UK

After spending time in London and Darlington, demonstrating and sharing my skills as an organic gardener, having inadvertantly forgotten to take any photos to share with you this will appear to have been a rather abbreviated visit. The time spent in London and Darlington was indeed most enjoyable in spite of the cold weather and often raining periods. As I may well have mentioned on previous occasions, these episodes make me appreciate, more and more, the climatic conditions under which I live. And in spite of the fact that I live in the tropics, it is well to bear in mind that during our winter months, or the dry season as it is referred to locally, and living in the mountains, our overnight temperatures, on occasion, drop below zero.

And so, on to York and the ISRN Conference for 09. This was held, by kind permission, in the Natural Health clinic of Annette and Alison. And as this must have caused them quite a deal of inconvenience and disruption to their daily activities, was supplied most graciously and with good-will.


Here we have some of the partcipants at the Conference. I was unable to stand far enough back to encompass all who attended.






As well as supplying the physical needs of the Conference, Annette and Alison had taken on the huge task of providing all the food that was to be consumed by the partcipants.





And what a gastronomic delight it was. They are to be commended for their efforts, the out-come being as good as, if not better than would be supplied by any better class restaurant.




This pictorial presentation is of some of the dishes that were so lovingly presented and supplied for our consumtion.





As can be well seen, not all the dishes supplied are raw - this group being vegetarian, and whilst believing in the necessity of a high percentage of raw food in the diet, do not feel it necessary for it to be 100%













It can readily be observed the amount of work that was involved in the preparation, and presentation of these most attractive, physically satisfying dishes, and I would again wish to thank Annette and Alison for all the effort this entailed and commend them for a job well done. And how important and necessary it was, and is, for the success of the Conference.


As a closing ambit to my visit, and to improve my knowledge of the local history, my good friend Lesley very kindly conducted me on a tour of one of the abandoned local monasteries. The architecture, and skill of workmanship in the buildings is superb, especially so considering the era in which it was constructed.




There have been many times when I have been visiting these ruins that I have thought how it would have been to see them in their hey-day. Considering the local climatic conditions, the lack of heating, the stone floors, etc., I could not imagine them as being easy to live in. Yet prosper they did in their day, being self-supporting with their gardens, orchards, and flocks of sheep. That is until such time as King Henry VIII dis-established them in 1538.