies, and may also assist her in preparing for the birth process. Older children and adults can also benefit from Craniosacral treatment; there may be unresolved issues affecting you or your child’s health and well being that Craniosacral can identify. Accidents, post-operative or dental trauma, stress and other factors can have wide-ranging effects that may be resolved by balancing the CranioSacral system.

Something that might surprise you about what I do…during the birth

process the bones of the cranium become severely compressed by the force of uterine contractions. These relatively soft bones move during birth but don’t always return to an optimal position leading to a variety of difficult conditions; babies respond very well to CranioSacral treatment.

What brought you to craniosacral therapy?

A fall down the stairs landed me in hospital: I had stitches, was unable to sit comfortably and felt traumatized; a friendly midwife

suggested I try Craniosacral Therapy and it worked! As I have a particular interest in working with trauma in adults, mothers, babies and children, I was inspired by this gentle approach and studied with the Institute of Craniosacral Studies.

The misconceptions of craniosacral therapy are…people often think or

believe it’s massage, or don’t believe that it supports medical practice, counselling, physiotherapy and other complimentary therapies.

When I tell people what i do they say… does it really work? ‘Yes it does’ is my response!

I know it has been a good day when… my clients leave more aware of their bodies and self; they feel they have been heard physically and emotionally; when they feel inspired to take responsibility for their own well being.

If I wasn’t doing this I’d…be an artist, Reiki teacher, or Shaman and work with animals If others want to do this I say…do

it! It is an extraordinary journey of self discovery and very satisfying, it can have mind blowing results and it can be difficult at times, emotionally and physically..

Appointments available in Stroud (Tues & Fri) and Bristol (Thurs). £45 for a one-hour session info@milliewoodswanepoel.com www.milliewoodswanepoel.com

a light-hearted personality quiz.

Family news

free app is bringing composer Benjamin Britten’s most famous work to the digital generation. The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra App, named after Britten’s 194 composition, is designed to introduce young people to the orchestra and to Britten’s music as part of the global celebrations of the composer’s centenary this year. The app includes creative games, a chance to create music, aural quizzes, information about Britten’s life and work, archive photographs, pages from the original manuscript and an interactive score as well as

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The app is available free via iTunes

Local film company Bad Chicken Productions have been working with young, blind and partially sighted people to create a community movie: Eye to Eye, a love story about a young blind girl. As part of the assignment young film-makers spent time working with blind and older people, discovering their stories and gathering information about their lives before being mentored through the process of making a film, from writing scripts to editing the footage. “The Eye to Eye Project was a fantastic opportunity for the young people of Princes Trust to meet with our services users who have sight loss,” says Bernadette Tamsitt, Team Leader, Action for Blind People. “A

Children from Glenfrome Primary School, Bristol at the launch of Natural Connections.

get connected A great new scheme to boost the number of school children learning in natural environments across the South West was launched in a Bristol school at the beginning of July. The Natural Connections Demonstration Project will run for three years and work with 40,000 children and 500 volunteers in 200 schools from Cornwall to Bristol. One of the largest outdoor learning projects in the UK, it was developed in response to a government white paper on the natural environment. Despite evidence which shows that children benefit from spending time in nature, recent surveys show that the majority of the country’s children are losing connection with their local natural environments. Children from deprived communities are particularly disadvantaged, and Natural Connections aims to support schools that currently provide little or no learning outdoors, using activities and venues to inspire children and teachers to excel in subjects from mathematics to music as well as more obvious subjects such as biology and physics. With events, special training

chance for both groups to understand their own experiences and challenges; breaking down negative perceptions and barriers”. The Prince’s Trust and the Co Op Foundation who funded the course have already used the film in their disability and diversity training. You can find the short film at www.bit.ly/16aO7Hk

Fancy learning sculpture, yoga or stained glass making whilst your kids get their hands dirty looking after animals on the farm? Farm Adventures, Starting on September 10, is a unique, year-round opportunity for children aged two to five to experience nature in the heart of the city while their parents or carers take part in courses or workshops, or simply enjoy some time to themselves. Running at Windmill Hill City Farm, costs can be covered by Free Early

for teachers, development of tailor-made outdoor curriculum activities, web-based resources and volunteer support included it’s hoped that, should the pilot project prove successful, Natural Connections could then run in other parts of the country. “Every child should have the opportunity to experience and learn about nature,” says Richard Benyon, Minister for the Environment. “This initiative will help to remove the barriers to schools teaching outdoors, and let more children learn how and why they should care about their local parks and other green spaces.” “We know that learning outside in local green spaces can have a wonderful, transformative effect on children,” adds Inger O’Callaghan, Head Teacher at Glenfrome Primary School, Bristol, where the project was launched. “Their physical health and mental wellbeing improve, their behaviour and attitudes change, and their knowledge of the subjects also deepens. It’s a win-win situation for teachers, children and their families.”

www.bit.ly/Vg1z9Q Learning Through Landscapes: www.ltl.org.uk

Education Entitlement Funding (FEEE) if your child is three years or over, and you may also qualify for funding if you attend one of the farm’s courses. Tues-Fri, 9.1512.15, £15 per session. www.bit.ly/18AljOG

Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, recently published a guide to promoting walking and cycling for everyday journeys by 11 to 18-year-olds. Aimed at teachers, parents and carers, and available as a free download from the Sustrans website, Moving Up is full of practical advice on promoting healthy travel choices to students at secondary schools and colleges as well as young people in special education settings and Pupil Referral Units. www.sustrans.org.uk and search ‘Moving Up’

9/8/13 14:03:37

Don’t let Dementia Stop You Being Yourself Humphry Repton House in Brentry, Bristol, is not just any dementia nursing home. Every aspect of the home is designed to be interactive, to enable you to do the things you used to do in your own home. “Staff are always looking for ways to ‘go the extra mile’, ensuring that they get to know what the residents enjoyed before they came to Humphry Repton House.” - Carol, relative The environment is designed for interaction - whether you feel like doing DIY, or visiting our fully-working pub. Three Activity Coordinators provide stimulating and enjoyable activities, including a gardening club and themed entertainment. Visit www.milestonestrust.org.uk or call 0117 970 9332 to arrange a tour.

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9/8/13 14:03:38

32 body & soul a quarter century of dementia care Darryl Bullock visits Bristol’s Brain Bank and looks at support for people living with dementia

used up. Should we cure Alzheimer’s disease one day there’s a whole bank of tissue that is available to look at other neurological diseases. In the last couple of years, for example, people have become more interested in vascular dementia, which is probably the second most prevalent cause of dementia, but hasn’t really been looked at.”

dementia research

Phd student Marta Swirski is studying the relationship between the proteins that cause Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. “I couldn’t have done my Phd project without the Brain Bank,” she admits, “And my funding is supported by BRACE as well. It’s very hard to find specific resources for dementia research so having people donate their brains to the bank so that we can look at what’s going on at the end stage is just invaluable. The brain is so complex and memories are so precious. We aren’t who we are without our memories.” “BRACE has been crucial in helping fund research,” says Professor Patrick Kehoe, co-director of SWDBB. “We’ve got a £2 million clinical trial starting at the moment; the foundation lab work, which we used to help make the case to fund the trial, was all BRACE funded.”

irst described by German psychiatrist Aloysius Alzheimer in 1906, Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. Usually seen in people over 65 (although early-onset Alzheimer’s can occur much younger) symptoms include difficulty in remembering recent events, confusion, aggression and long-term memory loss. The figures for dementia are shocking: according to the Alzheimer’s Society there are currently 800,000 people living with dementia in the UK, and that figure will rise to over one million by 2021. 60,000 deaths a year are directly attributable to dementia. The Alzheimer’s Society reckon that dementia cost the UK over £23 billion in 2012. And yet, according to the Society, only 44% of people living with dementia receive a diagnosis. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s, but, thanks to research, the speed of onset of the disease can be slowed if people are diagnosed early enough.

centre of excellence

Based at Frenchay Hospital, BRACE is a registered charity established in 1987 to finance research into Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. The charity supports research projects in universities and hospitals in the West and particularly in Bristol, which is recognised as a centre of excellence for neuroscience research. One of the few charities that exists specifically to finance dementia research, BRACE raises around £500,000 a year to help support diverse research projects into all aspects of dementia.

brain bank

BRACE offers financial support to the South West Dementia Brain Bank (SWDBB), a laboratory (currently based at Frenchay but moving to the new hospital in Southmead next April) which is leading the field of dementia research. SWDBB manager Laura Palmer tells me: “The Brian Bank can support something like 50 researchers a year by providing them with quality, diagnosed tissue, but the Brain Bank itself struggles to receive core funding: it’s not glamorous. It’s not recognised as the

Spark74_DWB7.indd 32

resource that it is. One thing that BRACE has been very good at is supporting our core work which has led to making tissue available for hundreds of researchers over the years.” The brains SWDBB use are all donated by people over 65. Once a brain becomes available it has to be brought back to the bank within 72 hours where it goes through a three-week preserving process before samples of tissue can be used. These samples are stored in huge, specialist freezers at temperatures of -80 degrees. “The freezers are very expensive,” Laura (pictured below) explains. “And without them we would have no Brian Bank. BRACE bought our last two freezers and are currently fundraising to buy another two. Without them we would not be able to take any more brain donations. “The freezers are fantastic for preserving tissue. The first people donated their brains 25 years ago, at the start of the project; their tissue is still as useful now as it was back then. We never dispose of tissue; it’s such a valuable gift that people give and it’s used until it’s

The brain is so complex and memories are so precious. We aren’t who we are without our memories. Mark Poarch, chief executive of BRACE, tells me: “Most of our funds come from individual donors, local community groups and businesses – it’s not one person writing out a cheque for thousands of pounds. We don’t knock on doors; we go out and speak to groups to raise our profile and hope that they may want to adopt us as their chosen charity for that year. Increasingly people want to raise money for us through sponsored events: they’re running, bungee-jumping or kayaking because someone in their family has dementia and they want to do something. Thousands and thousands of people are all doing their little bit, and I think that’s great.” www.alzheimers.org.uk www.alzheimers-brace.org

• Patchway Dementia Action Alliance (PDAA) is launching in September 2013, with local businesses, statutory services and community groups coming together to make Patchway, in South Gloucestershire, a more dementia-friendly community. 34 other communities across the country are also setting up Dementia Action Alliances. Research undertaken in Patchway with local people living with dementia and their carers discovered that what people wanted was to raise awareness in the general population, reducing the stigma of dementia and allowing people with dementia to continue to have an active social and community life for as long as possible. A quarter of all hospital beds are filled by people with dementia: keeping people happy, active and engaged can stop them from ending up in hospital. Eleanor Fairbrother, Community Development worker for PDAA, says: “Working on making Patchway more dementia-friendly is a really rewarding task. Basically what we are trying to do is to develop a community that is more understanding and supportive, and this benefits everyone. This is why we made our strapline – ‘a friendlier community for all’” Coniston Community Centre, Coniston Rd, Patchway, Bristol BS34 5LP. www.conistoncommunitycentre.org.uk 01454 868 570 For more infoamtion and national groups: www.dementiaaction.org.uk

• With residential and nursing homes across Bristol, South Glos and North Somerset, Milestones Trust works with people through all stages of dementia, from initial concerns about memory loss through to end of life care, and can offer support for family members through the process of arranging care for a loved one. www.milestonestrust.org.uk

• Memory Cafés are places where people living with dementia and their carers can support each other, socialise, and get advice and information. To find a Memory Café near you, and for links to lots of information on dementia and Alzheimer’s, visit www.memorycafes.org.uk

• A new booklet to help guide people with dementia and their carers through their journey is now available from the Alzheimer’s Society. The first guide of its kind to provide comprehensive information about dementia in one place, it is hoped that The Dementia Guide will encourage people living with undiagnosed dementia to seek help: in the South West there are thought to be more than 46,000 people that are living with the condition but who aren’t currently receiving any formal help. The Dementia Guide is available free of charge. To order a paper copy of download a pdf phone 0300 303 5933 or visit www.alzheimers.org.uk/dementiaguide

9/8/13 14:03:38

What is Shadow Work?. Beccy Golding meets Marianne Hill, certified Shadow Work coach and group facilitator What do you do?

I support people to explore deeply held emotions that they may usually repress or deny – their ‘Shadows’. Trauma can be released and resolutions found, leaving people feeling more comfortable with themselves and able to access positive value in parts of their self that may previously have felt negative.

What does a Shadow Work session look like?

The first session lasts for 5 hours - we identify a clear and specific want for the session and take a family history. The next three hours are spent on Shadow Work proper. This happens on a carpet in the centre of the room, which represents the person’s inner world. The person uses coloured cloths to symbolically represent different parts of themselves - stepping on to the carpet and ‘inhabiting’ these different parts and speaking and acting from them - exploring them in order to build up a picture of what is going on inside them. Once all the parts have been represented on the carpet we look at what changes the person would like to make to the picture, and find a way to make these happen.

What brought you to Shadow Work?

I was struggling with ongoing emotional difficulties that I had as a result of events that occurred in my childhood. Although I had no idea what Shadow Work was I went on a weekend workshop. I will never forget the experience of being facilitated by people who were brave enough to face my trauma with me, and to explore these events openly and calmly.

A misconception is....that it is possible to

make something worse by exploring it. In my experience this is not the case. Things that feel

frightening or overwhelming often only do so because we are unable to discuss and feel them fully. Looking directly at something that we would rather avoid can actually take the power out of it.

Something that might surprise you about what I do is… we have a lot of fun!

When people remove the blocks to expressing difficult emotions they often find that joy is freed up too, and deep happiness can come from exploring your shadows and feeling freer and more relaxed and at home in yourself.

What I’ve learnt about myself is… to be happy I don’t have to change myself, I just have to embrace more of who I really am, and be able to rest comfortably in that.

If others want to do this I’d say…being

a Shadow Work facilitator isn’t for everyone, it’s enormously challenging, as it involves exploring your own shadows in depth, but if you’re up for it then it’s a rich and exciting journey and hugely rewarding.

Sessions last 5 hours (a two hour introductory session is available if required) £35 - £50 per hour. Group weekend workshops £295. Six-month Shadow Work journey £495 www.ShiatsuAndShadowWorkBristol.co.uk MarianneHillShadowWork@gmail.com 0117 9411012 ffi: www.ShadowWork.com

A Homeopath speaks... Beccy Golding meets Mani Norland, Homeopath & Principal of the School of Homeopathy What do you do?

I’m an integrated healthcare professional, a teacher, and principal at the School of Homeopathy, the oldest homeopathic school in the UK. I help look after a team of around 50 faculty members and 500 students. I endeavour to help people live life in balance, gain greater self-awareness, understand what it means to be healthy, and what we can learn from dis-ease. I celebrate the unique, the odd and the creative, whilst looking after the whole, staying connected to nature and living in balance.

What are the myths & misconceptions? Homeopathy is the second largest system of medicine in the world today, used by 1 in 8 people in the UK, 1 in 3 in Europe. It is an exciting profession to work in - homeopathy is a medicine at the cutting edge of science. We know homeopathy works but the healing mechanism is not yet fully understood by science, because of this it is often stated that it is nothing more than placebo and there is no scientific proof for homeopathy. However, this is untrue. In fact, there is a large and growing evidence base for homeopathy including double blind randomly controlled trials that demonstrate homeopathy works and beyond the placebo effect. To find out more just visit these sites:

homeopathy schools with students in over 80 countries and partners in Japan and China.

I know it’s been a good day when… one

of my patients feels so well that they forget the main reason they came to see me in the first place.

If I wasn’t doing this…I’d be a

human doing, not a human being.

If others want to do this I’d say…

“Go for it, if you are ready! It will transform you and your life for the better. Learning about the world, what it means to be human, yourself, health and disease is completely enlightening”. www.homeopathyschool.com 01453 765 956

www.britishhomeopathic.org/research www.homeopathyevidencecheck.org/index.htm www.ﬁndahomeopath.org.uk

Homeopathy Clinic: Initial 90min consultation £60, follow-up consultations £35.

Something that might surprise you…

School of Homeopathy: Home-study and college attendance available, from beginner to practitioner level. Next college course starts September 14 in Stroud.

is that my father started the School in 1981 and, from small beginnings, we have grown to become one of the world’s most respected

Spark74_DWB7.indd 33

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marketplace art

• Arts • Crafts • Gifts OPEN TO ALL

Supporting Children’s Scrapstore.

OPEN: Mon-Sat: 10am-5pm

Artrageous at The Childrens Scrapstore Scrapstore House, Sevier Street, St Werburghs, Bristol BS2 9LB Tel: 0117 914 3025 Reg. Charity No 2624238

marketplace: reach over 100,000 customers! call Ann on 0117 914 3434 email ann@thespark.co.uk

food & drink

for shops, products & services getting away

gifts

Vegetarian Guest House Cardigan Bay, West Wales

Jewellery, Gifts and Curiosities from around the World. Watches, Silver, Costume and Body Jewellery. Watch Batteries and Straps fitted Free.

Relaxed quality B&B accommodation with ensuite rooms. Venue for residential courses & workshops.

Aromatherapy Oils, Crystals, Music Tarot and Meditation Cards. Candles Woodcarvings Furniture, Soft Furnishings and more. 49 High Street, Thornbury, Bristol BS35 2AR Tel &Fax: 01454 415303 E-mail: bibelotuk@hotmail.co.uk www.mythornbury.co.uk/bibelot

Beekeeping Course 7th—8th September 01239 811 155 www.overtherainbowwales.co.uk

services

gift shop

Make Life Easy For Yourself Simple solutions for stress-free adults and happy,conﬁdent children

Trading in a peaceful environment in the heart of Bristol's busy shopping centre, we offer gifts and homeware, 3/4 of which are bought direct from developing countries and small suppliers. We work with the communities who supply our goods, providing them with access to larger markets and asking them where they need support. Our profits go to fund Buddhist projects internationally and community projects amongst our suppliers.

A great range of hypnosis recordings to help you and your children relax and enjoy life.

Visit us on the first floor of the Galleries, Broadmead (next to Waterstones) Tel: 0117 922 5877 E-mail: bristol@evolutiongifts.co.uk

Box it up.

For details of our ethical trading policy visit our website www.evolutiongifts.co.uk or pick up a leaflet in our shop.

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shopping

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ad rates on inside advertising? see inside back back covercover or www.thespark.co.uk

index acup – buqi

Welcome to The Spark Listings – issue 74 Find lovely people offering you a plethora of services and opportunities, from courses to counselling, massage, personal development, spirituality and yoga... plus food suppliers, co-builders, holiday providers and more. Making the global personal... the personal global... we think you can’t separate the person from the world they live in. * When you reply to an ad please say you saw it in The Spark - it’s the advertisers who pay for The Spark and it’s great for them to know their ads are working (and it really helps us). Thanks.

Disability access codes

are included in our listings ads if the advertiser has given them to us:

A B C S(X) NA H T

Level entrance to building Room with level access Adapted toilets Steps and no. of steps Not accessible Home visits available Telephone for further info

acupuncture

Listings sections this issue: acupuncture addictions alexander technique architects, buildings & home arts therapies bowen technique breath therapy buqi business services business opportunities career development centres & venues children • education city farms coaching complementary clinics complementary practitioners

computers & web design constellations counselling & psychotherapy: • bath • bristol • bristol north • families/young people • glastonbury • groups/group therapy • psychotherapy • relationships • spiritual • general c&p training c&p noticeboard courses, groups & workshops craniosacral therapy dance demetia & alzheimer’s care * (* new this issue) dentists & dental care design, writers & print

disability doctors/holistic physicians eye health feng shui food gay, lesbian & bisexual guinea pigs healing holidays: • activity • b&bs & hostels home & decluttering homeopathy hypnotherapy languages massage & bodywork mediation meditation movement & bodywork

music & sound nutrition & diet osteopathy personal growth courses personal growth practitioners readings rebirthing reiki rolfing rooms & spaces shamanism shiatsu spiritual paths & practices training voice women yoga (other listings sections are available - see website for full list)

Small Print.

Blue Sax Publishing Ltd, who publish The Spark, cannot take any responsibility for the quality of an advertisers’ service or advertisers’ conduct. In choosing an advertiser you may wish to consult the appropriate professional bodies. We gather the info but we can’t and don’t evaluate the advertisers. Advertisers are advised that all copy is their sole responsibility under The Trade Protection Act. All adverts must comply with the British Code of Advertising Practice.

We reserve the right to refuse, amend, withdraw or otherwise deal with advertisements submitted to us at our absolute discretion and without explanation. Blue Sax Publishing can accept no liability for any loss or damage resulting from omission or inaccuracies relating to telephone numbers, wording, spacing or positioning or other material regardless how caused.

Deadlines for the year ahead • winter (issue 75) early bird 26 sep • final 24 october magazine published 25 november • spring (issue 76) early bird 19 dec • final 23 january magazine published 24 february • summer (issue 77) early bird 20 june • final 18 july magazine published 19 august • autumn (issue 78) early bird 26 jun • final 24 july magazine published 1 sep

It’s very rare, but once in a while an advertiser behaves in a way they shouldn’t. If you’ve had an experience with one of our advertisers that made you feel uneasy, uncomfortable, cross or bamboozled, please let us know as soon as possible. We’ll do our best to make the situation better - this could be through gentle persuasion, direct challenge, or in some cases by refusing to accept their custom. Having said that, the small print still stands..

architects, building & homes

Acupuncture, Tui Na Massage, Qigong Bath & Salisbury Established practitioner, calm disposition, gentle technique, treatments tailored to the individual, strategies to maintain health, Classical Chinese Medicine. Insured member of the British Acupuncture Council (BAcC) and local authority registered. First treatment half price. Salil Pande BSc (Hons) MBAcC, www.explorehealtharts.com explorehealtharts@gmail.com 0751 804 1808

Isabel James Lic.Ac, MBAcC, MRCHM

• Traditional Chinese Acupuncture • Chinese Herbal Medicine • Experienced children’s practitioner • Gentle effective treatment. Fully qualified practitioner with 10 years’ experience in successfully treating a wide range of conditions, both physical and mental/emotional. Bishopston, Bristol. Tel: 0117 924 1188

addictions

Maintenance, clearance, light removals. Maintenance - care & repair of your property both inside and out, including painting, tiling, door hanging/adjustment, loft insulation and boarding, hanging shelves, assembling flat packs, etc Clearance - sensitive and eco-conscious, house (and garage) clearing, recycling where possible, certified and appropriate waste disposal where needed. Whole house cleaning also available. Light removals - my van has extra seats so if you provide your own removal crew you can keep your costs down. I am a careful, thorough worker with an eye for detail, offering a friendly yet excellent service! Please call me to discuss your needs. Gregory Champion 0790 662 8383 gic.hk3@gmail.com

• Alcohol • drugs • internet. See C&P Bristol section

Large range of home improvement skills & green product knowledge. Free estimates/advice. Reasonable rates, quality service. No job too small. Sam: 0779 343 2973 Shell: 0792 014 0108

Licensed to Drill - WBSR

Bristol • Garden landscaping & maintenance, fencing, decking, patios, ponds • Floor sanding, internal and external decoration, loft insulation • Hen houses and chicken runs, log stores and sheds etc. Friendly reliable local builder offering excellent service for jobs big or small, inside or out. Competitive rates, free quotes and good work generally wonderful. Steve Rose 0117 964 6670 or 0776 324 0158

arts therapies

alexander technique

listings 74 vfinal fri.indd 35

• Quality decorating with attention to detail. Non-toxic paint specialists. • Garden maintenance / design and landscaping. Pruning, weeding, strimming, fencing. Free estimates. Established 2000. 0779 272 8012 / 01761 452461

Happy House Women Painters/ Decorators

☞ Private Addictions Counsellor

Reduce back pain, improve posture and performance with this simple, practical method for self-improvement. Gain ease, poise and balance through increased awareness of how you think and move. Everyone can benefit. Medical research demonstrates: STAT-taught AT dramatically reduces back pain with lasting, measurable benefits. STAT-registered teachers train full-time (for three years). Find your local qualified teacher: • Bath - Sally - 01225 480123 • Bishopston - Rob - 07973 144960 • Clifton - Lisa - 0117 929 0471, Kate - 07722 047576 • Montpelier, Henleaze - Anita - 07779 786076 • Southville - Peter - 07985 446 824 • Redland - Colin - 01600 713586 • St Werburghs, Portishead - Bethan - 0117 924 3628 • Westbury Park - Jacqueline - 0798 602 9837, Joanna - 0117 962 3108, Caroline - 07711 181401 • Westbury on Trym - Petra - 07941 215 383. www.STAT.org.uk for more information

Eco-Decorators, Organic Gardeners “Inside Out“

Susan Lawrence Dramatherapy The practice, formed in 1984, has specialised in community buildings, doctors’ surgeries, private houses, and many small-scale extensions and alterations. No job is considered too small and all designs are unique and specific to their client and situation. Special consideration is given to sunlight, view, ecological materials, context, inclusive access, to produce quality solutions that the users will cherish. Vic Love Architects Ltd operates a sliding-fee scale and offers a service to suit, from initial ideas to the full service including designs, drawings for regulations, building contract management and site inspections. Nearly all the commissions have come from referrals from satisfied clients, reflecting the close working relationship and service provided as well as the character, design and quality of the completed buildings. Vic Love Architects Ltd has completed over 1000 projects throughout Bristol and the immediate area. If you have any architectural projects in mind of whatever size, we welcome you to ring us or pop in to the shop for an informal chat. “Vic Love Architects Ltd” 188 Bedminster Down Road, Bristol BS13 7AF Tel: 0117 963 3007 Fax: 0117 963 3007 ABH e-mail: viclove@viclove.co.uk

Dramatherapy for individuals & groups Using play, movement, voice and storytelling, dramatherapy can help you to • develop your creativity • discover other aspects of yourself • develop your confidence and self expression • heal hurts. Please phone / email for more information or to discuss your individual needs. Phone 0117 933 2607 Email susan_lawrence_evaluation@yahoo.co.uk www.susanlawrencetrainng.co.uk

Transformative Therapy with Art & Music

Distance learning Diploma. Holistic Design Institute. www.holisticdesign.co.uk

bowen technique

breath therapy Buteyko Breathing

Snore no more. Breathe Easy. Sort out your breathing so you can do what you love. Courses and tuition for asthma, sleep problems, anxiety. www.buteykobristol.com

buqi Buqi Energy Therapy

Buqi activates the flow of vital Qi energy to support the body’s natural ability to heal itself. Qi carries the messages that encode all life processes from the vibration of a single cell to the metabolism of the whole body. Buqi treats most conditions by clearing stale Qi from the body. Benefits include improved general health, energy levels and posture. Lightness, flexibility and vitality return. Clifton and central Bristol. Contact Ann for details. 0117 377 0103 or buqihealth@gmail.com

Face to Face (or mouse to mouse) meet 850+ Spark-minded people, read our random jottings & posts, share ideas: like The Spark on Facebook type: http://band.to/ thespark/ or google search: facebook the-spark magazine

Christian Dunham ECBS

Australian Bowen Therapist based in Bath. Telephone: 07910 332393 www.christiandunham.net

or join our 2000+ followers on Twitter @spark_magazine for spark tweets and the Daily Spark news digest

9/8/13 14:10:04

index busi - comp want to advertise in advertising? The Spark?more see inside info on back inside cover back forcover info

business services

If it’s all stressing you out - bookkeeping, self assessment - don’t worry: we can help. I am a local ethical accountant you can talk to, flexible, cost-effective and professional. I offer accounts preparation, tax returns and advice for individuals, self-employed, partnerships and limited companies. Also VAT, Payroll (online RTI), and free phone advice for clients. Prices from £75 with a free first hour meeting. Telephone: William Everatt on 0117 325 9050, 07711 050509 or text for a call back. Email: William@thegreenaccountant.co.uk www.thegreenaccountant.co.uk

car clubs

Drive down your motoring costs with City Car Club, the UK’s leading pay-as-you-go car club. With over 50 cars spread across Bristol and Bath, find your nearest car just up your street. Book locally parked cars online or by phone by the hour, day or as long as you want from just £3.96 per hour - inclusive of insurance, maintenance and valeting. A mileage rate is charged to cover the cost of fuel, variable on a monthly basis. See our website for full details. Say a fond farewell to insurance, road tax, repairs, and even the car wash with this all-inclusive service. Parking is hassle-free too as each car is located in its own reserved parking bay. Exclusive offer to readers of the Spark: Join City Car Club and receive £20 free driving. Just quote SP237 when applying online at citycarclub.co.uk or by phone on 0845 330 1234

career development Bristol-based NM Systems offers virtual administration services available throughout the UK, and provides services for small and home-based businesses that may not have the time, room or regular work to employ someone on a permanent basis. I have over 15 years’ administration experience. I can work for clients on an ad-hoc or regular basis, and can provide support evenings and weekends, ensuring your business benefits from consistent and reliable back-office functions. I am committed to providing high quality work at reasonable rates with efficiency, professionalism, confidentiality, discretion and integrity. Benefits of using NM Systems: • Only pay for hours worked • No need to provide office space or equipment; save on running costs • No PAYE, National Insurance, holiday, sickness, or training costs • No Agency Fees • Long-term and short-term support available. Contact admin@niallmilligan.co.uk tel: 0779 036 9121

Are You Still Looking For An Accountant?

Accounts and tax return preparation for partnerships and individuals. Assistance with Revenue investigations. Siri Perera Chartered Accountant. Ashley Down, 0117 923 2113. siri.perera@btinternet.com

Public Speaking Fears?

My passion is about helping people find their voice and find their ease in front of groups. It can be done! Take a look at my page ad in Courses, Groups & Workshops, or go straight to www.speaking-infront.co.uk John Dawson 01225 425300

A versatile venue for Frome. The Cheese & Grain is available for hire for local residents and clubs, and for all registered charities at reduced rates. Corporate, educational and charity meetings can be booked by negotiation, with access to all venue facilities including screen projection and catering. Contact Martin Dimery at martin@cheeseandgrain.co.uk Cheese & Grain, Market Yard, Frome Tel: 01373 455 768

Offering your business a greener and healthier way to network. T 0117 330 9024

Want to inject some nature and creativity into your busy urban life? The farm offers an oasis of calm and greenness in the heart of the city. We run adult courses in jewellery making, painting and drawing, ceramics, sculpture, sewing, organic gardening and more. For children there’s Tiny Trowels our drop-in gardening group for babies and toddlers, or Farm Adventurers, our new childcare service for 2-5 year olds which includes growing vegetables, outdoor cooking, mud kitchen and animal husbandry, while you attend our courses or just relax. We also have a regular older persons group, a sports pitch, lots of lovely animals and a fantastic café. Why not pop down to our next event and check it all out? Love Life Day, 28th September 12-4pm is a community and family event promoting sustainability, well-being and green living. Lifecycle will be running a children’s bike swap, bike rodeo and Dr Bike, Parents4play are junk modelling and The Spark are bringing green goodie bags. We will also have complementary health taster sessions, lots of great food, drink and music. www.windmillhillcityfarm.org.uk

Arcania’s fantastic new central location, right next to Bath Abbey, offers rooms to rent for therapies and small groups. We specialise in our own branded Aromatherapy product range, Gemstone Jewellery, Books, CDs and other Unique Gifts for the Mind, Body and Spirit. The holistic treatments and groups we offer in our Therapy Rooms from highly qualified therapists and practitioners include: • Massage (Aromatherapy, Deep Tissue, etc.) • Beauty Therapies (Waxing, Facials, etc.) • Reiki • Ayurveda • Astrology/Palmistry/Card Readings • Past-Life Regression Therapy • Meditation • Courses/ Workshops. All are welcome, just call the shop for information or to book an appointment. Gift Vouchers sold for treatments or goods. Room hire available. Open Monday-Saturday 10am-5.45pm & Sunday 11am-4.45pm. 6-7 Orange Grove, Bath, BA1 1LP. Tel: 01225 335233 info@arcaniabath.com www.arcaniabath.com

coaching

Off the peg, mass-produced solutions simply don’t cut it any more. Step off the treadmill. Take the handmade path and build a life you’ll love. No one else is qualified. You will do the perfect job. Listen to your instincts. Cultivate your creative self. Make effective plans, perfect new skills. Release blocks to restore your natural grace. Heartfelt, intelligent coaching and courses designed to suit your style and situation. Inspired and guided by art, stories and Jungian analysis against a rigorous backdrop of NLP. In person and by phone/skype. Flexible rates. Free consultation. 07766 254 751 www.facebook.com/thehandmadelife

Insightful Coaching & Supervision Gaunts House, home of the Gaunts House Charitable Foundation Ltd, is a country mansion set in beautiful Dorset countryside, with an amazing intention. We are here to learn, grow and develop our consciousness, and to provide the environment for you to do the same. Our Community of Profound Learning is a spiritually-based, holistically-minded group of free thinkers committed to exploring and supporting the evolution of consciousness and the awakening of their inner selves. As well as hosting private retreatants, Wwoofers and other volunteers, we are a leading venue for courses and workshops. Tel: 01202 841522 www.gauntshouse.com www.gauntssummergathering.com

children - education ☞ Autism Intervention Specialist/ Consultant

Learning; Intervention; Consultations See Disability section

Bristol Steiner School

Where education is a journey not a race. Regular Open Morning Tours available by booking. Christmas Fair Saturday 23rd November, 10-4pm. www.bristolsteinerschool.org 0117 933 9990 reception@bristolsteinerschool.org

Acupuncture, Allergy Testing, Aromatherapy, CBT, Colour Light Therapy, Counselling, E.F.T., Health Kinesiology, Herbal Medicine, Homeopathy, Hypnotherapy, Indian Head Massage, Iridology, Massage, McTimoney Chiropractic, N.L.P., Neuro-Linguistic Psychotherapy, Reflexology, Reiki, Shiatsu, Sports & Remedial Massage (Holistic / Swedish / Thai), Time Line Therapy. Free ‘Which Treatment?’ Consultation. Excellent natural health treatments given by the same qualified and experienced practitioners that made the clinic such a success from the start. Gift vouchers. Children’s clinic with treatments given at reduced prices. Casual callers welcomed. ABC Tel: 0117 94 44 448

Coaching in Handling Difficult Conversations

with John Drowley. Grasp the nettle! Prepare for conversations you avoid or find difficult. Create constructive ways forward. Free consultation. www.johndrowley.co.uk 07954 410236

business opportunities

listings 74 vfinal fri.indd 36

complementary clinics

centres & venues

www.netwalkingsouthwest.co.uk

Are you interested in starting a home-based business that fits in with everything else you have to do in your life?! Forever Living Products are aloe vera or bee and honey-based, and include drinks, supplements, skincare, personal care, weight management and cosmetics. The aloe vera is grown using organic methods on mostly company-owned plantations with fair employment practices, and all products are certified cruelty-free. I have been using the products for myself, family and friends for 6 months. I am confident in their quality and effectiveness and am happy to recommend them. Forever Living Products is a legitimate business which has been going for 35 years and operates in over 150 countries. They offer great training and there is no joining fee or minimum sales requirements. I’m a single mum with 2 kids and a part-time job and have found I can fit in my Forever Living work when and wherever it’s convenient for me. If you are interested in earning some extra money selling great products when and where suits you, please get in touch. Naomi Ross 07538 221 941

city farms

For confidence, calm and clarity. For integrity, growth and change. For balance, support and challenge. For people, plans and priorities. For work, play and everyday. Experienced, qualified and professionally accredited. Contact Sarah Gornall to discuss your needs. 0117 330 2017 http://www.coachingclimate.co.uk

Mindfulness Psychological Coaching and Teaching

Affordable, effective Mindfulness, NLP, CBT. Expertise in self-esteem and recovery from toxic relationships. Jackie Hawken 0117 959 2635 www.mindfulnessbristol.co.uk www.equanalta.co.uk

No Crystals, No Funny Stuff

Let’s just get on and sort it out Stuck? In a hole? Brick wall? You have the answers, but you haven’t been asked the right questions yet. Whether it’s work, home or creativity, the respectful but rigorous style of Solution-Focused Coaching will get you jump-started again. Ex-drugs worker, mediator and Probation Officer, now trainer, coach and teacher, Roger de Wolf looks forward to hearing from you, if you think skilled conversation might be useful. rogerdewolf@msn.com 07971 844054

☞ Integrative Voicework Personal/Professional coaching. See Voice section

Abdominal-Sacral Massage Natalie McGrorty 07599 283 033 Acupuncturist Eleanor Breen 07834 160906 Alexander Technique Julia Norman 0117 927 7005 CBT David Wilcox 07766 465 678 Energy Healing James Coombes 07791 496 687, Tara Halliday 07866 495 885 Holistic Massage Kathryn Smith 07906 540 389 Birth & Parenting Dominique Sakoilsky 07969 204763 Psychotherapy & Counselling Matthew Appleton 0117 942 9696, Bryan Greene 01275 395 215, Bridget Grew 07845 978082, Garth Naude 0770 900 1528, Cheryl Garner 01275 395 214, Susan Gully 07581 325846, Liz Sorapure 0117 9444380 Craniosacral Therapy 0117 9428647 Dominique Sakoilsky, Jenni Meyer, Matthew Appleton. 26 Cairns Road, Westbury Park, BS6 7TY (Entrance in Russell Rd). Tel: 0117 942 8647. S1 Further info www.cairnsclinic.co.uk

Since 1993 we've been busy helping the West Country to change. Thanks for your support along the way

9/8/13 14:10:07

adorrates visit on www.thespark.co.uk inside back cover for more info or to book online index comp - comp

Reflexology, Healing, Mindfulness

Quality affordable sessions. NW Bristol. Alison Mendoza 07588 691193 www.naturaltherapypages.co.uk/freeflowhealing

Tabitha Gale Complementary therapies for mind, body and spirit. Individual appointments with highly qualified and experienced practitioners. • Acupuncture • Osteopathy • Cranial Osteopathy • Homeopathy • Counselling • Reflexology • Holistic Massage • Reiki • Shiatsu. We have disabled access to all therapy rooms and provide a peaceful, safe and caring environment in the heart of South Bristol. We also run courses and classes including Tai Chi, Yoga, Meditation, and Shiatsu. The Centre houses the Lam Rim Bristol Buddhist Centre and a small refreshment area. Beautiful, large hall available for hire: some dates still available for 2013. For appointments and hall booking enquiries: 12 Victoria Place, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 1BP. 0117 923 1138 www.centreforwholehealth.org info@centreforwholehealth.org

Therapies: • Acupuncture - Sarah May, Elizabeth Greswell • Anti-smoking - John Crawford • Bowen Technique - Anne Brunton • Chiropractor - Catherine Barber • Craniosacral Therapy - Claire Attridge • Energy Medicine - Sue Bryant, Nadine Siebdrat • Homeopathy - Stephanie Woolley • Hypnotherapy - Joanne Cole, John Crawford, Roger Stennett, Samantha Cleverly • Inner Child Therapy - Joanne Cole • Kinesiology/Allergy Therapy - Andrew Kemp, Amanda Hassan-Ally, Claire Kedward, Ellen Forshaw • Massage - Samantha Cleverly, Charlotte Perrey • Nutrition - Sue Bryant • Physiotherapy - Jonathan Watkins • Pilates - Samantha Cleverly • Past Life Regression - Joanne Cole • Psychology - Jane Simmons • Reflexology - Claire Collins, Anne Brunton • Relaxation & Stress Release - Sue Bryant, Nadine Siebdrat • Spiritual Healing - Andrew Kemp. For information or bookings please call 0117 962 0008, info@chironcentre.co.uk ABT www.chrioncentre.co.uk

Practitioners. • Louise Chapman - Acupuncture 07789 913 873 www.sites.google.com/site/louisechapmanacupuncture • Jon Muscaty - Osteopathy and Naturopathy 07968 680 851 www.jonmuscaty.co.uk • Heidi Spindler - Therapeutic/Aromatherapy Massage, Reflexology 07966 453 815 hspindler.mail@gmail.com • Zöe Gray - Nutritional Therapist 07719 606 339 www.znutrition.co.uk Hypnotherapists. • Claire Brigg 07984 305 239 www.clairebrigg.com • Susan Cassidy 07887 565 907 www.solutionsinmind-hypnotherapy.co.uk • Susan Rodrigues 07743 895 513 www.susanrodrigueshypnotherapy.co.uk • Matthew Dyson 07989 576 456 www.dysontherapy.com • Stephanie Burton (nee Hill) 07915 158 089 www.cliftonhypnotherapy.co.uk Hypnotherapy Information and Appointments Line: 0117 973 3260

When you reply to an ad please say you saw it in The Spark - it really helps us. Thanks

listings 74 vfinal fri.indd 37

Located close to the Arches, Enso offers a relaxed and friendly environment to treat a whole range of today’s health problems. With a team of dedicated and experienced practitioners of traditional and conventional therapies, your every need will be catered for in the comfort & informal surroundings of Enso. Acupuncture Sarah May 07929 252756 • Neil Kingham 07985 916114 Holistic Therapy Liliana Spark 07890 875831 Hypnotherapy Julia Crocker 07786 001295 • Michael Hughes 07969 122938 Shiatsu Julie Decarroux 07845 804015 Thai Massage Cliff de la Croix 07726 301714 Swedish Massage Abby Akers 07956 627344 C.B.T. Lucy Walker 07534 218817. Whether you have a serious on-going health issue or just want to de-stress, simply phone or pop in for information on any of the treatments that we offer. Treatment Rooms available for hire to qualified practitioners, please call for details.

• Acupuncture. Sandra Arbelaez 0794 7808484, Eleanor Breen 0783 416 0906 • Aromatherapy. Belinda Jeffery 07941 501660, Trish Utaboon 0776 622 4006, Sarah Mortimer 07851 307062 • Birth preparation/Dula. Trish Utaboon 0776 622 4006 • Counselling. Mo Cahill 07922 254618, Laura Cooper 07808 216 718, Peter Lowis 07981 798165, Jo Reader 0771 324 3547, Maggie Tweedy 07854 183 740, Konstantina Sokolaki 07921 212 622 • Craniosacral Therapy. Patricia Falvey 07905 283 797 • Herbal Medicine (Chinese). Sandra Arbelaez 0794 780 8484 • Holistic Massage. Sarah Hoare 07976 710368, Karunavapi 07709 284056, Sandra Arbelaez 0794 7808484, Belinda Jeffery 07941 501660, Cassandra Rosa 07765 348 294, Beata Law 0770 385 9613 • Hypnotherapy. Sarah Mortimer 07851 307062, Stephanie Betschart 07731 784 254 • Indian Head Massage. Belinda Jeffery 07941 501660, Trish Utaboon 0776 622 4006 • Pre/Post Natal Massage. Beata Law 0770 385 9613, Trish Utaboon 0776 622 4006 • Psychotherapy. Catrin John 07967 188 060, Peter Lowis 07981 798165, Andy Mckeown 07976 436149 • Reflexology. Belinda Jeffery 07941 501660 • Reiki. Sandra Arbelaez 0794 7808484 • Shiatsu. Hannah Currant 07981 992178, Rosie Freeman 0798 027 9452. Or contact our Coordinator, Karunavapi 0758 708 9220 or healingroomsbristol@gmail.com The Healing Rooms, 162 Gloucester Road, Bristol

Herbal Apothecary & Therapy Rooms in central Bristol with an integrated team of experienced practitioners offering:- • Herbal Medicine • Acupuncture • Reflexology • Shiatsu • Holistic & Deep Tissue Massage • Craniosacral Therapy • Counselling. We’re in a beautiful 16th century building, and have a huge range of herbs and herbal products, many locally grown and produced in our dispensary. We have some spaces available for additional therapists - please call Max or Lisa if interested. 58 Colston Street, Bristol BS1 5AZ Tel: 0117 927 6527 Email: info@urbanfringe.co.uk www.urbanfringe.co.uk

A Unique and welcoming city retreat providing complementary therapies and classes. Less than 10 minutes drive from Central Bristol, this peaceful haven provides a rural environment for those wishing to escape from the city without having to travel for miles. Services include: • Massage • Reflexology • Acupuncture • Osteopathy • Kinesiology • Homeopathy • Nutrition • Reiki • Counselling • Hypnotherapy • Pilates • Yoga & Meditation. Yanley Court is also home to The Natural Pregnancy Partnership, a group of experienced therapists specialising in therapies/classes for pre- and post-natal women. Therapy rooms and a beautiful workshop area are available to hire. Yanley Lane, Long Ashton, BS41 9LB. Information and bookings: 01275 394554 info@yanleycourt.co.uk www.yanleycourt.co.uk

Integrated Healing, Kinesiology & Reiki sessions. Workshops. Tel: 07989 376656 www.bristolkinesiology.co.uk

☞ Clearing with Anthony Johnston Clearing patterns brings emotional freedom. See C&P Bristol section

☞ Stuart Taylor

Past Life Regression & Hypnotherapy. See Hypnotherapy section

computers & web design

Slow computer at home? Want to get the best out of your business computers? We can help. Both on-site and in-shop repairs, upgrades and network support to suit you. We have 14 years’ experience helping home users, local businesses and global enterprises. Call us to find out our competitive prices or visit our website www.goto-it.co.uk If you need help with IT, you know where to goto! Graham Simmonds 0117 969 8767 / 07977 149171 support@goto-it.co.uk www.goto-it.co.uk Supporting home users, voluntary, NHS and private organisations for over 14 years.

Bristol City Yoga Therapy Rooms

Relax, revitalise and restore yourself. Treatments include various massages, acupuncture, ayurveda, reflexology, shiatsu, and now hypnotherapy and sports therapy. 07582 425237 therapies@bristolcityyoga.co.uk

The Practice Rooms

Range of therapies; expert practitioners. Bath, Clifton, Salisbury. www.thepracticerooms.co.uk

The Relaxation Centre

Our heavenly treatment menu includes holistic massage, reflexology, Indian head massage, shiatsu, hot stone massage, aromatherapy, reflexology, and reiki to name but a few. Our practitioners are highly skilled with years of experience, and will tailor each treatment to suit your needs. Treatment prices start from £30 for half an hour. Discounts available for regular bookings. 9 All Saints Road, Clifton BS8 2JG 0117 970 6616 www.relaxationcentre.co.uk

Are you looking for a tech company who speak your language? If you’re looking to create a website, or build a computing application that will help you run your business then igeek are the company who can help. Using clear, simple English we’ll be with you every step of your journey, from design and build through to testing. From websites you manage yourself, to online shops, to fully-fledged business databases, igeek ensure that our experience and your creativity combine to create positive results. We work with organisations like yours to help technology empower you, make you more efficient and increase your productivity, leaving you more time to spend on the important things. We grow with you: we’re the technology company that can make a positive difference. Call today for a chat. www.igeek.co.uk 0117 370 2469

complementary practitioners

Therapies available: Acupuncture • Aromatherapy • Ayurveda • Bach Flower Remedies • Cranio-Sacral Therapy • Holistic Facials • Health Kinesiology • Homoeopathy • Holistic & Deep Tissue Massage • McTimoney Chiropractic • Medical Herbalism • Nutrition • Pregnancy Massage • Reflexology • Shiatsu • Osteopathy and more. Appointments can be made by visiting the shop or by telephone. We are happy to help you choose which treatment may be appropriate. In addition most practitioners will give 10 minute free consultations to help you decide. Open Monday to Saturday 9.30-5.45pm and Sundays 11-5pm. Gift vouchers available. Neal’s Yard Remedies Therapy Rooms, 7 Northumberland Place, Bath BA1 5AR Tel: 01225 466944 e-mail: bath@nealsyardremedies.com www.nyr-bath.com

Are you stuck in a maze of confusion? Bewildered by therapies and remedies? Don’t know what advice to believe? The answer is simple! I can unlock what your body already knows it needs to restore or maintain health, with the fine detail of Kinesiology. Help resolve major & minor problems: digestive disorders, food intolerances, fatigue & low energy, allergies, asthma & eczema, migraine & headache, stress-related problems, PMS, menopause, muscle & joint pain, poor immunity to infections, vitamin & mineral imbalances, etc. Diana Sheppard KFRP. Natural Health Caring with Kinesiology. Call 0117 977 6354 for free discussion of your needs www.dianasheppard.co.uk

Online Crystal Therapy

Be empowered to heal yourself in your own time and space. Email consultations and personalised crystal healing layouts posted direct to you. www.KatesCrystals.co.uk

New Macs, Refurbs, repairing sick Macs, advice, upgrading. Printers, ADSL broadband - all in one shop. Easy parking & helpful staff with years of experience. Macs have a lot to offer: professional MacPro Tower, powerful MacBookPro, budget iMac, with Intel Quad or dual Processors, extremely fast and stable. Virus resistant. Macs are so much easier to use than PCs. We supply doctors & practitioners, designers, musicians, architects, writers, students & creative people in the South West. We provide advice & service, new & old equipment, printers & scanners, upgrades & repairs, software, memory, Giclee printing & Internet Services. iMacs from £1075, 13“ MacBooks £895, 15“ MacBook Pros £1345, Mini’s, Towers and ’Bits’. Talk to Pete Douglas - 0117 983 6999. Tantra, 48 Kensington Park Rd, Brislington, Bristol BS4 3HU (off Bath Road past ITV, near Go Outdoors), 9am-6.30pm. e-mail: pete@tantraweb.co.uk web: www.tantra.co.uk

☞ You’ll find more ads for web designers in our Marketplace section on p34

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cons - couns

Counselling for Recovery. Maggie Tweedy

constellations

Two Year Training in Family Constellations with Barbara Morgan, assisted by John Ainscough. Founded by German philosopher and psychotherapist Bert Hellinger, Family Constellations is becoming an increasingly familiar phrase within therapeutic and spiritual circles, with the potential for healing both individuals and whole families. This training gives participants a good, basic grounding in the work with plenty of opportunity for personal work, experience as a representative, understanding of the underlying orders and philosophical stance of constellation work. 7 x 5-day modules, near Frome, starting September 2013. Further information, full programme and application form: Barbara Morgan theknowingfield@gmail.com 01373 301168 or 07966 755509 www.cominghome.org.uk

Bringing healing to personal & trans-generational trauma. Finding greater autonomy in everyday life. Based on the work of Professor Franz Rupert. A Bristol program of Saturday all-day and Thursday evening workshops throughout 2013. Jane also offers one-to-one constellations work, psychotherapy, supervision and therapy group work. Please contact Jane Cutler for further details on 0117 963 2505 janecutler@creativerelations.org.uk

counselling & psychotherapy

Skilled in listening and understanding and an empathic and experienced practitioner. Sue offers healing and a safe, supportive space to encourage personal growth and positive self-esteem, often making lasting changes in a relatively short space of time. This is not prolonged therapy or fanciful theories, but a down-to-earth approach that brings rapid results in areas such as anxiety and stress, bereavement, burnout, depression and relationship difficulties. 29 years’ therapeutic experience; currently in holistic counselling and healing, and originally as a medical doctor (general practice/psychiatry). Individual sessions in Clifton & Stroud. Groups: For new groups please see website. www.drsueedgley.co.uk 01453 885707

Affordable Therapy for Women

(£25-35 sliding scale) I have 20 years’ experience, trained with Integrative approach. Art therapy and dreamwork also offered. Happy to work short term. Issues might include being in a period of change, loss, addiction, sexual orientation, deep sadness, illness, menopause, anxiety, relationships, spiritual crisis, etc. Phone Maxine 0117 329 7600 or 0781 494 3965 (free initial 30 minute consultation)

Alcohol & Addictions Counselling

Qualified experienced private confidential alcohol & addictions counsellor available for one-to-one counselling. www.bristoladdictioncounselling.co.uk or contact Sarah Walsh 0785 475 2749

c&p bath Core Process Psychotherapy

Bath I offer a safe space for you to explore your thoughts and feelings about the issues and relationships in your life. I will support you in developing insight and tapping into your own well-being in order to find new ways of relating in the world. Sue Abbotson 0778 844 1845. Diploma in CPP, UKCP Registered sue@psychotherapy-bath.com

UKRC registered. Insightful, experienced, empathic, now seeing individuals, couples and groups: Coexist BS1/BS7. Barbro Magnusson 0117 299 3223, 0798 851 6845 me@barbromagnusson.co.uk www.barbromagnusson.co.uk

c&p bristol

Low cost psychotherapy for adults provided by appropriately trained and supervised psychotherapy students in advanced training. Call 0117 950 3420 for an application form

Core Process Psychotherapy

Mindfulness, Focusing & Body-Centred This form of therapy is a gentle enquiry into one’s present moment experience. It can be used as a basis for exploring anxiety, depression, relationship difficulty, stress and trauma, etc. Free initial meeting. Bristol Pounds taken. www.patfinnegan.co.uk 0117 953 7772 pat.finnegan@btinternet.com

Core Process Psychotherapy

Bristol Whether you feel out-of-step with life or have a specific issue, the gentle and compassionate CP approach can help to bring awareness to what is happening, which may then help you to find the strength and potential to heal. Free introductory meeting. Sue Allen MA UK Reg. 0117 968 5315

Core Process Psychotherapy

Using mindfulness we explore the difficulties you bring, to develop understanding and potential for change and wellbeing. Free first meeting. Helen Gunson 07929 717 708 NA hgunsoncpp.blogspot.co.uk

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Bristol Creating the space to bring all of you. Helping you find your way towards meaningful life and vitality. My background is in Spiritual Care and Teaching. Free first meeting. Achalavira Rose, MA.UKCP Registered. (male) NA 07795 820 293

Core Process Psychotherapy

Counsellor and Psychotherapist

Sue Ryall I provide a supportive space in which people can explore their concerns and struggles in depth. I have 25 years’ therapeutic experience in various settings, working with people from a diverse range of backgrounds. Central Bristol location. UKCP reg. sue.ryall@blueyonder.co.uk www.sueryall.co.uk 0117 921 1147

Counselling & Wellbeing

Live. Love. Learn. Let Go. Be who you really are. Helping you be all that you can be. www.ismenecole.com 0791 262 6968

Existential Counselling and Psychotherapy

David Wakely MA UKCP reg. I offer a constructive approach in a confidential environment, working with you to clarify problems and explore ways forward that respect who you are and your situation in life. I work with a wide range of issues including depression, anxiety, self-esteem, anger, stress, addictive/compulsive behaviours and LGBT issues. As an existential practitioner, I am interested in relationships of all kinds, sexuality, identity, direction, isolation, loss, and the creation of meaning. Based near Whiteladies Road, Bristol. Tel: 07849519277, Email: david.wakely@hotmail.com www.davidwakely.co.uk Rob Porteous MA, Dip H.I.C., BACP accredited. Long/short term counselling for individuals. 0117 971 3805

Integrative Body Psychotherapy & Counselling

Terry Davey (UKCP Registered) Work with both individuals and couples covering a wide range of problems. I offer a fully embodied and relational approach to change, both empathic and challenging, encompassing our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual nature. I have particular expertise in trauma (PTSD), abuse and couples counselling. T Call 07969 000317 www.bristoltherapy.co.uk

Integrative Body Psychotherapy & Supervision

Janine Mather UKCP registered 18 years experience of working on all levels mental, physical, emotional & spiritual, with problems including: Post Traumatic Stress, depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms & spiritual emergency. Individual and group supervision available for psychotherapists & complementary practitioners. 07971 783374 janine.mather@virgin.net

Low Cost Humanistic Integrative Psychotherapy

Core Process Psychotherapy Clearing takes place in a confidential, one-to-one setting where you work in areas of your choosing. The Clearer guides you in a series of communication processes that clear current problems and discharge stacked up communications, helping you find and express your inner truths, bringing insight and clarity to areas of your life that have been held in tension and confusion. Clearing offers the possibility of dissolving deep-seated patterns and fixed attitudes to bring greater satisfaction, emotional freedom and life fulfilment. To find out more about Clearing, or to arrange a free consultation with Anthony, please ring 0795 005 2100 or email anthonymjohnston@gmail.com

Dip. Couns., BA, BACP member. Person-centred, 12 Step, cognitive and depth counselling. Relationships, abuse, food, drugs and general counselling. Bristol and Stroud. 07854 183740

Person-centred Counsellor

Integrative Counselling

BACP Accredited Counsellor/ Psychotherapist

Contact Point Psychotherapy

“Well, its like this... the counselling & psychotherapy (c&p) section starts with • geographic areas and specialist focus • leads onto the general c&p ads • examines c&p training opportunities • and finishes with the C&P noticeboard.”

want to advertise in The Spark? see inside back cover for info

Bristol An opportunity to bring awareness to whatever is going on for you, in an atmosphere of safety, warmth and acceptance. That awareness brings more choice and is, in itself, the start of the healing process. Free First Meeting. NA Katy Taylor, UKCP Reg: 07952 064702

Safe. Warm. Respectful. Understanding. www.bristolpsychotherapist.co.uk Alice: 0117 924 0992

I work with individuals and couples in an integrative way and am able to accommodate each individual’s unique needs working through unhelpful feelings, thoughts and behaviours in a supportive, non-judgemental and confidential environment and aim for a greater self-awareness. Visit my websiite for more information. www.tammycounselling.co.uk tammycounselling@gmail.com 0797 021 9799

Your Voice Counselling - Understanding You

Qualifed and experienced counsellor offering safe, effective support for all your mental health needs. John McGuirk www.yvcounselling.co.uk yourvoicecounselling@gmail.com 0779 677 7110 S1,T

c&p bristol north Therapist and Supervisor, Bishopston, BS7 Kamalamani - MSc, Adv Dip Integrative Counselling, Adv Dip ERT, Dip CBT, MBACP (Accred) I offer warm, supportive and creative conditions for therapy to take place. My work is influenced by further training in Wild therapy, Embodied-Relational therapy, Buddhism and bereavement work. Please call ffi, Tel: 07905 147 968, info@kamalamani.co.uk www.kamalamani.co.uk

c&p families/young people Help! Counselling

Counselling & psychotherapy for 9-25 year-olds - & support for those caring for children No limit on the number of sessions. Sites across Bristol. Also in Bath, Torquay and Exeter. We ask for an affordable contribution to our costs. You choose: the payment, the issues and how many sessions. All staff CRB checked. ABC Tel: 0117 950 2511

Karen Clark, Person Centred Counsellor

Welcomes Children, Young People, Adults, also Parents/Carers concerned about children/teenagers. Gentle integrative approach, any issues, short/long term. AT karen.e.clark@hotmail.co.uk 0758 121 9309

c&p glastonbury Supervision & Psychotherapy in Glastonbury

with Judy Scott Experienced, Integrative Psychotherapist (Metanoia-trained), and qualified Supervisor with extensive experience in private, statutory, NHS, and voluntary sectors, currently has spaces for supervisees and clients. MBACP (Snr Accred.) and UKCP Reg. Contact Judy Scott 01458 830118 judy.scott79@gmail.com www.mendip-psychotherapy.co.uk

c&p groups & group therapy

Lower Cost Psychotherapy

Therapist in last year of training with bcpc. Clifton. Silke Kuball 07910 536431

Mindfulness Based Psychotherapy

Core Process Psychotherapy uses an approach that helps us to see more clearly how we create our own habitual patterns and blocks to our natural potential. Listening deeply with awareness and compassion, we work together to follow your unique path back to this innate health. I offer a free introductory session. Pauline Battson Dip CPP MBACP, 07981 638 967 NA

Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy

When we bring awareness to the patterns and defences adopted to cope with life it can open up space to ’do oneself’ differently and uncover inherent health and wellbeing. I offer a profound welcome to this life-enhancing enquiry. Free introductory meeting. Katharine Rider MA Core Process Psychotherapy www.riderpsychotherapy.co.uk 0781 344 9797 NA

Psychodrama is a form of group psychotherapy, which allows participants to enact scenes from the past, present and the imagination We currently offer the following: Weekly Psychodrama group, Wednesday evenings, central Bristol. Spaces available in an ongoing group. 9th and 10th November 2013, A weekend of Psychodrama. Wild Goose Space, St. Werburghs, Bristol. A self-development weekend - all welcome. Concessions available. For more information: www.spontaneityandchange.co.uk Email: info@spontaneityandchange.co.uk Phone: 07984 481335 Twitter: @SpontAndChange

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9/8/13 14:10:11

ad orrates visit www.thespark.co.uk on inside back cover for more info or to book online index counselling

c&p psychotherapy

c&p general

39 39

c&p training

Bristol Integrative Psychotherapy

I offer a safe, confidential & professional space where we can explore what you would like to explore in your life. I have experience in trauma, attachment, loss & bereavement, anxiety & depression. My therapeutic approach is based on your needs as a client. My theoretical underpinnings combine Attachment, Intersubjectivity & Phenomenological approaches with a freedom & openness to spirituality. Regan Crum BA PGCE MA Final Year Integrative Psychotherapy Trainee Mobile: 0780 514 7624 & email: reganstherapy@yahoo.co.uk More information: fulcrumhouse.co.uk

c&p relationships Relate Counselling for Relationships, Families, Children

Relate offers counselling in a professionally managed and supervised organisation. The vast majority of our clients would recommend our services and use them again. We work in Bristol, Bath, Weston-s-Mare, Street and Cheddar. Contact: 0117 942 8444 recep.relateavon@btconnect.com www.relate-avon.org.uk

Now in New Premises at 2 Princes’ Building, George Street Bath (opposite Wagamamas). Openings is a cooperative of psychotherapists, counsellors and a clinical psychologist based in the centre of Bath. We work with adults, adolescents and couples, on both a short or long-term basis. We provide a confidential, supportive place where you can explore a range of issues. Therapeutic approaches include: Psychosynthesis, Humanistic & Integrative, Person centred, Core Process, Gestalt, CBT, Neo Reichian, Transactional Analysis and Transpersonal. Best way to get in touch is to visit the website which explains more about the therapists, their approaches and gives their contact details. Or email / ring the administrator (available to speak to on a Thursday a.m.) for information or for a leaflet. www.openingsbath.org.uk email: openings.bath@talk21.com Tel: 01225 445013

c&p spiritual counselling Counselling With Meridian Therapies Promotion: initial 2 sessions £60. louanne@energycounselling.co.uk 0787 110 5335

S14,NA

its not the speed that’s important, its the direction

We come to therapy for many reasons: personal problems, interpersonal difficulties, general dissatisfaction with life or for personal development. I work out of Core Process Psychotherapy because it offers a contemplative, spiritual, yet down-to-earth approach. CPP is in tune with my own views of what is truly helpful to the client. It offers a heartfelt acceptance of the client and honours their way of working. My practice is set in Wiltshire countryside; a rural retreat near Castle Combe, a short drive from Bath and Bristol. It is easy to find. I offer a Free Introductory Meeting. Phone Andrea Legh-Smith UKCP 01249 782516 or aleghsmith@gmail.com

Sweet-Track is a centre for Psycho-Spiritual education providing accredited professional counselling trainings. The courses are designed to create a learning environment, where we support the development of self-actualisation and professionalism by integrating physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual growth. This is a Path of the Heart, where every person is nurtured as a unique individual. Our aim is to empower people’s spiritual expression and respect each others differences. Accredited by CPCAB. Glastonbury courses 2013. Non-residential. 1 day workshops: 1st September - Mindfulness Techniques within the Therapeutic Relationship Level 3 Counselling Studies & Level 4; 2-year Diploma starting September 20th & 5th respectively. 01458 835552/ 833933 www.sweet-track-counselling.co.uk info@sweet-track-counselling.co.uk

“we thought it was an extremely straightforward and streamlined process” You can now book and pay for your listings ads online: www.thespark.co.uk

We have been providing nationally accredited Psychodynamic counselling and training since 1983. We are now recruiting for September 2013 BACP-accredited Psychodynamic Counselling Training, from Foundation courses to Diploma and our Advanced Diploma in Once-Weekly Psychotherapy: training. Our training is run in conjunction with our counselling service which provides counselling in Frome and Bristol. 10 Week Introduction to Counselling Skills Course - runs throughout the year. CPD Workshop - Safeguarding for Counsellors Jill White. Black Swan Round Tower, Frome. Saturday 1st June, 10-4pm. For further details and to book: www.wessexcounsellingservice.co.uk 01373 453355

c&p noticeboard

Central Bath, Clifton Village, Salisbury. Beautifully set-up, professional rooms in period buildings in central, affluent, high profile locations. Exceptional value and completely flexible, user-friendly terms to suit both start-up and established therapists. Community oriented multi-disciplinary practice. Membership includes use of rooms in all our locations. Counselling Trainee Offer: up to 50% reduction in rates. Terms apply. To find out more about joining our community please go to our website: www.thepracticerooms.co.uk or ring Angus Landman on 01225 920812

Want to plan your advertising more? Want to tailor your ads to reflect what we’re talking about?

We have a plan, an annual plan.

Summer issue • published late May • Festival Focus Winter issue • published late November • Spark Awards, past year/new year Our new Annual Awards give us a chance to big-up the good stuff that’s happened and take a peek at what We’re promoting the local, small-scale, community-led, artsy, quirky, DIY and inspirational festivals, is to come. Inspire our readers with what you’re doing, help them fulfil their New Year’s resolutions. camps and fayres, with an added mention of urban do’s you just shouldn’t miss. And we always have some Spark readers want to make positive changes for themselves, their communities & our planet – tell them great festival ticket giveaway comps to go along with it. Make sure your events are in the issue our readers how you can help them do it! refer back to again and again. Spring issue • published late February • Courses Special Autumn issue • published late August • Spotlight Vocational training, inspiring courses, art & craft workshops, for mind-expansion, education & fun – Our chance to react to trends, or look at an issue or subject in more detail; this issue it’s our Energy know about your summer schools, give them time to apply for the new academic year. feature. Sometimes it’s a regional view (we’ve covered Glastonbury, Stroud & Gloucestershire in the past); let our readers Plant the seeds, tickle their fancies, help them think about what they can do next, sometimes it’s a therapy (we’ve addressed Mindfulness, Yoga and Shamanism recently). supported by our editorial. Keep your eyes peeled – we’ll let you know! Deadlines for the coming year:

winter • issue 75 • early bird 26 sep • final 24 oct • published 25 nov. spring • issue 76 • early bird 19 dec • final 23 jan • published 24 feb. summer • issue 77 • early bird 27 mar • final 24 apr • published 19 may. autumn • issue 78 • early bird 26 jun • final 24 july • published 1 sep

Four-issue ad bookings get you a major discount (trumps the Early Bird price & you can change your words every issue). Or pay by monthly standing order to spread your costs & always get the Early Bird price. Either way, a year’s worth of advertising means you can plan your year, with us, and enjoy the 12 months ahead!

listings 74 vfinal fri.indd 39

9/8/13 14:10:13

40 40

courses index want to advertise in advertising? The Spark?more see inside info onback inside cover back forcover info

courses, groups & workshops

10% off exclusively for Spark readers! Quote SPARK13. • 26th - 30th August: Renewable Energy Systems. Discover the breadth of technologies available to harness energy from wind, water, solar and biomass. • 26th - 30th August: Greenwood Crafts. Learn to carve your own stools, spoons and bowls from trees grown in CAT’s woodland. • 6th - 8th September: Building with Rammed Earth. For anyone with an interest in one of the most beautiful and durable natural building materials in the world. • 23rd - 27th September: Eco Refurbishment. Practical advice for refurbishing existing buildings with minimal environmental impact. All courses include food and accommodation. Concession rates available. http://courses.cat.org.uk email: courses@cat.org.uk Tel: 01654 704952

Interested in using creative arts therapeutically in healthcare or education? Come along and attend our Creative Arts Therapies Introduction Workshop on Saturday 5th September (10am-4pm) at Hamilton House, Stokes Croft (£15). We will be using story, artwork, drama games, movement and enactment to reflect and take stock of a personal question, issue, area in our lives that may need attention. A chance to find out more about the Foundation Degree in Creative Arts Therapies Studies, meet tutors and get a flavour of the course. Watch our new film at www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj29sKvR5WE Tel: 0117 312 5171 or email christine.inman@cityofbristol.ac.uk to book your place. www.cityofbristol.ac.uk

We are passionate about the development of human potential and conscious evolution. We run evenings, days, courses and retreats with a profound instrument of awakening called The Form™ Reality Practice. 5-day Non-Residential Retreat: 5th-9th October. Regular Introduction Sessions Plus Lifting The Veil - Woman’s Programme. For our full program visit our website. Proud supporters of: www.cosmoforminitiative.org The e-Aware Centre is an oasis of aliveness and openness in the heart of the city; with a vision to grow and be available to serve the community of Bristol. A space dedicated to events and activities that connect, inspire and uplift the heart in embodied loving action. All are welcome and we look forward to meeting/ hearing from you soon. e-Aware, Colston Yard, Bristol BS1 5BD 0117 929 0166 engage@e-aware.org www.e-aware.org

don’t let the spark go out of your life. subscribe for only £10 a year and get your spark delivered right to your door www.thespark.co.uk

listings 74 vfinal fri.indd 40

Centre of Excellence for EFT, Bath Learn this effective easy to apply ‘Energy Psychology’ technique that clears emotional blockages and pain, shifts negative thought patterns, old beliefs and helps you move forward on your Soul’s Journey. Courses include EFT Level 1 Self-help days, EFT Level 2 Practitioner Training, EFT Level 3 Advanced, & Trainer Training. Rowena is designer of Emotional Freedom ‘Light’ Techniques adding depth to EFT, working with past lives and ancestral patterns, pre-requisite Level 1 & 2. Rowena works alongside Dr Rosy Daniel at Health Creation, Bath and sees Clients for EFT one-to-one Sessions & Regenerative Healing. 0776 996 4441 EFT@rowenabeaumont.com www.rowenabeaumont.com

Embercombe is a beautiful centre, founded to touch hearts, stimulate minds and inspire committed action for a truly sustainable world. Our valley overlooks Dartmoor, with yurt villages, orchards, lake, meadows and organic garden. The Journey is our core programme, a powerful 5-day residential for people who love the world and want to make a difference. Catalyst is for 18-25s seeking to shape the future. Speaking Out is for anyone wishing to find their authentic voice on the issues that matter to them. The Heart of Leadership is for people in business seeking to place their values at the heart of what they do. WWOOF and other volunteering; day visits and residentials for schools and teacher training. Conference space for 100 with accommodation; easy access, 7 miles from Exeter train station. Sleep in yurts with wood-fired stoves and enjoy our home-cooked food. Tel: 01647 252983 www.embercombe.co.uk

Discover who you really are. An Enlightenment Intensive is a uniquely powerful group process. It provides a real opportunity to directly experience the answer to the ancient question “Who am I?“ There is no teaching - just a pure, intensive process of self-discovery over three and a half days. If you have a sincere desire to be more awake and more real, to experience a breakthrough in consciousness, or to find greater depth and meaning within yourself, an Enlightenment Intensive could change your life. Next dates: August 2013, New Year 2014. Barry and Emma McGuinness, www.enlightenment-intensives.info 01225 446972

• EFP Insight. September 27-28, £150. Meet the herd, explore what they teach about ourselves, boundaries, body language. Also May 2014 (£200/£250). • Growing with the Herd. Ongoing group starting October. • Find Your Place In The Herd. November 2-3, £250 before Sept 1/£300. Explore ancestral patterns & family relationships in “constellation” work with horses. • Overcoming Loss and Separation. November 16, £150 before Oct 1/£200. Explore emotion & personal patterns, tune into your body, honour your loss through divorce, death, adoption, etc • Coming up: March 2014. Women grieving for - and honouring - childlessness. Miranda Carey, 01594 842748 mirandacarey@icloud.com www.ehwaz.co.uk S(2)

Dynamic courses, tranquil surroundings, delicious food. Only 40 minutes from Bristol/Bath. September: • Rumi, Andrew Harvey • Biodynamic Bodywork • Glorious Songs, Helen Yeomans • Happiness • Being of the Earth • DIY. October: • Meditation • Drawing Nature • Equine communication • Enneagram • Contemplative Photography • Biodynamic Food • Playback Theatre • Mindfulness. November: • Colours and Soul • Raw Food • Sounding Bowls • Esoteric Philosophy • Creative Crafts • Poetry • Moving from Fear to Love • Aromatherapy • Natural skincare. Year-round • courses • venue hire • sculpture studio. For full programme and information, contact us now: Hawkwood College, Painswick Old Road, Stroud GL6 7QW 01453 759034 info@hawkwoodcollege.co.uk www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk

Broaden your knowledge of the self in a safe, loving, and supportive way. This one year course, over seven weekends, will help develop and define the importance and the power of now as well as gaining knowledge of the esoteric world. Develop an understanding of the energy centers (Chakras) as well as learning to recognize blocks held within the 7 energy field layers (Aura). Develop practical and theoretical tools to help discover the benefits of energy healing. Lana has 26 years as a body worker, energy healer, personal development therapist,counsellor and workshop/group facilitator. BCMA reg. lana@wellnessjourneys.co.uk 0777 893 2516 wellnessjourneys.co.uk Hamilton House, Wellbeing Space

3 years’ worth of Lottery-funded, 2-hour happiness workshops. Timetables & booking system online. • Creative and fun • Using applied Positive Psychology • Held in the vibrant, Light Box shop in Broadmead, Bristol • Free tea! • Signposting Service: discover what’s on offer in Bristol • Special events - see website for details. One participant said: “I found this a really positive and valuable experience. It brought about some lasting change in my life.“ More detail on our website www.wearelightbox.co.uk Facebook.com/lightboxhappiness

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is simple, natural yoga for the mind. It’s easy and enjoyable to learn, effortless to practice and it lasts for life! Our fully qualified, highly experienced and enthusiastic teachers offer expert instruction in this simple, effortless meditation. Learned by more than 6 million people worldwide and validated by more than 650 scientific research studies, TM shows benefits such as improved sleep, improved memory, concentration and energy, reduced anxiety and depression, clearer thinking and reduced use of alcohol and tobacco. No concentration or visualization needed: learn to meditate effortlessly! Beginning Saturday 5th October. Free information pack available from The Meditation Trust charity on 01843 841010, info@meditationtrust.com

Mindfulness helps us be with physical and emotional stress, chronic pain, anxiety and depression. Not by rejecting our experience but by learning to be present with it in a consciously spacious and kindly way - that is mindfully. Since 2006, providing courses throughout the year with a big emphasis on kindness and compassion, including: The 8 Week MBSR/ MBCT Mindfulness Course, Mindfulness for Health Professionals, various Follow Up Evenings and Day retreats, and our new level 2 course - Mindfulness - Deepening Our Practise. Philippa Vick for Bath 07814 206508 Laurence Milburn for Bristol 01179 249455 www.bath-bristol-mindfulness-courses.co.uk

Mindful Communication Course Communication can change the world. Connect with people in a safe environment, and have fun learning communication skills. The Seven Keys of Mindful Communication enhance your ability to stay present to yourself and listen to the people around you, even when there’s conflict: • Bring awareness to communication • The Tree of Mindful Communication • Taking a Time In • Empathising with others • Expressing your deepest heart’s wish • Transforming anger • Developing fluency. Six Tuesday evenings from 24th September in central Bristol. Research course: reduced fees apply. Book now. Visit www.SeedofPeace.org for fees and registration, or contact Alice Sheldon, the administrator, on 0117 962 2216 or 07584 486 415. ABCS(0),L

Does one really know oneself and the meaning of life? Theory is fine, but is there the inner stillness yet to see straight, to live life to the full. This introductory ten-week course is designed to engender fresh perception and cheerful discussion. Explore great schools of thought from east and west - an open mind is always attractive and useful. Ten-week courses at Bath and Bristol, starting September, January and May. £79. Concessions £49. Students £20. See www.bathandbristolphilosophy.org www.philosophycourses.com www.schooleconomicscience.org

Book courses to inspire and motivate you in your work with people. The Training Exchange offer a programme of short courses for continuing professional development. Enjoy the benefits of learning in multi-agency groups with people from a range of backgrounds including: housing, health & social care, criminal justice, education, youth & community. One day courses (£125 + VAT) • Addiction, dependency & recovery • Difficult & aggressive behaviour • Resilience skills. Two day courses (£225 + VAT) • Brief solution focused therapy • Motivational interviewing • Mental health first aid • Groupwork skills. Concessionary places available for individuals & small organisations. Contact Eve or Mandy for dates & course details: 0117 941 5859 info@trainingexchange.org.uk www.trainingexchange.org.uk more courses ads on p42

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ad orrates visit www.thespark.co.uk on inside back cover for more info or to book online index courses

“We having nothing to fear but fear itself” President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Inaugural Speech, March 4 1933

Fear can dominate our lives especially the fear of being the centre of attention and of public speaking.. And then add in the fear of that fear! Fear can take many guises. Perhaps you changed your college course because the course you REALLY wanted to do had too many presentations on it? Or you might have avoided the opportunity to speak at your sister’s wedding and you feel like you let her down. Or you might be anxious on Sunday about those regular Monday morning meetings where you go round the table and everyone is looking at you. So you are tempted to call in sick - yet again. The good news is that you really CAN change how you feel about all of these things. My courses help you feel more comfortable and find your voice when you are the centre of attention. To do this I offer a different type of public speaking course. I help you to understand what’s getting in the way, (how we create a lot of the fears ourselves) and then teach the new skills you need to be in front of a group. It’s not about how to put on a front or a performance - it’s about how to be more comfortable and how to connect with people. Once we learn the new fundamentals of public speaking it becomes far simpler and more possible to be the centre of attention. Then we can start to take our place in the world and not worry so much that forthcoming presentation or meeting. I also run an advanced course for people who may not be so fearful but want to re-think presentations and to fully engage the audience. I run courses in Bristol, London and Manchester. I’ve been a Licensed Speaking Circles® facilitator for 13 years and now I run over 40 courses a year. I also started The Spark Magazine twenty years ago - hence the grey hair! For a chat or to book a course ring John Dawson on 01225 425300 or email john@speaking-infront.co.uk or see my website for course dates and information. All courses come with a money back guarantee.

www.speaking-infront.co.uk

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cours index - feng want to advertise in advertising? The Spark?more see inside info onback inside cover back forcover info

Bath/Bristol/Wells 8-Week Mindfulness Course

MBCT A course of clear and coherent mindfulness meditation instruction and discussion for the prevention of low mood, depression, anxiety and stress related problems. The course has helped many to gain perspective and calmness and experience living life more positively. Courses beginning February, April and September. www.mindfulnesscoursesbath-bristol.co.uk ACT John Waller UKCP 01761 437214

Bristol Mindfulness

This 8 week course teaches us how to work creatively and kindly with stress, anxiety, and confidence. £175. www.BeingMindful.Me getbetter@BeingMindful.Me

CHF Accredited Crystal Healing Diploma starts 19 October, Glastonbury. www.crystalheart.org.uk 01458 860874

dance

Glastonbury Goddess Temple

Year-long trainings. Priestess of Avalon, Priestess of Rhiannon, Discovery and Soul Healing begin September/October 2013. Info www.goddesstemple.co.uk Tel 01458 831518

Relaxation & Stress Management Course • Come along and top up with some rest and relaxation • Discover ways to manage your stress • Learn effective breathing and meditation techniques to revitalise you for the rest of your week. Tuesdays. 6.45–7.45pm. Central Bristol. With Sue Ryall, counsellor with 25 years’ experience teaching relaxation. For details: 0117 921 1147, www.sueryall.co.uk

☞ Bristol School of Shiatsu courses From beginner to practitioner. See Training section

☞ Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School Inspirational courses, from beginners - advanced. See Food section

craniosacral therapy A Gentle But Powerful Treatment

Popular for healing a wide range of emotional and physical conditions in adults/children. Lynn Shorthouse Craniosacral therapist, family counsellor. 0777 9535562 www.lynnshorthouse.co.uk

You are invited to an evening of natural dance. There are no steps to learn, just patterns to un-learn by moving into what is happening for you in each moment, allowing your physical self the freedom to unwind and re-assemble your whole being naturally. This is a guided dance journey to a harmonic mix of global trance and sacred music to help you remember who you really are. A big welcome to all who feel they have forgotten how to dance! Every Wed evening 7.30-9.30pm. St Michael’s on the Mount Parish Hall, BS2 8BE. £15/£10/£5. No booking needed. Class begins 4th Sept. Further info- leigh@naturaldance.co.uk

Somaterra offers female body-centred eco-somatic education and eco-therapeutic processes to enhance an enlivened intimate connection to our bodies and natural world. Autumn Workshops in collaboration with Embodied Ecology Arts at Rock East Woods - Bath: “The Song that is Her” - 26th October A woman’s movement, sounding and voice gathering. Letting her body move in response to trees, the falling leaves and fresh autumn breeze... finding Her Voice and the Song that arises from being-with-nature. Bookings: Carla 0794 636 4898 “Origin Myths” - 26th October 6-10pm An evening of music, song and spoken word. “The Enchanted Forest” - Wednesday 30th October. Children’s Puppet Making and Performance Bookings: Jess 0792 990 9537 embodiedecologyarts@gmail.com

Bodywork for physical and emotional concerns. Patricia Falvey, RCST 0117 904 2965 / 0790 528 3797

Subtle Bodywork: Adults, Children, Babies

Of course you can... with the spark counselling & psychotherapy training ads p39 courses, groups & workshops section p40 training ads on p47

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disability Autism Intervention Specialist

Services for Individuals; Families; Professionals; Organisations. www.copingwithautism.co.uk Tel: 0771 116 2122 HT

doctors / holistic physicians Dr Rohrbeck - Ecological Medicine

Private Consultations Specialised in Chronic Health Problems: Allergies, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Chronic Fatigue, Arthritis, Thyroid disorders, Skin problems, Mental Health, Hormonal problems. Treatments: Nutrition, Diet, Supplements, Detoxification, GAPS Protocol, Cell Regeneration. Helios Medical Centre, 17 Stoke Hill, Stoke Bishop, Bristol BS9 1JN Appointments line: 0758 471 9348 www.dr-rohrbeck.com AC email: info@dr-rohrbeck.com

eye health

Gentle Touch • Deep Listening

• Injury • anxiety • stress • anger • trauma • autism. Millie Wood Swanepoel RCST. Bristol, Dursley, Stroud. 07754 182 082 m.wood.swanepoel@googlemail.com www.milliewoodswanepoel.com

Bristol “Biodanza is not a mere set of exercises to music or a conventional system of emotional expression, but rather a new vision of life, a process of human development... integration...transformation; developing our human potentials.“ Teacher Training monthly. Weekly group Tuesdays 7-9pm. Antoinette Lorraine 0778 478 7635 antoinette@biodanza4all.com www.biodanza4uk.com

dementia / alzheimer’s care

Offering sessions & courses in healing, spirituality & metaphyscial subjects. Also Spiritual Companion & Coach. Please visit www.chrissyholmes.com or phone me: 0117 949 7442 Now accepts clients on a donation basis. See aspects of yourself you have hidden from yourself. Please send details to Satchitananda Ashram, 212 Corsham Road, Whitley, Melksham, SN12 8QF

Classes with Abi in Bath & Bristol Do you feel drained by the working week and need recharging? Do you want to find some time for yourself? Nia Dance is social, uplifting, great fun & either a great work out or wind down - you choose! 07841 477144 abi-dancing@live.co.uk T www.nianow.com/abigail-leeder

IBF Rolando Toro School of Biodanza • Group and 1:1 psychotherapy • Group and 1:1 Clinical Supervision for Counselling/Psychotherapy Practitioners Working on body/mind connections: emotion, creativity, self and social integration. Working with people of all ages, abilities and needs. Ffi contact admin@dancevoice.org.uk Quaker Meeting House, Wedmore Vale, Bedminster, Bristol. BS3 5HX www.dancevoice.org.uk Charity Number: 1054109 ABC

Chrissy Holmes: Healing Trust Tutor

EYF Certified Psychodrama Therapy

Energise & Focus with Nia Dance

Dance for joy! Travel the world with lovely music and dance! World Dance offers a myriad of different dance styles: traditional dances with ancient roots plus modern dances to fabulous new world music. An infinite variety of moods and energies: fun, lively, lyrical, fiery, gentle and more. World Dance is for everyone and improves your wellbeing on every level. No partners needed (dancing mostly in circle). All ages welcome. Every dance carefully taught. Join our friendly dancing community. Regular Groups, 7-9.30pm, Mondays, Thornbury; Alternate Thursdays (enquire for dates), Nailsworth Special Events, regular special days, dancing holidays. Contact Hazel Young: 01453 834 125 email: hazel@hazelyoung.co.uk

Bath. 5 Rhythms. Sue Kuhn

Mondays 7.15-9.30pm, Gateway Centre, London Rd, BA1 6DH. Weekends. 01225 465846 www.suekuhndance.com

Bates Method Natural Eyesight Improvement We work with people through all stages of dementia, from initial concerns about memory loss... through to end of life care. Dementia can be a frightening illness for the person with the diagnosis and also for their family and friends. Milestones Trust can support you through the process of arranging care for your loved-one. We provide high quality person-centred care with skilled and well-trained staff to ensure that people with dementia enjoy dignity throughout their journey. We have residential and nursing homes across Bristol, South Glos and North Somerset. Please get in touch with Louise Chambers, Head of Eldercare, to talk through your needs on 0117 970 9332 or email louisec@milestonestrust.org.uk Registered charity no. 294377

dentists & dental care

Friendly, family dental practice in the heart of Hotwells, offers you a complete dental service, from replacing your mercury fillings to a full mouth make over - giving you back your healthy Natural Smile. We take the time to understand you as an individual, your concerns and desires, and view your dental treatment as part of your whole health. Sensitive, caring, dentist and team who take pride in minimising their impact on the environment. Selection of natural oral hygiene products available and free checkups for children (see website for more details). Principle practitioner Dr Nicola Bone BDS DPDS. 251 Hotwell Road, Hotwells, Bristol BS8 4SF. www.thenaturalsmile.co.uk 0117 929 2165

design, writers & print Writer, Copy Editor, Proof Reader

Beccy Golding I can help you put together your reports/ documents/publicity, etc from scratch, but, just as importantly, if you produce any written material at all it really is worth getting it checked before you ‘go public’ - typos, spelling mistakes, duplications and dodgy grammar can spoil something you’ve spent long hours working on. Friendly, Bristol-based and pedantic at work, relaxed and flexible in real life! beccygolding@blueyonder.co.uk

Beneficial any age or condition aspectsofvision@btinternet.com 07710 500 494

feng shui

Feng Shui creates harmony in your home and maximizes your potential to enhance your quality of life, health, wealth and relationships. It can also stimulate business growth and success. Space Clearing cleanses negative energy from a building (from your past experiences and any previous occupiers), giving you a fresh, revitalized start. It can also help to sell a house, and transform a new house into your home. Sue Holmes is a professional, experienced and highly reputable Feng Shui and Space Clearing consultant, achieving consistently excellent results. Her consultations are practical, thorough, effective and life-changing. Sue Holmes www.thehomehealer.co.uk 07786 291967

• Lost direction in life? • Worried about money? • Unable to find love? • Or always feeling tired? Feng Shui works by bringing the energy (chi) in your home into balance. Geopathic stress removal, electromagnetic risk analysis, Nine Star Ki for best timings, best directions for sleeping, etc. Garden advice and space clearing, also included. Are you Sleeping in a Safe Place? Try my House Health Check for health/sleep issues or my Home Sale/Purchase Service for selling or purchasing a new home. Find out more today: Tracy Longdon, FSSA, National Accreditation of the Feng Shui Society, Graduate Consultant, Feng Shui Academy. 01823 490672 www.tracylongdonconsulting.co.uk

are you looking for more space?

check out our rooms & spaces ads on p45

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ad orrates visit www.thespark.co.uk on inside back cover for more info or to book online index food - holi

food

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healing Colour Therapy Counsellor Diploma

The one-stop natural shop specialising in all things organic, ethical and ecological. New shop and café now at the old Woolworth store in Glastonbury. And don’t forget the new website: www.earthfare.co.uk Earthfare, 45 High Street, Glastonbury. Tel: 01458 831004

At Riverford Organic Vegetables, available in Bristol, Bath and surrounding areas, we pride ourselves on our award-winning quality and best value. Boxes start at £10.35 including delivery and on average are 20% cheaper than the same produce bought in supermarkets. At least 80% of the vegetables come direct from fields in our co-operative in South Devon, some also from farms in Somerset and Wiltshire. You can have a box weekly, fortnightly or whenever you like and we can also deliver organic fruit, eggs, wine, meat, juices, pasta, chocolate and dairy produce from Riverford’s own dairy. Order today by calling 08456 800 918 / 0845 600 2311 or online www.riverford.co.uk

Demuths Vegetarian Cookery School, set in the centre of Bath, is run by professional chef and restaurateur Rachel Demuth - a pioneer of vegetarian & vegan cooking. Rachel specialises in creative and healthy food for anyone wishing to learn to cook without fish or meat. The courses are highly instructive, catering for mixed abilities - from the greenest beginner to the highly experienced. The day & evening courses aim to provide inspiration and ideas that are easily achievable back at home, through a mix of hands-on cooking and demonstration. Vegetarian Cookery School & Demuths Restaurant Gift Vouchers are available online. Tel:01225 427938 us@vegetariancookeryschool.com www.vegetariancookeryschool.com

Distance learning, professional training, expert tuition. www.iriscolour.co.uk

Energy Healing, Massage & Reiki

with Helen Clare Hamilton, warm healing listener. Massage Training Institute, UK Reiki Federation. Now available at Fulcrum House BS6. helenclare@hotmail.com 07826 186 124

Feeling Unwell? Overwhelmed? Disheartened?

Perhaps Reiki or Shamanic Healing could help. www.ritualhealingmagic.co.uk

Reconnective Healing

Bristol qualified practitioner, also offering Colour Mirrors Sessions. This stuff works! Peter 07964 891 050

Tara Therapies - Clevedon, North Somerset Food You can Trust from your local Natural and Ethical Grocer. Harvest has been at the forefront of organic, non-GMO, vegetarian and ethical choices since 1971. Harvest remains passionate about offering the widest selection of ethically sourced, earth friendly, organic and real food alternatives you can trust. Our extensive range includes many vegan and gluten-free choices; our tasty delis offer many locally prepared sweet and savoury specialities. In a world of supermarkets and faceless chain stores, Harvest is your local independent workers’ co-operative food store, providing fresh, friendly and relaxed service ... discover a unique and special shopping experience. • Part of the Essential Trading Worker Co-operative. Bristol: 11 Gloucester Road, BS7. 0117 942 5997 www.harvest-bristol.coop Bath: 37 Walcot Street, BA1. 01225 465519 www.harvest-bath.coop

Your local Wholefood Healthfood & Nutrition Centre • Café & Takeaway • New Salad Bar • Top quality dried fruits, nuts and seeds • Top quality groceries • Organic & GMO-free foods • Vitamin and mineral supplements • Special dietary needs • Qualified nutritionist in-store • Herbal & homeopathic remedies • Sports nutrition 100 High Street, Portishead Tel: 01275 817178

Radford Mill Farm Shop has been trading in Montpelier, Bristol since 1979, selling organic fruit and veg sourced as locally as possible, including Radford Mill Farm, our 115-acre farm 15 miles southeast of Bristol, managed organically since 1977. We produce a wide variety of dips, sandwiches, quiches, soup, pizza and cakes in our organic kitchen, all of which can be enjoyed in our small café with indoor seating. We also sell wholefoods, herbs and spices, Bristol-made bread, natural soaps, toiletries and we accept bulk orders. Radford Mill Farm Shop is at 41 Picton St, Montpelier, Bristol BS6 5PZ. 0117 942 6644. Open Monday-Friday 9am-7pm, A Saturday 10am-6pm

We do all our own distribution** 33,000 copies to a shop, clinic or venue near you

At the heart of the bustling Gloucester Rd, almost next door to The Cooperative. Specialising in an ever-expanding range of Organic Vegetarian and Vegan foods, all of which is guaranteed G.M.O. free by our main suppliers. We also provide a large selection of non-organic foods to give our customers choice, much of this available from bulk, reducing packaging to a minimum. Amazing ranges of cereal, nuts, fruit, roasted coffee from Brian Wogan (use our grinder), increasing range of Gluten and Wheat-Free lines, selections of Japanese and other ethnic foods. Supplements, homoeopathic (including Solgar, Higher Nature, Quest, Weleda, Bach), toiletries, etc, plus much more. Friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff. Member of The National Association of Health Stores. Reasonable prices, cards accepted £5+. Wheelchair access, help available with bulky items. Open from 9.00am until 5.30pm, Monday-Saturday. 113 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 8AT Tel: 0117 987 2199 www.scoopawayhealthfoods.co.uk

The best wholefoods and healthy lifestyle store in the West. We stock an extensive selection of: • award-winning organic breads • natural and organic foods • delicatessen • organic wines and beers • natural health products • nutritional supplements • homoeopathic remedies and aromatherapy • bath & beauty items • natural baby care • cosmetics • environmentally-friendly household products. Health Expertise. Members of our experienced team are available to personally advise on nutrition, supplements and skincare to help you achieve and maintain optimum health. Wild Oats Wholefoods, 9-11 Lower Redland Road, Bristol BS6 6TB Tel: 0117 973 1967 Fax: 0117 923 7871 www.wild-oats.co.uk

gay, lesbian & bisexual

Transformative Kinesiology & Gestalt Counselling

in Thornbury. Powerful ways to liberate the mind body and spirit from stuck or painful conditions. Low cost. John Dykes. Text: 07508 509667 E: coursesandcounselling@gmail.com

☞ River Voice Shamanic Practice Healing and divination. See Shamanism section

holidays www.soulofindia.com

Journey to the Soul of India. We specialise in bespoke holidays for independent travellers, groups and organisations including colleges, universities, educational authorities, churches and diocese. Visit our website for sample tours, call us on 020 8901 7630 or e-mail us at: enquiries@soulofindia.com

holidays - activity Our new shop is now open in Redfield • Large range of chilled vegetarian products & organic wholefoods, including gluten-free & wheat-free pastas, biscuits & breakfast cereals • Our cheese counter includes locally-sourced & vegetarian cheeses • Organic bread from Herbert’s Bakery. • Fairtrade & organic coffee ground to order & large range of fruit & herbal teas. • Organic wines & local beers including champagne and beers from Bristol Beer Factory & Severn Cider products • Refill your Ecover & Bio D bottles at our refill station • Buy from our range of over 30 organic wholefoods & flours in scoop bins, and make big savings! Opening Offer! - cut out & redeem this advert at our Church Road shop for a free regular-sized coffee or tea when you buy one of our quality sandwiches. • 259-261 Church Rd, Redfield BS5 tel 0117 941 2061 • 260-261 North Street, Bedminster BS3 tel 0117 966 4507 • www.southvilledeli.com or find us on Facebook

A free, confidential service which provides information and support to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and transvestite community. We also provide support to people concerned about issues to do with their sexuality, as well as to anyone with concerns about a friend or relative. We offer advice about safer sex and have extensive information on local and national services for LGBT people. If we can help, or if you just need someone to chat to, our lines are open every day, 10am-11pm. 0117 922 1328 www.bristolblags.org.uk

guinea pigs Are You Studying A Complementary Therapy?

Do You Need Case Studies? Are your family & friends tired of being practised on? Are you too shy or embarrassed to ask them anymore? Or have you just run out of volunteers? We are a small pool of Bristol-based guinea pigs - willing volunteers available for practitioners in training - happy to offer our time and constructive feedback to students. e-mail: beccy@thespark.co.uk

keep your community thriving shop locally support the small guys and eat your greens before you leave the table* *sorry that was my mums bit

listings 74 vfinal fri.indd 43

Restore your health and wholeness: physical, emotional, mental. Crystal therapy, colour therapy, spiritual healing. Also Tarot readings. www.taratherapies.vpweb.co.uk NA,HT Jill Rhys Jones 01275 877280

Feldenkrais Method with Shelagh O’Neill

Holiday workshops in beautiful places. Movement to make life easy. • The Making of Your Back: St Ives, Cornwall 11-14 October, £140, non-residential See www.nicefeldenkrais.co.uk for details of this and other courses - including Spain in June-July 2014 - or ring Shelagh on 07973 324035

☞ Yoga Holidays, Huzur Vadisi, Turkey Courses & retreats with top teachers. See Yoga section

holidays - activity Pembrokeshire Coast Path

Unique 4 star Eco Hostel and budget B&B. Doubles from only £16 p.p.p.n. Singles from £19. Tel: 01348 831 800 www.theoldschoolhostel.co.uk oldschoolhostel@btconnect.com

☞ More holiday ads in Marketplace, p34

**now with a little help from the lovely people at Essential. Thanks guys

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home - pers

want to advertise in The Spark? see inside back cover for info

Looking Forward To Your Future

home & decluttering Declutter Your Home or Office

I can declutter your stuff, organise you and find the storage solutions that work for you. Call Alison on 0117 911 7556 www.armitage-homedecluttered.co.uk

Help With House Clearance

Bristol & Bath Areas I can help you sort out your home or house when you move, or after a bereavement. I have 35 years experience, and will recycle as much as possible through auctions and charity shops. Call Janet on 07941 264843 or email me at: janet@rustyrails.fsnet.co.uk

Wild Scarlet

Clothes decluttering and style advice... with the earth in mind. I’d love to come and help you on your fashion adventure. Mandy 01373 822 870 email: indiamoonflower@hotmail.com

mediation

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy Learn how to conquer stress, anxiety, confidence, smoking, weight and many issues with hypnotherapy to help you relax, regain focus and move forward in your life. Free initial consultation with registered, experienced practitioner. Stuart Taylor HPD. CBT(Hyp). SFBTSup(Hyp). • Bristol Natural Health Service, Horfield: 0117 944 44 48. www.taylorhypnotherapy.co.uk Mobile: 07840 269 555

Relationship Over?

Solutions Focused Hypnotherapy - Your Key Unlock, relax, take charge of stress, depression or anxiety. Interest Dental Phobias. Keynsham area clinics. HPD. MNCH Acc. Call Julia - 0117 986 5201 www.sfhypnotherapy.co.uk

languages

Courses

Bath/Bristol/Wells, with John Waller. See Courses, Groups and Workshops section

Course

See Courses, Groups & Workshops section

Lyn Clark: Registered Homeopath 25+ years’ experience. Consultations; mentoring; teaching. Home: 0797 488 7850 Clinic: 0117 974 1199

hypnotherapy

Modern Foreign Languages Junior classes and Adult evening classes. Book 3 terms before 21st September and get a 20% discount! Our Modern Foreign Languages classes are a great way for you or your child to improve and accelerate their language skills in a fun and positive environment! For more information call us on +44 (0)117 906 7660 or email fl@ihbristol.com www.ihbristol.com

massage & bodywork

Want help with Emotional, mental health or relationship issues? Stopping smoking, habits or addictions? Weight or eating issues? Managing pain or health conditions? Phobias or post-traumatic stress disorder? Work, study or sports performance? Stress management, confidence and self-esteem? Help is here! Mindscape offers holistic, client-centred hypnotherapy, EMDR, NLP and occupational therapy, supporting people with a wide range of issues to achieve their goals and dreams. Experienced, well qualified, state registered NHS mental health specialist. HypnoBand and Hypnobirthing trained. Centrally based (Montpelier). For free initial consultation please contact Kate Mortimer (BA.Hons, BSc.Hons, MA, DipCAH, HPD, PNLP, Advanced EMDR, MNCH(Acc), RAPHP, HPC reg.) on 07810 510170 www.mindscapetherapies.co.uk

S(1)

When you reply to an ad please say you saw it in The Spark. This really helps us. Thanks.

listings 74 vfinal fri.indd 44

movement & bodywork

Qigong is a way of directly experiencing and opening to the subtle energy known as Qi in oriental medicine. It connects us more deeply to the natural flow of energy around us and to the source of our aliveness. It is simple to learn yet challenges each person to their own limit. Benefits may include the healing of deeply engraved patterns of physical and emotional disharmony, increased vitality and clarity of perception, the cultivation of inner stillness and, most of all, a deeper enjoyment of being alive. Monthly courses in Bristol/Bath/Cheltenham/ Frome and summer camps/residential Qigong retreats with Daverick Leggett. Details: 0117 928 7280

* Please note that adverts in this section are for professional practitioners offering therapeutic, healing, remedial and/or relaxing massage or bodywork sessions. The Spark does not knowingly advertise, or accept advertisements for, sexual services *

Blissful Ayurveda - Awake the Senses

Traditional balancing massage treatments: Indian Head, Ayurvedic Facelift, Ayurvedic Foot and Hand Massage, Shirodhara, Marma Therapy. www.blissful-ayurveda.co.uk marion@blissful-ayurveda.co.uk 07854 767433

Tim Bartlett MTI APNT Practitioner and Tutor. Massage and bodywork for healing, health & well-being. 0752 500 6880; BNHS, Horfield: 0117 944 4448

Matthew Harrington BSc.(Hons)APNT

Experienced Masseur. Therapeutic, Holistic, Deep Tissue, Tantric, Aromatherapy, Lomi, Sports, Remedial. Combinations. Peaceful environment. From £30. Special Offers. www.matthewharringtonmassagetherapy.freeindex. co.uk. AS2,T 0117 924 4923 0781 487 3265

Alan Wilmot MTI CNHC Massage and Bodywork Practitioner. Available daytime, evenings and weekends in Stoke Bishop & Chipping Sodbury. 07786 150356 www.getthemassage.co.uk

As founded by Dr Shen Hongxun. A traditional method of Chinese Medicine to clean the meridians and organs by standing and moving exercises, spontaneous body movement and mental concentration. Old emotional tensions can also be released, leaving the practitioner clearer, happier and healthier. This simple and profound system allows beginners to experience its benefits quickly. Older students will be able to reach deeper states with their own practice. The course is open to all. There is no age restriction. Time: 10am-5pm. Cost £95 for weekend. Next Bristol Workshop: 12-13 October. Enquiries to Ann on 0117 377 0103 e-mail: taijiwuxigong@waitrose.com

Sarah Hoare, MTI CNHC

Livewire. Quality PA / Sound Engineer • Hire for Bands, Seminars, Conferences, Audio-Visual • Work locally, nationally, internationally • Professional, friendly, experienced. Contact Mark www.bathpa.co.uk mark@bathpa.co.uk 07970 924655

nutrition / diet

WombWorks

Nutritional Therapy in Yeovil, Langport, Glastonbury. Also Earth Energy Healing and Endorphin Effect coaching and workshops. Helen Weldon BscHons; mBANT; mNFSH; CNHCreg. 01278 691642 www.concordia-wellbeing.co.uk

foodfitforyou.co.uk

Personalise Your Diet. Food Intolerance Testing. Feel Better Again! Louise 0777 9 642 563

Macrobiotic Cook, Life Counsellor, Holistic Health coach

Available for private cooking, consultations & coaching Counselling sessions involve deep emotional, spiritual & physical healing as well as diet and lifestyle advice for personal growth and transformation. 6-month health & life coaching programs also available. Please see website for cooking classes, workshops & lectures. www.achangeofhealth.com 0784 543 9352

www.thesoulfoodcompany.org.uk

Experienced, dedicated holistic massage practitioner / tutor. Pain relief, injury recovery, pregnancy, well-being, self development, inner peace. Bishopston & Southville treatment rooms. 07976 710368 www.sarahhoare.co.uk Abdominal Sacral Massage for Women • Increases circulation to reproductive organs and digestive system • Aids body detoxification, ridding it of stagnant blood, scar tissue, and digestive plaques • Helps with menstrual, fertility and menopausal problems • May help reposition a tilted uterus • Emotional release and general well-being. Therapist: Emma Louise Calcutt (Stroud). 0781 559 1511 www.WombWorks.co.uk WombWorks@Outlook.com

Bristol South Music Workshop & Choir welcomes players and singers of all standards, including beginners. This inclusive policy makes a friendly & accepting atmosphere, valued by everyone. Intermediate & advanced players are regular members. Wednesday evenings at our beautiful new venue, Knowle DGE Learning Centre, Leinster Avenue, BS4 1NN. • Self-help instrumental groups 7.30. • Choir 8.45. Various instruments played. Music from various styles/periods. Choir includes vocal exercises, aural training, singing from music, memory and learning by ear. Concert for audience of members only! Please apply by 23/9/2013 for first meeting 2/10/2013. Contact John Featherstone 0117 974 1937 www.music-and-choir.co.uk ABCT john@music-and-choir.co.uk

Feeling Below Par?

Holistic, Remedial & Sports Massage Therapy

Repair, Refresh, Relax… Holistic Massage

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is a safe and very effective treatment for changing unwanted behaviours, attitudes and thoughts. It helps people make significant, positive changes in their lives in a relatively short period of time. It is particularly helpful with confidence and self esteem problems and is one of the most successful interventions in the treatment of Depression and Anxiety, for which I specialise. I also help with: Weight Management, Public speaking, Exams, Creativity, Anger, Blushing, Insomnia, Phobias. Available in Clifton, Bishopston and Windmill Hill. Call Stephanie for a free initial consultation: 07731 784 254 www.stephanie-hypnotherapy.co.uk

music & sound

☞ 8-week Mindfulness Meditation

☞ Philippa Vick’s 8 Week Mindfulness

Kelley Boulton, Registered Homeopath

Monthly 2 hour workshops and individual sessions in Bristol. • September 16: Back and legs for squatting • October 28: Free your ribs and shoulders • November 25: The power of your pelvis. 3.30-5.30pm, Redland. Early booking cheaper via website. Also holiday workshops in Cornwall, Dartmoor and Spain. See www.nicefeldenkrais.co.uk or ring Shelagh on 07973 324035

meditation

homeopathy Low Cost Clinic. Call or text: 07736 174564 www.bristolhomeopathy.com

... we can help! Divorce or separation can be painful - and costly. Family mediation is the first choice for couples who want to achieve a negotiated settlement when their relationship is at an end. Resolve the issues arising from your break up effectively, economically, quickly, conveniently, amicably. www.progressive-mediation.co.uk frances@progressive-mediation.co.uk 0117 924 3880 / 0788 903 9393 / 0796 387 6377

Feldenkrais Method with Shelagh O’Neill

Explore Taijiwuxigong - a simple yet profound set of Qi Gong exercises for self-healing and energy development. Once learned Taijiwuxigong can be used for life. It works to improve body, mind and spirit at many levels. The gentle yet powerful exercises activate and clear the energy system, lighten the spirits and calm the mind. Lunchtime courses available from 1-2pm, Wednesdays or Thursdays, Bristol Folk House. Thursday evenings offer longer, relaxed sessions for deeper study 7.15-8.45pm, also at Bristol Folk House. Safe and suitable for all, and all are welcome. Call 0117 377 0103 or e-mail: wuxigong@gmail.com

Helen Cooke, a highly qualified practitioner (nursing background), offers nutritional therapy and/or stress-management advice. Vitamin deficiency/allergy testing and trade-price supplements available. 07905 383203

personal growth courses Follow The Wisdom Way

to Harmonic Power. Become healthy, wealthy, wise. www.harmonicpower.co.uk

Taijiwuxigong Classes

Learn a simple, powerful form of Qi Gong to develop your energy force and for self-healing. Evening and lunch classes in Bristol. 0117 377 0103 wuxigong@gmail.com

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or visit www.thespark.co.uk for more info or to book online

Inner Journey Tasters

The Twinflame Path

Be consciously aligned with your Higher Self’s will and priorities. Transformational Higher Self Readings, Energy Healings and Spiritual Coaching. Amber Ariana 0117 330 1130 www.twinflamepath.com

readings ☞ River Voice Shamanic Practice Divination and healing. See Shamanism section

Rolfing is an effective method of realigning the body, and in so doing, alleviating related problems such as back pain, stiffness, muscular tension, poor circulation etc. The body is held together by a web of connective tissue. When a part of the body is injured or chronically held out of vertical alignment, the tissue shortens in certain areas, “fixing” the body into an abnormal posture. This new pattern limits our freedom of movement, and over the years tends to cause common painful symptoms. In the 1950s, Dr Rolf developed this hands-on method of freeing and rebalancing connective tissue. Contact: Anna Orren, 45 Trelawney Road, Cotham, Bristol BS6 6DY Tel: 0117 973 5987

rebirthing

Fulcrum House is located at 3 Grove Road, just off Whiteladies Road (Clifton/Redland). Our wonderful Georgian building has 7 beautiful, generously proportioned private rooms, kitchen facilities and a small private courtyard. Our group room is suitable for groups up to 14 people. We offer regular four-hour slots and instant online booking of single sessions for our registered psychotherapists, counsellors and complementary practitioners. We host a CPD programme of workshops and seminars providing a stimulating environment to work in. Fulcrum House has grown into a friendly, thriving community! Visit www.fulcrumhouse.co.uk or call S2,BT 0117 330 5336

Rebirthing - Doug Sawyer

We use Conscious Breathing to heal the body/mind/ emotions at all levels with love. Call Doug 0774 809 6834 www.dougsawyer.co.uk

reiki

I offer Reiki sessions and small friendly Reiki classes in North Bristol, Devon, South Wales and Wiltshire. I have been practising Reiki since 1992 and was initiated as a Master in 1996 by Ben Verheijden who trained with Phyllis Furumoto, the present lineage bearer and Inger Droog, who brought Reiki to Holland. I am a trained counsellor, Buteyko teacher, funeral celebrant, psychic and bodyworker. I use Reiki on myself every day; it sustains me physically, mentally and emotionally. For a leaflet, dates of classes, to book a session, Master Apprenticeships call 0117 924 6581, e-mail: reikisouthwest.co.uk website: www.reikisouthwest.co.uk

Deep Body Work

Pursuing balance and harmony mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally. Treatments. Massage. Training. Millie Wood Swanepoel, Reiki Master, teacher, practitioner m.wood.swanepoel@googlemail.com 07754 182 082

rolfing

Rolfing realigns your structure by energising and freeing the web of connective tissue within the body: “The Organ of Structure”. The Human Being is more than a collection of parts. There is a pattern, an order, as in all matter organised into biological units. That pattern - how parts fit and work together - is a basic factor in well-being or its lack. Rolfing promotes well-being by enhancing the body’s pattern of organisation; alleviating poor posture, releasing tension, back and neck problems and stiffness of joints. Discover a muscular structure that’s free of pain. A posture within gravity that gives you a light, flexible and energised body. For more information, a free consultation or an appointment, call Simon Wellby 0779 969 3546

rooms & spaces

Ad-hoc & permanent therapy rooms for rent. Warm and friendly therapy centre offering purpose-built treatment rooms at very competitive rates. Free nearby parking, centrally located, tea & coffee facilities and reception areas. • £20 per 4-hour session • £15 for additional 4-hour sessions • £10 per 1-hour ad hoc sessions Call 0117 942 5832 for further information doug@bristoltherapist.com www.bristoltherapist.com

Three well equipped and well proportioned therapy and consulting rooms. Warm, professional, comfortable and sensibly-priced (with waiting room) all within a landmark Georgian terrace with views over Phoenix Wharf and the water towards Queen’s Square and Welsh Back. We’re near St Mary Redcliffe Church, with excellent parking and great transport links (including Temple Meads and the M32) with ready access to the city centre, south Bristol and beyond. The Harbourside Practice, 3 Redcliffe Parade East, Redcliffe BS1 6SW. For more information or to drop by just get in touch: phone Clive on 07947 023371, go to http://theharboursidepractice.co.uk or e-mail clive@theharboursidepractice.co.uk

Alma Vale Centre

Rolfing for improved posture and ease of movement. Rolfing helps you develop a more upright posture and to relieve associated pain. I use a combination of body reading, soft tissue manipulation, movement and perceptual work to investigate and treat pain or discomfort in the system. Also helpful for gynaecological health and abdominal issues. Rolfing can be deeply changing, bringing greater ease and grace in movement. Rolfing will help you enhance your practice of sports, yoga, dance, martial arts, etc. Andrea Newman’s Bristol practice is on Mondays at the Centre for Whole Health, Lam Rim, Victoria Place, Bedminster. Free car parking opposite. Bookings 0117 923 1138. www.yogaandrolfing.co.uk andrea@yogauk.com ABC

The Ethical Property Company provides affordable, flexible and fully managed office space to charities, social enterprises and voluntary groups. Our four centres in Bristol and Bath offer tenants modern and affordable office, desk and meeting space in buildings managed to minimise energy use, waste, car travel and the use of harmful materials. If you are interested in finding out more, please email info@ethicalproperty.co.uk, ring 01865 403 260 or visitwww.ethicalproperty.co.uk

Thanks for reading The Spark we enjoyed making it for you and if you can read this you’ve got great eyesight

listings 74 vfinal fri.indd 45

Large Studio/Workshop To Let

personal growth practitioners Relax. Access your own stream of inner wisdom wanting to move you forward in life. Taster: £20, Full: £40. Tracey 07906 737335 tadean@hotmail.co.uk

pers - sham

Clifton, Bristol A professional, well established, multi disciplinary therapy centre. Spacious treatment room available, full time reception cover. We are looking for an osteopath or massage therapist with more than 5 years’ experience. For further details please telephone 0117 377 1186 or send your CV to info@almavalecentre.co.uk

Bristol City Yoga Cairns Clinic

Consulting/Therapy Rooms

Therapy Room Available

Quiet, first floor therapy room at back of house overlooking garden in Montpelier, central Bristol. Flexible hourly/block bookings available. Dominique 0117 955 7512 or dominique.oldash@btinternet.com

Treatment Room, St Werburghs, Bristol Lovely healing room. Very reasonable rates. http://ritualhealingmagic.co.uk/healing/ the-room-at-number-thirteen

NA,T

Yogasara: the Love of Yoga & Life

Beautiful studio available weekends / some weekdays. A delightful and dedicated space to share your contribution to humanity. Come and join us. A Community Interest Company putting people, planet, yoga before profit. Committed to sustainability, community and making this planet a better place. www.yogasara.co.uk Picton St, Montpelier. Sarah 0778 692 8458 / Chris 0778 692 84580

shamanism

Shamanic training. A year-long journey through this beautiful medicine wheel. • Learn and experience powerful healing techniques that shift the matrix of your energy field • Discover the ancient wisdom teachings of the Inca shaman • Become a healer, a coach, an inspiration to others or use this 4-part residential training to heal yourself so that you can be the change you want to see in the world. See website for details, dates, courses www.spiritoftheinca.com email: Spiritoftheinca@gmail.com Tel: 0776 525 8614

Nature & Spirit. An Invitation

Do you long for Time & Space to be creative; to renew your connection with Nature; & further your Spiritual Path? www.lucyvoelcker.co.uk 01453 839 233

River Voice Shamanic Practice

One-to-one healing sessions held in Gloucester. Divination service by email. Contact Katerina. www.rivervoice.co.uk/shamanic-practice Email: info@rivervoice.co.uk 0777 280 7157

Shamanka School of Women’s Shamanism

Dorset. Transformation, Knowledge, Empowerment. Women’s mysteries from the ancient past including Inka teachings and treasures. personal and spiritual unfoldment. Ongoing workshops. elianaharvey@gmail.com

Shamanic Shoestrings

Offers core cross-cultural Shamanic healing, Soul retrieval, Extraction medicine, Power animal retrieval, Divination and also Shamanic Counselling where you can learn to undertake your own Shamanic Journeys - working with these ancient healing and problem-solving methods which are still effective today. www.shamanicshoestrings.co.uk email shamanicshoestrings@live.co.uk Phone 01225 445971 or Mobile 0797 626 4432

Bright, beautiful studio and therapy rooms. 0117 924 4414 info@bristolcityyoga.co.uk 4 large bright ground floor therapy/treatments rooms in Westbury Park. Ideal for psychotherapy and bodywork. Parking close-by. www.cairnsclinic.co.uk email cairnsclinic@googlemail.com

4m x 7m (28 sq m) Street-level with own access. Plenty of free parking. £75/week. Heating, Lighting, Power, WiFi at cost (about £20/month). Brislington; below a computer, design, & digital printing business which can offer services/other facilities. Long/short lets. 48 Kensington Park Road, Brislington BS4 3HU Pete Douglas, Tantra Ltd, 0117 983 6999 pete@tantraweb.co.uk

Alma Vale Rd, Clifton, Bristol Attractive, quiet and professional rooms in Clifton for psychotherapists, counsellors and coaches. Reasonable rates. For more information contact Kunderke Kevlin on 0772 764 4830 or e-mail: kunderke@gmail.com See www.45almavalerd.co.uk

Be seen where people are looking for you. That’s what listings is all about. Full list of sections available & loads of advertising info at www.thespark.co.uk

9/8/13 14:10:24

shia - spir

want to advertise in The Spark? see inside back cover for info

shiatsu

Shiatsu clinic running monthly • 13th September • 11th October • 8th November. 45-minute bookable treatments available from 10am till 4.00pm. £25.00 per session with fully qualified and experienced practitioners. Large, warm and welcoming space to relax and enjoy a treatment in the heart of south Bristol. The centre also has a small café available for light refreshments. Please contact reception to make a booking on 0117 923 1138 or contact Vicky by email at vicky.read@lamrim.org.uk Centre for Whole Health, 12 Victoria Place, SABC Bedminster, BS3 3BP.

Bath Shiatsu Practice

A quiet space in the heart of Bath We are very experienced bodyworkers and offer bodypsychotherapy for your deeper issues, a place to be held during difficult emotional times, support around illness, ongoing CPD classes for third years and graduates. Heidi Armstrong MRSS(T) 0774 637 4507 www.heidiarmstrong.co.uk Rebecca Davis MRSS(T) 0782 508 2555 www.bathshiatsu.co.uk

Bristol School of Shiatsu

Established 1984, offers training courses from beginners to professional practitioner level. Please refer to Training section for further details www.shiatsubristol.co.uk

Rosie Freeman Shiatsu MRSS(t)

Treatments, classes, supervision and support. www.shiatsubodywork.co.uk 0798 027 9452

Shiatsu and Qigong with Nicola Ley

Working with the Lightbody, Shiatsu for the body, mind and spirit. Qigong classes for self-healing. Treatments, tutorials, classes. 0117 987 9806 nicola.ley@gmail.com

Shiatsu Healing with Mercedes Núñez

Wellbeing for body and soul, Bristol and Timsbury near Bath. See www.shiatsuhealing.org for treatments, tutorials or supervision. Or call 01761 470516

“The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love” Ibn ’Arabi; Fusus al Hikam. You are invited to a series of afternoon discussions exploring what it means to be human from the perspective of the unity of being Sat. 28 September Rumi in the Present with Peter Yiangou. Sat. 19 October Ibn ’Arabi “Know Yourself” with Cecilia Twinch. Sat. 9 November Ibn ’Arabi on human happiness with Jane Clark. Sat. 30 November The Vision of Rumi’s Mathnavi with Alan Williams. All sessions 2-5pm. Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3QY. All are welcome. Admission free. Suggested donation £5. To register interest and for more information contact Sarah: bristolbeshara@outlook.com and see the Beshara website www.beshara.org The Beshara Trust is an educational charity Registered nos. 296769 England and Wales, SC039933 Scotland

Learn meditation. Learn how to work with your mind and body. By simply being present we can bring mindfulness and awareness to our experience and allow more space and joy to develop in our lives. Our evening sessions offer meditation for all, with meditation instruction available. Tuesdays Stroud. 7.45-9pm at Chalford Village Hall, near Stroud. Call John or Sophie: 01453 889609, or email johnseex@talktalk.net Dorchester. 7.30-9pm, The Friend’s Meeting House, 8 Holloway Road, DT1 1LF. Call Colin: 01305 266721 Wednesdays Bristol. 7.45-9.45pm at Bristol City Yoga, BS2 8QW. Call Christine: 07505 384628, or email bristol@shambhala.org.uk Visit our website for more details www.bristol.shambhala.info

Shiatsu & Yoga Therapy

Safe, gentle, confidential. Low rates available. For more info please contact Max Rose on 0787 919 5531 earthchoices23@gmail.com

spiritual paths & practices

Make a difference in just 10 minutes a day. Learning to meditate can radically change how you experience your life. Come to Aro Ling: The Bristol School of Vajrayana to learn how. We offer ongoing classes in meditation, yoga, Tantra, Dzogchen and Buddhist practice for everyday life, free drop-in meditation sessions, and special weekend events with visiting teachers and artists. We also stock a range of uncommon books on Buddhism, DVDs, meditation supplies, kids’ books and work from local artists. Find out how meditation can change your day to day at Aro Ling: The Bristol School of Vajrayana, 127 Gloucester Rd, Bristol, BS7 8AX www.aro-ling.org Contact enquiry@aro-ling.org or call 0117 239 8505

Next issue • winter • comes out 25 november get the early bird discount by booking and paying for your ads by

26 september

or a 4-issue booking trumps even that: four ads for the price of three! (roughly)

listings 74 vfinal fri.indd 46

Part of the Triratna Buddhist Community, we offer a path to greater awareness and kindness - traditional Buddhist practices with the potential for unlimited positive change, appropriate to the contemporary world. Our community is dedicated to realising this vision together for the sake of all beings. Come and see for yourself! Drop-in Classes - (Suitable for beginners) • Tuesdays & Thursdays 1-2pm • Monthly on Sats - check web for dates - 10am-1pm • Tuesdays - Buddhist teachings including meditation to enhance your everyday life, 7.30-10pm. Shop/reception Monday Friday 1-4pm, selling books, meditation / yoga equipment, Buddha statues, incense & more. www.bristol-buddhist-centre.org 162 Gloucester Rd, Bishopston BS7 8NT. AC 0117 924 9991

Bristol Sakya Buddhist Centre, 121 Sommerville Road, St. Andrews, Bristol BS6 5BX 0117 924 4424, bristol@dechen.org www.dechen.org/bristol Regular events - open to all - no experience necessary. • Meditation Evenings: Tuesdays 8pm. Learn to meditate and reflect on Buddhist teachings. £4. • Meditation Mornings: Wednesdays 10.30am, Saturdays 10.30am. Learn to meditate. Free. • Classical Tibetan Language Classes: Mondays 8pm, £4. Ffi contact Sakya Centre. Bath Sakya Buddhist Group meets every Tuesday 8pm. Practise meditation and contemplate Buddhist teachings. Newcomers welcome, £4. New Venue! Museum of Bath at Work, Julian Road, Bath, BA1 2RH 07747 633577, bath@dechen.org www.dechen.org/bath

New to meditation? Experienced? All are welcome. Zen meditation at Fulcrum House, 3 Grove Road, Bristol, BS6 6UJ. Every Tuesday at 7pm. Evening practice includes chanting, silent sitting meditation and walking meditation. It’s fine to sit on a cushion, bench or ordinary chair. Contact: 0117 963 2505 or email: bristolzencentre@gmail.com www.bristolzen.org www.furnacemountain.org

A spiritual practice which is ancient yet always new, reaching back within Christianity to the desert fathers and mothers of the fourth century. John Main a Benedictine monk rediscovered this practice and has made it available to all. Open to people of any denomination or none - for example if you practise Mindfulness, you are welcome to come and share the silence and support. Give your soul space to breathe. The World Community for Christian Meditation is contemporary, ecumenical, contemplative. Over 25 weekly groups in The Spark’s area. Newcomers always welcome. For meditation sessions at Greenbelt Festival, Cheltenham, August 24-26, follow us on twitter @GBMeditation #GB40 For info: call 01275 463727 or email bristol@christianmeditation.org.uk More info go to www.christianmeditation.org.uk

Established in 1988, the Centre follows the Tibetan Gelug tradition under guidance from two fully-qualified Lharampa Geshes from Drepung Loseling Monastery in India. The Centre hosts visits from other lamas and was involved in organising visits by HH Dalai Lama to Glasgow in 2004 and Nottingham in 2008. It incorporates the Centre for Whole Health. The ongoing programme is: Mondays 7.30pm: basic guided meditation Tuesday 7.00pm: Tara Puja, teachings by Geshe Thinley. Thursday 7.30pm: introductory talks, discussions and questions - joined by Geshe Thinley. Weekends: occasional retreats and courses. Lam Rim (Wilts. & Glos.) Buddhists meet in Corsham, Saturday 5.00pm: teachings by Geshe Thinley; Thursday 7.30pm: basic guided meditation. Tel: 01249 715152. Lam Rim Bristol Buddhist Centre. 12 Victoria Place, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 3BP. Tel: 0117 963 9089 info@lamrim.org.uk www.lamrim.org.uk

Do you long to deepen your experience of God, your relationship with others, and your appreciation of all the world’s major faith traditions - while remaining deeply rooted in your own? Do you yearn to be an activist in healing the divisions between peoples, nations and religions? One way to do so, with other committed men and women from diverse backgrounds, is on our two-year, part-time training. Students can go on to become interfaith ministers, offering spiritual counselling and sacred ceremonies tailored to the needs and longings of individuals from all faiths and none. To see if the One Spirit that calls us, calls you too, ring 0333 332 1996, or visit: www.osif.org.uk

Quakers share a way of life, based on our experience of the divine, rather than a set of beliefs. We are rooted in Christianity but we welcome everyone who is seeking truth and is attracted to worship based on shared silence. We do not have a written creed but try to bring the values of love, peace, truth, equality, simplicity, justice, and care for the environment into our lives and work. Newcomers are always welcome. Sunday Meetings in the Bristol area Bath, York Street, BA1 1NG, 11.00am. Bedminster, Wedmore Vale, BS3 5HX, 10.45am. Central Bristol, Champion Square, BS2 9DB, 11.00am. Clevedon, 15 Albert Road, BS21 7RP, 10.30am. Frenchay, Beckspool Road, BS16 1NT, 10.30am. Horfield, 300 Gloucester Road, BS7 8PD, 10.30am. Portishead, 11 St Mary’s Road, BS20 6QP, 10.30am. Redland, 126 Hampton Road, BS6 6JE, 11.00am. Thornbury, The Chantry, Castle St, BS35 1HB, 10.30am. Weston-super-Mare, High Street, BS23 1JF, 10.30am. Sidcot, Oakridge Lane, BS25 1LT, 10.30am. Please contact us for information about other Meetings during the week and for Children’s Meetings. We offer small discussion groups throughout the year led by experienced Quakers. For information ring 0117 942 9142 www.bristolquakers.org.uk

A Free Church with an Open Mind Are you looking for a welcoming community who gather to nurture one another’s lifelong spiritual growth? Although historically rooted in the liberal Christian tradition, Unitarians also value the insights of many world faiths and other sources of wisdom. For details of meetings, including meditation, intergenerational activities and personalised child dedications, marriages and funerals, please phone the contact numbers given below. Bristol - Frenchay Chapel, Frenchay Common and at Unitarian Meeting, Brunswick Square, 0117 950 7906 www.bristolunitarians.blogspot.com/ Trowbridge - Unitarian Meeting House, 45 Seymour Road, 01225 761866 www.trowbridgeunitarians.org.uk/ Cirencester - Quaker Meeting House, Thomas Street, 01285 651507 www.cirencesterunitarians.org.uk/ Crewkerne - Unitarian Chapel, Hermitage Street, 01935 862602 www.westunitarians.org.uk/congregations.html National Unitarian website: www.unitarian.org.uk Charity no. 234482

we might be bigger than you think... 20 years old this issue 30,000+ copies every quarter more than 100,000 readers every issue 850+ facebook likes 2000+ twitter followers 2.5 million hits on our website last year and printed on A3!

The Spark: bigger than your average magazine

9/8/13 14:10:26

or visit www.thespark.co.uk for more info or to book online

Zazen is the posture of awakening. This practice has been transmitted from the time of Shakyamuni Buddha to now. Zazen is simply sitting with legs crossed, back straight, the attention focused on the posture and breathing. In zazen we do not seek to obtain anything. By turning the gaze inwards we can go naturally beyond the limits of the ego and directly experience awakening to our true nature. “In our disturbed world, practising zazen means coming back to the human being’s true dimension and rediscovering the fundamental balance of our existence” Taisen Deshimaru. Bristol Zen Dojo holds zazen practice five days a week with an introduction every Wednesday from 6-7.30pm. Bristol Zen Dojo, 91-93 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 8AT. E: info@zenbristol.co.uk W: www.zenbristol.co.uk T: 0117 942 4347

Professional Training Courses in Holistic Massage with 2 intakes per year, February and October. Booking now. Level 4 MTI Diploma course. New for 2013: Level 4 MTI Diploma course in Remedial & Sports Massage. Starts September. Introductory Workshop weekends throughout the year. Advanced Workshops available for practitioners to extend their skills and experience. Massage Practice Days and Regular Supervision groups with BCMB tutors. BCMB is accredited by the Massage Training Institute (MTI) and works to the national training standards of the General Council for Massage Therapy. Workshops also available in Worcester. 30 Alma Vale Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 2HY. 0117 377 1201 enquiries@bristolmassage.co.uk www.bristolmassage.co.uk

Classroom courses in Bristol. Diploma in Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy for future practitioners. The Clifton Practice (CPHT) Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma Course is a comprehensive ten month part-time course. Weekend or weekday courses are available comprising approximately 150 hours of classroom study. Successful graduates receive Diploma in Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy (DHP) accredited by the NCFE (NVQIV). Designed by practising professionals, this course will give you a thorough knowledge of the application of ethical clinical hypnosis, enabling you to become an effective practitioner. Discounts are available for students outside the Bristol area. Forthcoming course details and brochures call The Clifton Practice on 0117 317 9278 or visit our comprehensive website www.cpht.co.uk

Authorised Mother Meera Meditation 1st Friday monthly, 7.30pm, near Stroud. www.mothermeera.org.uk 0796 997 2124

spirit - train

Starting in Glastonbury, Spring 2014. 5 experienced BWY diploma course tutors are collaborating to deliver this British Wheel of Yoga Diploma course. It is both practical and thorough, meeting the robust educational standards of Ofqual at Level Four. Student teachers are encouraged to develop a personal approach to professional yoga teaching within safe and informed parameters. Initial requirements: 3 years’ yoga experience including the BWY Foundation Course. Contact: Angela Ashwin angela-ashwin.co.uk info@angela-ashwin.co.uk 01395 224605 Andrea Newman yogaandrolfing.co.uk andrea@yogauk.com 01643 708410 Wendy Teasdill teasdill.com wendy@teasdill.com 01458 898 263 Debby Wilkinson whitehorseyoga.co.uk enquiries@whitehorseyoga.co.uk 01380 816844 Linda Morley lindayoga.co.uk linda@lindayoga.co.uk

Thich Nhat Hanh Inspired Meditation Group

Our friendly group usually meets four times monthly, Redland, Bristol, to practice meditation and mindfulness following the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. Ffi: Julia 0117 942 6128

training

Through the powerful combination of Shiatsu and Yoga our aim is to teach you how to recognize and work with the energy in your own body, enabling you to treat others using simple movements, breath and Ki. A wonderful journey of discovery and growth with a focus on the intuitive backed up with a solid grounding in theory leading to a nationally recognized qualification in Shiatsu. Covering the Five elements, Zen Shiatsu, body language and visual diagnosis, the asanas, pranayama and the Chakras, western anatomy and counselling. Experienced teachers providing structured study, continuity and support. With class size limited to fourteen. Founder and senior teacher Frank Davis M.R.S.S.(T) D.S. began the study and practice of Yoga in 1984 and Shiatsu in 1987 and has taught both for over twenty years. All classes held in the centre of Bath 5 minutes from bus and train station. 1st year Training starts autumn 2013, £1050. Next One-day Workshop Sunday 15 September, next 3 weekend Foundation Course starts 28/29 September. Full trainings also available. For more information call us on 01225 859209 email frank@bssy.co.uk visit www.bssy.co.uk or join the Bath School of Shiatsu & Yoga on Facebook

Diploma courses are run in autumn and spring. Aromatherapy Diploma (18 months). Includes two types of massage, aromatics, A&P, pathology and business skills. Professionally accredited by AAPA. Reflexology Diploma (12 months). Includes reflexology theory and practice, A&P and business skills. Professionally accredited by IFR. Traditional Indian Head Massage (10 weeks). Professionally accredited by IIHM. Runs autumn, spring and summer. Anatomy & Physiology. Widely accepted by therapy training courses. One-day and CPD courses • Introduction to Aromatherapy • Introduction to Massage • Advanced Massage Techniques (CPD) • Marketing Your Therapy Business (CPD) • Using Social Media (CPD). For more information on our courses visit our web site: www.bristolschoolofholistictherapies.co.uk Contact us for a copy of our prospectus. Email: info@bristolschoolofholistictherapies.co.uk Phone: 0870 8890350

The Bristol School of Shiatsu is one of the longest established Shiatsu schools in Britain, offering courses at all levels from a three-year Practitioner Training to three weekend beginners Foundation Courses. Our non-residential, part-time courses are taught by UK Shiatsu Society registered teachers who share a common commitment to presenting Shiatsu tuition of the highest standards, in an atmosphere that is enlivening, supportive and fun, while offering diversity in their teaching styles and approach to Shiatsu. The School puts emphasis on an intuitive approach to Shiatsu within a framework of Traditional Oriental Medicine and, as well as the mastery of Shiatsu for the healing of others, we encourage the personal development and well-being of our students. For more information please contact: Bristol School of Shiatsu, PO Box 419, Bridgwater TA6 9ES. Tel: 0844 335 0573 e-mail: shiatsubss@blueyonder.co.uk S2 www.shiatsubristol.co.uk

We hold free open days with a free lunch and offer free treatment for patients at our teaching clinic. If you are looking for an inspiring vocation, a change of career, or are just interested in knowing more about homeopathic medicine then your future is a short bus ride away. Open days are held throughout the year for you to sit in on lectures, watch the clinic in action and chat to staff and students. Courses are part-time and designed for busy people who wish to study alongside their present occupation. For further information contact the college via the website: www.conhom.com or telephone Kate at the office 01275 877083

11 module Hypnotherapy and NLP Certificate Training. Taught by a qualified, accredited teacher and hypnotherapist and Master Practitioner of NLP with over 15 years of experience. Course accredited by NCH(UK) and NCHP. Includes NLP Practitioner and specialist certification in Anxiety, Ericksonian and Stop Smoking. Evening, weekday or weekend training in small classes. Also training courses / supervision for practising hypnotherapists and therapists, members of the public, corporations and organisations in NLP. For details / to arrange an interview contact Hilary Norris-Evans: 0788 771 4892 info@getmindfit.co.uk or getmindfit@hotmail.com To download a prospectus visit www.hypno-nlp.org - site of the UK Academy or Hilary’s website: www.getmindfit.co.uk

Bristol City Yoga Teacher Training • 24 Day - Part Time Practitioner Training Course • Qualify and start treating your patients in just 6 months • Includes Ear Acupuncture - Cosmetic Acupuncture & Acupuncture for Infertility • Experienced Teaching Staff - online video & downloads • Advice & Support when you start your practice. The Healing & Acupuncture College was founded by Jamie Hedger in 2008. We offer a practical alternative to the standard 3 year course. Read more about our courses online: www.acupuncturestudy.co.uk jamiehedger@btinternet.com

200-hr and 500-hr YTTC. Apply now for 200hr and short intensives in Vinyasa Flow and Ashtanga. Yoga Alliance Certified. 0117 924 4414 training@bristolcityyoga.co.uk

The Guild of Professional Healers

offers spiritual healer training in Clifton, Autumn 2013. Further details see GPH website www.guildofprofessionalhealers.org.uk Contact Dawn Redwood 01278 783678 dawn.redwood@yahoo.co.uk

Professional & Introductory Massage Courses in Bradford-on-Avon. Sulia Rose 01225 867330 sulia@hotmail.co.uk

Susan Lawrence Training

One of the fastest-growing complementary therapies, Kinesiology can increase energy levels, release stress, address digestive problems, overcome learning difficulties and raise self-esteem. You will learn how to test for food sensitivities, relieve many back and neck problems, access the body’s need for water and take the guesswork out of which supplements to use, plus many other exciting techniques. These simple yet powerful tools will give the lay person or the professional a very sound, practical approach to authentic Kinesiology. Start date 28th September 2013, taught over four weekends. See website for dates and taster sessions. For further information or courses in Bristol call Dawn Bailey 07968 202252, for courses in Frome call Rosie Dowbekin 01373 836722. www.dawnbaileykinesiology.co.uk

www.susanlawrencetraining.co.uk Tailor-made training courses, workshops and team development • confidence building • improving communication • change process facilitation • and much more - please visit my website for details. Phone 0117 933 2607 Email susan_lawrence_evaluation@yahoo.co.uk (I also offer Dramatherapy - see my ad in Arts Therapies section for info)

☞ Need Case Studies? Pool of volunteers available. See Guinea Pigs section

☞ Wessex Counselling Training

Psychodynamic Counselling: Intro, Foundation, Diplomas. See ad in Training section

E x p a n d y o u r h o r i z o n s w i t h T he Spa rk listings 74 vfinal fri.indd 47

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voic - yoga

voice

want to advertise in The Spark? see inside back cover for info Kundalini Yoga

yoga

Tuesdays 10am-12pm, Yogasara, Montpelier, Bristol. All welcome. Anjali: 0796 110 5780 anjali@shaktikundalini.co.uk

The Art of Voice

Kundalini Yoga Bristol

Integrative Vocal Coaching, Voice Movement Therapy, Workshops. Personal and Professional Development through body, breath & voice. info@theartofvoice.co.uk www.theartofvoice.co.uk HT Caroline 07980 555 893

Bristol Feral Choir

Fun, feral & friendly improvising choir Exploring the voice at play. Grow creative confidence and vocal technique • Drop-in classes, monthly Wednesdays, 7.30pm, £7/£5. Fab green Bristol location • Further cross-arts outdoor adventures in Going Feral: www.goingferal.org.uk www.bristolferalchoir.org.uk / email bristolferalchoir@gmail.com text 07837 599239 or find us on Facebook

☞ Never Sung in a Choir Before? Bristol South Music Workshop & Choir See Music & Sound section

women

Exploring magical pathways into the Heart and Soul of Woman. Well-being through Art for Women. A friendly easy-going group in Bradford-On-Avon at The Manu Centre. Every two weeks on a Wednesday evening, 7-9pm. No art experience needed. The Emerald Fire - Remembering Who You Are. A one year practitioner training through 12 Magical Doorways into The Beauty, Truth and Power of Woman. Begins October 5th 2013. Blessings from the Heart of the Rose. One-to-one and day workshops. Using The 44 Oracle Cards from The Blessings from the Heart of the Rose, for healing and personal transformation. Contact sheila@womensmagic.co.uk or tel: 01373 824971 www.sheilamurphyarts.co.uk

Whole Woman

Natural, safe, effective treatment for pelvic organ prolapse. lindy.roy@wholewoman.com 01823 275766

Our dedicated teachers are committed to promoting wellbeing by integrating posture, mental focus and breath. Classes take place in our fully equipped and beautiful shrine room. Maximum class size 16. Drop-in Classes • Monday 5.45-7.15pm, Intermediate Iyengar. Lizzie Biggin • Tuesday 10.30-12pm, Beginner Iyengar. Cathi Wilson, 5.45-7.15pm, Hatha Yoga. Lioba Fezer • Wednesday 5.45-7.15pm, New Class Open level ’Vini’ Yoga with Amelia Wood • Thursday 10.30-12pm, All levels Vini Yoga • Friday 10.30-12pm, New Class Mindfulness & movement. £8/£6 per class or card £75 for 10 classes. Shop (Monday to Friday 1-4pm) sells mats and blocks. Contact us for more details. Bristol Buddhist Centre, 162 Gloucester Road, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 8NT. t: 0117 924 9991 e: info@bristol-buddhist-centre.org w: www.bristol-buddhist-centre.org Reg Charity No. 900165

Specialist Yoga Studio and Therapy Room, Stokes Croft. A wide range of classes catering for new and experienced students of all ages and abilities, including: Hatha, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Vinyasa, Restorative, Meditation and Pilates. Women are supported through childbirth with our range of therapy treatments and classes for pregnancy, mum-baby, baby massage and women’s yoga. We also run children’s and family classes. We offer weekend workshops and retreats, regularly host visiting teachers and also offer a comprehensive Teacher Training programme. New Student Offer: First class is free when you register on: www.bristolcityyoga.co.uk/spark 0117 924 4414 info@bristolcityyoga.co.uk www.bristolcityyoga.co.uk

The Devon School of Yoga brings together classes, workshops, retreats and training courses under one umbrella, covering all aspects of the subject. Set in dedicated studios across Devon, ideal surroundings are provided for yoga practice, study and contemplation. The school teaches a holistic approach with an experienced team. The next two-year (500 hour) teacher training course starts September 2014. The next five-w/ends (200hour) foundation course starts February 2014. Also two year post graduate yoga therapy course. Plus: weekly classes. Day workshops. Residential w/ends. North India retreat & The 2014 Devon Yoga Festival 1-3 August. For information or a copy of the programme, please contact us: The Devon School of Yoga, 4 Barnfield Hill, St Leonards, Exeter EX1 1SR. 01392 420573 info@devonyoga.com www.devonyoga.com

6.00pm-7.30pm every Wednesday, Wilder St Studio. 07726 892 631 www.wilderststudio.co.uk

Yoga for Over-55’s

With Paul Beard - SRMHC THYoga & Relaxation Teacher Gentle, caring and deeply relaxing Hatha Yoga for those wishing to maintain or safely develop flexibility, strength, posture, vitality, better breathing, general health & well-being. Short courses in Bristol & North Somerset. Starting Sept/Oct. Ffi please contact Paul on 01409 231304; Email: paulbeard@btinternet.com

Yoga Holidays at Huzur Vadisi, Turkey

‘My favourite yoga holiday destination’ Simon Low, The Yoga Academy Huzur Vadisi, established 1993, is renowned for its stunning location, food and hospitality. Courses and retreats with top yoga teachers Easter-October. Swimming pool. ’Idyllic’ Michele Pernetta, Bikram Yoga College, London. www.huzurvadisi.com

Yogi Dream Retreat

Yogasara is the Love of Yoga and Life. Come and join us. Learn Ashtanga, Iyengar, Hatha Yoga, Kundalini, Pilates , Meditation, Tantra-Yoga, Kirtan and more. Committed to excellence, our teachers give you the very best. As a Community Interest Company, Yogasara puts people, planet and yoga before profit. Committed to sustainability, community and making this planet a better place. Be the Change, join us at Yogasara. Sarah/Christopher 0778 692 8458 www.yogasara.co.uk Picton St, Montpelier, Bristol

Friday 8-Sunday 10 November 2013. Glastonbury. Yoga... nurture... relaxation... detox... inspiration... yummy food... fun... therapies... love... www.yogidreamretreats.co.uk 07813 082195 info@yogidreamretreats.co.uk

Since 1993 we've been busy helping the West Country to change

British Wheel of Yoga Foundation

Course in Glastonbury starting September 2013 with Wendy Teasdill. wendy@teasdill.com

Elemental Yoga Classes

& Elemental Yoga Therapy. Message In A Bottle aromatherapy. Bristol & Swindon, UK. www.innersmilenurture.com Gayle 0782 568 3440

can you believe we’re 20 years old this year?! Thanks for your support along the way

solstice celebrations, christmas fayres & carol concerts, cosy nights in with a good book, invigorating ramblings in the frosty countryside, post-festivity detoxes, new year inspirations and positive futures

Think winter. Think Spark advertise in the next issue, out 25 November

get the early bird discount by booking and paying for your ads by 26 september (final deadline 24 october) or a 4-issue booking trumps even the early bird price! four ads for the price of three! (roughly) or spread your costs with a monthly standing order - bite-sized chunks at the early bird price all the advertising info you could need on www.thespark.co.uk/advertise-in-the-spark

listings 74 vfinal fri.indd 48

9/8/13 14:10:30

changemaker

Mel McCree

outdoor arts & play specialist Interview by Fiona McClymont • photo by Dave Dunning

Mel McCree, 38, is an outdoor learning, arts and play specialist. She is a consultant, an associate researcher & lecturer (Plymouth University), a Forest School practitioner and feral artist. She leads the improvising Bristol Feral Choir, the Feral Unschool training programme and creative outdoor adventures. She has an MA in Creative Writing, a Postgraduate Diploma in Music Therapy and a PhD in ‘Adult Experiences in Forest School’. She lives in Gloucestershire. When I was five my family moved from London to live in the middle of nowhere in the Lincolnshire Fens, and attempted to become self-sufficient. It was the 70s, the era of The Good Life. My parents weren’t hippies, they were straight, ex-military, yet they both had strong political views about dependence on ‘the system’; they wanted to provide for themselves. I had quite a crazy childhood but I loved it. There’s nothing going on in the Fens and our house was completely run down at first. We used to watch the rats scuttling up the wall for entertainment. It was an adventure. I spent a lot of time playing outside. If you have childhood experiences in nature, you develop a deeper emo-tional connection with it. It’s a relationship. Knowing somebody means you care about them; it’s the same process get-ting to know the more-than-human. We moved to Cambridge when I was 11. I would say hello to people and get nothing back. I found that strange and I felt myself starting to shut down, thinking ‘I don’t actually want to stop smiling at people but this is how it is here, so I have to adjust’. I remember knowing, even as a child, that this isolating process was happening to me and I didn’t like it. When I was about eighteen I ran away from the circus, where I was working as a clown, to join a hippy folk band. I was hanging out with a politically-active crowd in the free festivals scene and I got into activism. What was I trying to change? Anything I felt moved to! The first was an anti-fascist march through Tower Hamlets in London, then the poll tax marches, then I joined the road protest movement which was deeply formative. I realised that we are able to make a difference. It is a myth that the individual is powerless against the state. We can

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change the way things are, if we try together. The road protest movement didn’t stop everything being built, but it did stop the major roads programme from charging ahead. It felt important to be living outdoors, on the land, and to be part of a group that came together spontaneously. To experience working together non-hierarchically and co-operatively was really valuable - so much mainstream culture works from the top down. If an authority isn’t working for the greater common good, it’s ok to question it. Living outdoors as a kind of tribe, celebrating the passing of the seasons, being close to nature; it is a visceral, physical experience. My connection with the natural world became a lot more intimate. I toughened up, got used to sleeping outdoors in the cold, going through bins for food, going without things. It wasn’t easy. At Newbury, it was the coldest winter in 47 years. We fought all the way through 12 miles of ancient woodland. It was an eco-war, it felt medieval. Seeing the destruction, feeling the trauma of doing that kind of protest; how can that not change you? I was living in a tree, protecting it, and I got really familiar with it; I knew the particular birds that lived in it. Then at dawn one morning a mob of hard-hatted men in yellow jackets came and we were dragged off kicking and screaming, while they destroyed everything around us. It was the same thing every morning for months. About as dystopic as it can get, really. It was hard to work out what to do after that experience. I had a passion to take what I knew and spread awareness using what I knew as an artist. I studied physical theatre, participatory arts and street theatre. I worked with women’s refuge centres and youth groups in the Bosnian war and studied in France at a place called Centre Selavy - a mixture of theatre school, performance research and permaculture; I called it a funny farm. You’d go and feed the chickens and then the lesson might be to follow the birds around and learn to walk like them! The lineage of traditional popular theatre got passed down to me and it was amazing. I like starting things so I set up a theatre company. The first show we toured was ‘Mrs Mop’s Medicine Show’, which got in the international news. The hero was a dinner lady who discovered GMO foods were being used in the school meals. One time we performed it at a GMO trial site. We pulled up the crop and did the show on the field. That hit the headlines, which was a bit of a shock. I’ve always been interested in people’s journeys. Years of working in participatory arts has shown me how people discover things in themselves, including body memories and emotions stored from ages ago. I learned how

to help people get the best from participating and to hold a safe place for their experiences. I work mostly outdoors. It’s an ideal setting to explore the whole self, as we can feel directly how we are part of the world. Time spent in wilder nature is a physiological process. There’s a theory called ‘attention restoration’. You drift off, your mind is still, and a space clears for deeper, more contemplative thoughts. There’s a reassurance of being part of a living eco-system in healthy balance. It puts your problems into perspective. When I take people to go feral in the woods, we experience time, space and ourselves differently. We express ourselves and reflect in ways we may not give ourselves the space to do in everyday life. And that leaves us in a different state to the one that we enter the woods in. For me it creates a space inside, which comes from having made a deeper connection with the wilder world. I believe that’s deeply restorative. Going feral is a liberating process that provokes an un-taming of the self. We carry a lot of our civilisation within us. You can’t just lose how-ever-many-years of in-dustrial culture and ‘go wild’; to pretend you can is completely dishonest. The wild isn’t something virginal. It’s also about edgelands & the spaces in-between our built environments. Going feral explores the transition between the industrial and the wild parts of ourselves and values both in different ways. It’s about the relationship between ourselves and the world. It doesn’t get bigger than that really, does it? For adults, playing and performing outdoors can break through social norms and that’s challenging. But once you start, you realise it’s not that hard to run about in the woods, climb a tree, sing with the birds, get absorbed with damming a river, or any of those things

that you hopefully had experience of as a child. Although increasingly many people haven’t. There’s been a rise in interest in children playing out, partly due to the shocking reduction of free play in natural environments. Working in schools, I realised that many adults of my generation hadn’t played freely outdoors as I had. Our built environments have changed, with less wild space that children can access and roam freely within. My work has increasingly become about training children’s professionals, enabling them to experience outdoor play for themselves first, and looking at the spaces that we inhabit with children, to develop wilder places to play. My research has shown this is possible, despite challenges such as the government focus on academic achievement and fears about risk and dirt. Shouldn’t school be about the benefits to the child, not the benefits to the economy that the child as a future worker will bring? The best way to learn is through play. The best way to learn to care for nature is to enjoy being part of it. There’s a burgeoning movement that is helping us to understand the importance of free out-door play to growing up well. ‘Feral kids’ is a term the current government has coined in a negative sense, yet perhaps this is just what children need? Children need free time and space to express themselves and form relationships with their environments, in their own way. I’m working on a new play that explores how children are children and the spaces they inhabit; the streets, adventure playgrounds and edgelands. It’s often how children play away from adults that enables them further opportunities to grow and experience life fully. When we think back to our favourite play memories, were there adults peering over our shoulders? Probably not! www.melmccree.me

9/8/13 14:03:47

50 letters & competitions Comp entries and letters to: The Spark, 86 Colston St, Bristol BS1 5BB editor@thespark.co.uk some letters have been edited due to length

Dear Spark Team, Can we ask you to help us pass on a huge thank you to the many Spark readers who go to WOMAD each year who have helped FRANK Water save lives in India? Developed to raise funds for clean water projects in developing countries, our FreeFill campaign is a drinking water initiative designed to reduce plastic waste and recycling, encourage behaviour change and raise funds for FRANK Water Projects. FreeFill generates income through sales of branded, refillable water bottles that festival-goers pay for once and then refill for free as many times as they like! Back in 2010, WOMAD invited FreeFill into the festival. Thanks to the continued support and generosity of WOMAD festival-goers and its crew, FreeFill at WOMAD has generated enough income to fund one complete clean water project for the village of Baddipadaga, Southern India. Baddipadaga has a population of 2317 villagers comprising approximately 579 households. Of these, around one third are considered to be below the poverty line. None of the existing sources of drinking water in Baddipadaga were guaranteed safe to drink due to biological and chemical contamination. We’ve sold thousands of bottles and delivered 100s of thousands of refills to raise the £5200 it costs to implement one project, recruited hundreds of volunteers, walked tens of miles (dragging our mobile refill units behind us) and drunk gallons of the cold, wet stuff. But it was worth it! So thank you, from everyone at FRANK Water, and from the villagers of Baddipadaga, for all of your help. WOMAD’s support is bringing water safety to the whole community, with long term and far-reaching impact. Claire Allen www.frankwater.com Thanks Claire, we’re delighted to pass on your good news. Congratulations to everyone involved! – Ed. Dear Sir, Much of the building work in the UK is funded by insurance companies under householder policy claims. When I had to claim on my insurance I found that cost determined the choice of materials used in repairs. I would like to use environmentally friendly materials and paints. This was difficult because it meant instead of leaving the work to the contractor appointed by the “system” I would myself have to identify suitable materials and ask for them to be approved or arrange to pay the extra cost. I would like to see insurance companies offering a green premium, or even completely separate green household insurance policies. So that by paying a bit extra on insurance I can be assured that any work funded by the insurance company would meet a recognised environmental standard of design and materials. If major work needs to be done I would like to see it as routine to offer an upgrade in environmental performance rather than replacing like for like. I would urge readers to ask any bank, building society, insurance company with which they do business about their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Perhaps if enough people ask the companies will start to listen. Regards D Atkinson, via email That’s a great idea! If we all start asking and apply pressure e could create a groundswell and change could happen. - Ed.

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Dear Spark In theory, what a great idea Bristol BIG Green Week was, but in practice I could not support it. One of the speakers was Richard Branson, who, in addition to being the owner of the Virgin Atlantic airline company, is purportedly involved in planning trips to the moon. And two of the sponsors were Toyota and Unilever. Obviously we are all in transition - I am a car driver myself - and although Toyota make the Prius, I don’t think a multi-national car manufacturer is a suitable sponsor for a green event. Unilver are another massive multi-national company, subject to at least two boycotts due to their continued use of animal testing and for buying palm oil from companies which are destroying Indonesia’s rainforests to make way for palm oil plantations. Unilever are, by their own admission, the biggest single user of palm oil in the world. It saddens me to say this, but I feel that this amounts to nothing other than “greenwash”. By giving credence to individuals/companies like this through association with a sustainable event such as Bristol BIG Green Week, we do the environmental movement a huge disservice. Mandy Grifﬁths Dilton Marsh, Wiltshire Paul Rainger, Festival Director for BIG Green Week, writes: The remit of BIG Green Week is to reach out and inspire change beyond the already committed green audience. We will engage with anyone who is willing to debate the issues. If we simply ban those we don’t like, or don’t believe the strength of our arguments are good enough to debate with them, then we may as well give up now. Instead, Richard Branson on a double bill with Charles Eisenstein at this year’s Festival made for a fascinating evening of thought about how we break away from economic business as usual. Our Festival Sponsors in the last two years were Good Energy, Triodos Bank, Wessex Water and Bristol City Council. This year, Toyota and Unilever were two of many individual smaller event-speciﬁc sponsors. Unilever were keen to highlight what they have been doing to tackle food waste. I am sure most of the Festival audience, myself included, would share your areas of disagreement with both Branson and Unilever, but would equally support what Branson has done with the Carbon War Room or on Marine Conservation, or the bold public position Unilever has adopted to double its business whilst at the same time halving its environmental footprint. So to engage or not? Individuals draw their own red lines in different places. For now, BIG Green Week’s mission is to reach out to those wider audiences, and engage with those we may not fully agree with, to try and inspire the wider change we need.

Comp winners: issue 73 Glastonbury Myths and Legends book: F Bronwen Evans, Morcombelake; T Cooke, Burnham on Sea; Charlotte Evans, Bristol; Martin Evans, Bristol. David Jackson, Wraxall; Laura Joule, Gloucester; Rajinder Mann, Coventry; Anne-Marie Owen, Midsomer Norton; Ian Purnell, Bristol; Winifred Rickard, Keynsham. Green Gathering tickets: Lizzie Robinson Griffin, Bath. Quest: Jenny Kulahan, Glastonbury. Relaxation Centre: Jane Laraman, Weston super Mare. Womad: Rosie Mockford, Gloucester.

Win fun for all the family

he Spark has teamed up with Drumond Park, the UK’s leading independent games company, to offer readers the chance to win one of eight sets of wonderful Wordsearch games, worth £39 each! There are three stages to the new Wordsearch Junior game (£18.99, age 4+): the many circular ‘word search’ cards show picture patterns or words with picture hints and simple words, and children have to race to place their markers on the board once they have spotted the sequence. Wordsearch Junior is a brilliant way for youngsters to build their recognition and reading skills. In the highly popular Wordsearch Classic (£19.99, age 8 to adult), gameplay is similarly simple. One of the double-sided game cards is slotted onto the ‘wheel base’ and everyone frantically scans the board, searching for the word among the jumbled letters: the first to see it ‘claims’ it by placing their coloured markers over the word. The person with the most markers on the board at the end of play is declared the winner. For your chance to win this great Wordsearch Games prize pair, simply visit www.drumondpark.com to find the answer to the following question: What is the gnome holding on the Wordsearch Junior page? Send your answers, on a postcard please (including name, address and phone number) to Wordsearch Comp at the address above. Answers must be received by October 24. You can also enter online at www.thespark.co.uk/competitions

Win dinner for six at The Stable

he Stable is the latest addition to Bristol’s waterfront dining experience: fabulous gourmet pizzas (including a large selection of vegetarian and gluten free options), perfect pies, home-made puddings and an incredible range of beers, wines and most importantly over 57 varieties of cider! The Stable Bristol launched in July, and is open daily from 11am until midnight. The Stable specialises in simply amazing simple food, served in a relaxed atmosphere and made with love and care; pizzas are handmade using organic British flour and toppings sourced from the top producers and growers in the region. Everything is fresh, organic (where possible) and responsibly sourced and prepared. Having tried several we can vouch for their deliciousness! We’ve teamed up with The Stable to offer one lucky reader the chance to win dinner for up to six people (max value £150, including food and drinks). For a chance to win simply answer the following question: in which two Dorset towns will you also ﬁnd The Stable? (you’ll find the answer at www.stablepizza.com). Send your answers, on a postcard please (including name, address and phone number) to Stable Comp at the address above. Answers must be received by October 24. You can also enter online at www.thespark.co.uk/competitions

Win organic hair colour & care

ward-winning, ammonia-free Tints of Nature hair colour use plant extracts and certified organic ingredients to enhance, protect and moisturise hair, leaving it soft, shiny and conditioned. Founded by hair professionals in the seaside town of Lymington, after a hairdresser suffered serious allergic reactions to chemical-based hair colour, the Tints of Nature range was created to give hairdressers and home-users safer colour. Tints of Nature products contain no animal ingredients, and are never tested on animals. Not only are Tints of Nature products free from ammonia, rescinol and parabens, they contain plant extracts and organic ingredients to give natural-looking colour and leave hair glossy and moisturised. The company are committed to producing colour and hair care ranges that are as natural as possible, ethically produced, and totally effective. The Spark has teamed up with Tints of Nature to offer four readers the chance to win a set of Tints of Nature products, including a permanent or semi-permanent colour of their choice, a mixing set, two shampoos, two conditioners and a reconstructing treatment - worth £50 each. For a chance to win simply answer the following question: in which county is the company based? (You’ll find the answer at www.tintsofnature.com). Send your answers, on a postcard please (including name, address and phone number) to Tints of Nature Comp at the address above. Answers must be received by October 24. You can also enter online at www.thespark.co.uk/competitions

9/8/13 14:03:49

ange inspiring ch

since 1993

e 74 autumn issu

: house cosy keep your renewable energy spotlight on : your brain banking on arch care & rese dementia

The Spark

2013 • sept - nov

nic hair WI N! orga r for six care, dinne ily night in and a fam

the war on food waste

credit card hotline (tues-thurs): 0117 914 3444

ad sizes & prices

All prices include VAT. Go to www.thespark.co.uk for more info and online booking ul

l so l body directory l planet in our A-Z est ncture to zen g in the W from acupu g hin ryt ethical livin & nts l eve n eve ee al gr loc e to uniqu onth guide l

people

m your three-

listings

deadlines 2012/13

our A-Z directory of health, services and workshops

name 15 max - up to 5 words bold title 30 max - up to 5 words bold title 60 max - up to 7 words bold title 90 max - up to 7 words bold title header 110 - with your logo & up to 15 words bold

events by the word

early bird £21

standard £26

4 issues £78

savings

issue

early bird

final

publishing

save £26

£36

£41

£123

save £41

winter 75

Sept 26

Oct 24

Nov 25

£57

£67

£201

save £67

spring 76

Dec 19

Jan 23

Feb 24

£84

£92

£276

save £92

summer 77 March 27

April 24

May 19

£99

£123

£369

save £123

autumn 78

July 24

Sept 1

in Events Diary

90p a word - for regular or one-off courses, events, exhibitions, festivals, etc, listed by date: Classified ads also 90p per word

event boxes

mini display ads in date order in Events Diary

name box standard box medium box large

size h x w (mm) 65 x 50 85 x 50 200 x 50

colour display ads name eighth page quarter page half page vertical half page landscape page

early bird £87 £108 £144

standard £108 £135 £185

for maximum impact

size h x w (mm) 88 x 132 182 x 132 370 x 132 182 x 270 370 x 270

early bird £306 £435 £690 £690 £1110

All ads MUST be paid in advance All listings ads follow our House Style, so you don’t need to worry about formatting. Visit www.thespark.co.uk/advertise-in-the-spark.html for more info. Word counts: •Telephone number and code: 1 word • Street number and name: 1 word • Postcode: 1 word • Words with slashes or hyphens: 2 words • E-mail and web address: 4 words each Early Bird: pay by Sept 26, pay less To get the Early Bird discount your words, images & payment must ARRIVE by the Early Bird deadline. Charities: Special rates. Please ask.

standard £340 £490 £770 £770 £1230

4 issues £1115 £1590 £2535 £2535 £4050

All these ad sizes are available in black & white, please ask for prices

marketplace

small display ads (for shops, websites and specialist products)

name box double

size h x w (mm) 60 x 64.5 131 x 64.5

inserts

£50 per thousand - minimum run 10,000; max 34,000

early bird £96 £168

June 26

standard £120 £195

4 issues £360 £585

Pay monthly by standing order: Standing orders (4 issue minimum) help spread your costs, you get Early Bird prices; you don’t miss an issue, and you CAN change your words each issue. Contact beccy@thespark.co.uk for more info. Images TIFF, JPEG or PDF format only please, 300 dpi. Headers are 63mm wide & 25mm high. Artwork should be CMYK not RGB. Design Fees • We are happy to design your ad for you, if you provide text/photos/graphics, for a £35 charge. • A design fee of at least £35 (inc vat) will be charged for preparing ads if they are not ready to drop in. This includes translating Word files into display ads. Please send your files as high res pdfs or jpegs at 300 dpi.

The Spark, 86 Colston Street, Bristol BS1 5BB Call Ann or Max on 0117 914 3434, email sales@thespark.co.uk - ad text or alterations: ads@thespark.co.uk - book online at www.thespark.co.uk

The Spark has joined the Bristol Pound revolution! You can now pay for ads and subscriptions direct from your Bristol Pound account to us. What’s more, businesses who accept and pay with the Bristol Pound get a 10% discount on display and marketplace advertising. Call 0117 914 3434 for more details

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9/8/13 14:03:52

rear view… with Kate Evans

The Spark awards T

o celebrate The Spark’s 20th anniversary we’re launching our own annual awards. We think we’ve established ourselves now as a magazine that people respect and value, just as we respect and value what our readers have to say. So let’s collaborate and say a collective hoorah for the great things in Sparkland! There is so much that is great and good that we want to celebrate about the region’s green initiatives, community projects and ethical businesses - and we want YOU to help! We’d like you to nominate your favourites in each of the following categories: 1. Best Centre or Venue: Have you been on a course at a venue so amazing you didn’t listen to a word? Been to a ceremony where the setting blew you away? Been treated above and beyond the call of duty by staff at an eco or retreat centre? And would you like to recommend that place to other Spark readers? Let us know. 2. The Spark Food Award: Who is, in your opinion, the best local food producer, most fabulous farm shop, grows the best veg box, or is your favourite organic, fair trade, sustainable cafe, bar or restaurant? Share your intel with The Spark community. 3. The Spark Community Group Award: Do you know of unsung heroes quietly doing great things in your community? Want to blow the trumpet for a group that’s really making a difference? If you’ve been inspired by people creating positive change and would like us to give them a pat on the back, tell us today! 4. Best Campaign (local and/or national): Seen a campaign that really made you think? Or a print or TV ad that presented the info in a brilliant way? Changed your mind about an issue? Felt able to contribute to a cause that you felt powerless about before? Been impressed by the change that has been affected? We want to hear about it. 5. Local Hero. Who in Sparkland deserves special mention for their ethical, green or community work? Who are the local eco-warriors, the social changemakers? Who quietly beavers away doing amazing things? Who bravely sticks their oar in for the greater good? Name them! 6. Best Course/Class/Workshop: What have you done that has left you feeling inspired, refreshed or full of beans?

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7. The Family Award: What’s the best family-friendly project/venue/ scheme you know of locally? Where is it that welcomes both kids and parents with open arms? Who inspires the little ones while soothing the grown ups? Where do you and yours love to spend your time? We’d love to know. 8. Best Green Initiative/Project: What’s the most exciting, inspiring green or eco building you know? What local, sustainable project or scheme deserves recognition for their hard work? 9. Holistic Health Award: This is a special award to recognise holistic therapists, groups or clinics who are offering the community something extra - clinics which offer lowcost sessions for refugees, or benefit claimants; groups who travel to poorer countries to deliver treatments or use their profits to support charity for example. Tell us who they are and what makes them special. 10. Best Event of the Year: What happened near you in 2013 that was just remarkable? What do was worth travelling miles for? What’s already in your diary for next year that you’re determined not to miss? What event inspired, amazed, delighted or blew you away this year?

Let us know who and what you rate. Email mail@thespark.co.uk with your suggestions in one or more categories now! Winners will be announced in our winter issue (out from November 25). All entries will go into a prize draw, with one lucky Spark reader winning a fantastic surprise prize worth over £100! Emails must arrive no later than October 24. Please keep you nominations to the Sparkland area that’s very roughly 50 miles around Bristol – up to Gloucester, Stroud and Cheltenham, across to Bath & Westbury, down to Taunton, Yeovil, Shepton Mallet & Glastonbury, and everywhere in between!

9/8/13 14:03:54