Gloucestershire Connections

Gloucestershire's Only Float Tank

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:38:43

All Aboard for the Re-launch of Well-being Centre

The installation of a floatation tank the only one in Gloucestershire will help mark the radical new look of Strouds Cotswold Health Centre.

Owner Dan Gerrard has completely revamped the building, above Mann Jewelers in George Street, and is set to unveil the new floatation tank in early August. The Centre, which was established in 1994 and which has recently moved into the centre of Stroud, now provides a wide range of alternative and complementary therapies, and is fast becoming Strouds most popular therapy Centre. We now have over 30 practitioners at the centre, and there is still space for more, said Dan, who has really turned the centre around since taking over in 2009.

What is Floatation Therapy?

Floatation therapy is essentially spending an hour or so lying quietly in the dark, suspended in a warm solution of Epsom salt, about 10" deep, and so dense that you float effortlessly, while some gentle music helps you to relax. In short; its complete mental and physical relaxation.

Green City Builds Prosperity for Palestine

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 16:30:00

A new sustainable development, 'Rawabi is designed to serve a generation of Palestinians coming of age and seeking welcoming surroundings to build families, careers and lives'.

Just five miles north of Ramallah in the West Bank, and Rawabi, a new state-of-the-art eco-city for Palestinian families, is rising. When complete, in about three years' time, it will provide opportunities for affordable home ownership, jobs, education and leisure, as well as being an attractive, sustainable environment in which to live, work and grow.

The project, dubbed the most adventurous in modern Palestinian history, is the realisation of a dream steered into reality by entrepreneur, Bashar Masri. Born and raised in the West Bank, the 49 year-old father of two gained international recognition building thousands of affordable homes in Morocco, Jordan and Egypt. Named a 'Global Leader of Tomorrow' by the World Economic Forum, Bashar's primary aim was to one day invest in his homeland and lead the country forward through economic development.

Gloucestershire Connections edition 110 (August-September 2010)

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:00:00

Click this link to download the August-September 2010 edition of Connections. (.pdf format, 2.2mb).

Tribe of Doris 2010

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:49:23

What started out eighteen years ago as an impromptu African drum convention in Bristol has become a vibrant multicultural exchange of acoustic music, dance, song and ceremony.

From Tuesday 10th until Sunday 15th August, Tribe of Doris, a summer school and festival in Black Down Hills, Devon, will offer 40 workshops a day in drumming, dance, and voice, featuring inspirational teachers from across the globe. Doris is primarily a participatory event, where learning from the artists is the core activity, interspersed with open mic performances, spontaneous jamming, elaborate ceremonies, fireside jamborees, a health and relaxation zone and a host of creative youth activities.

On the workshop front, African highlights include djembe drumming with the legendary Seckou Keita, sabar dance and drum, and traditional and contemporary African dance. The Latin area offers Flamenco dance, samba and Brazilian song. In the Arabic area, you can learn Sufi whirling, belly dance and Middle Eastern music. Other highlights include Taiko drumming, West Papuan song, Jewish niggun, Tibetan song, yoga and tai chi.

Stockfree Farming Gains Momentum

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:50:00

Educational centres to open nationally, promoting vegan techniques for organic food growing

The Vegan-Organic Network is setting up educational centres across the UK to demonstrate to growers, farmers and the general public the benefits and methods of stockfree organic cultivation.

Clean, green and cruelty-free are the bywords of growers around the world who are using this approach, also known as vegan organics. It excludes artificial chemicals, genetically modified material, animal products and livestock manures. Instead, soil fertility is maintained with the use of plant-based green manures, mulching, composting and crop rotation.

Many stockfree growers are members of the Vegan-Organic Network. Founded in 1996 as a voluntary group, it has been registered as an educational charity for a decade. Its work is based on sound ecological principles, compassion and social justice.

Give Us More Sunshine!

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:37:57

The campaign to make British days last longer

The climate change group, 10:10, have launched Lighter Later a campaign to shift the British clocks forward an hour throughout the year. This simple initiative would give everybody an extra hour of daylight to enjoy and at the same time, reduce pollution.

Synchronising the times when most of us are awake, with the times that the sun is up, will significantly cut the amount of electricity consumed. Shortening dark evenings, when the entire population has their electrical appliances switched on, would flatten out the peaks in demand, cutting carbon emissions by an estimated half a million tonnes, the equivalent of taking 185,000 cars off the road forever.

Improved visibility on lighter evenings would also reduce the number of road casualties and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents suggest that up to 100 lives could be saved each year. But further benefits will be lower electricity bills and a major boost to the leisure and tourism sector. The initiative would also cut down crime say campaigners, as well as improve the nations health by creating more opportunities for evening-run sports and outdoor activities.

Be Part of the World's Greatest Bank Job

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:50:00

by Becky Daniel

Launched earlier this year by a coalition of charities, aid agencies, faith groups, unions and environmental organisations, The Robin Hood Tax campaign wants to charge banks a levy and use the money for good causes. A grassroots movement, it is now supported by over a 100 groups, celebrities, economists and politicians, and thousands of members of the public.

The Tax, which would not affect the bank accounts of ordinary citizens, was originally proposed in the 1970s by the American economist, James Tobin - the Tobin Tax. By levying a small charge of 0.05 per cent on the transactions that the banks make with each other, hundreds of billions of pounds could be raised. Half could then be spent on solving domestic problems and preventing cuts in public services. The other half could be used on urgently needed development aid and for tackling the effects of climate change.

A 0.05 per cent levy may sound like a miniscule amount, but given the vast scale of the world's financial sector - a market worth a staggering 60 times the global Gross Domestic Product - experts are estimating it would raise £250 billion annually. They also believe it would help curb financial speculation, which has long been behind crises in the global food and commodity markets. The consequences of such collapses are felt most severely in the developing world.

A Law for the Earth

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:40:00

UK lawyers campaign for environmental destruction to be recognised as a crime against peace and for the creation of an international court for the environment

Two distinguished British barristers are campaigning for changes to the global legal system, which would see greater environmental protection and justice for those affected by climate change.

British lawyer and environmentalist Polly Higgins is calling for the UN to accept 'ecocide' as a fifth crime against peace, alongside genocide, war crimes, crimes of aggression and crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, a London coalition, headed by Stephen Hockman QC, is proposing an international court for the environment.

Share in the Good Life

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:40:00

Have you ever dreamed of getting back to nature, living on a rural smallholding and working the land in a sustainable and ecological way? Perhaps you would love to grow and sell organic vegetables, herbs or mushrooms, keep bees, chickens or pigs, coppice willow to produce baskets and hurdles, manage woodlands ... The chances are that many readers cherish this dream but the high cost of buying land keeps this ambition out of reach.

The Ecological Land Co-operative aims to enable more people to turn this vision into a reality. The group emerged in 2005, after informal meetings between individuals and organisations involved in rural regeneration and small-scale agriculture. Over the next four years, it was able to raise enough funds to relaunch in 2009 as a co-operative.

The aim of the organisation is to buy degraded agricultural land and lease it to people with the skills to work it in an ecological way - those who would not be able to do so otherwise. They believe that small-scale, low-impact businesses can provide valuable rural livelihoods, which will benefit communities, enhance biodiversity and protect the environment.

Maitri Foundation

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:10:00

Maitri Foundation
REFLEXOLOGY PRACTITIONER TRAINING