Companions Day 2012

The Healing Power of Plants

 

 

 

 

 

Companions Day is one of only three days each year when the gardens close to the public for all or part of the day. The first Saturday in June is when companions, Trustees, volunteers and staff get together to share their love of Chalice Well, and hear some inspiring speakers.

The gardens opened at 9am and people soon started to arrive. Everyone gathered around the Vesica pool for the opening ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jo Laxton, co-chair of Chalice Well Trust, opened by welcoming everyone. Then Jo, followed by Simon Wardle, the Trust Manager, gave a short updates on recent changes at Chalice Well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Companion Norman Webley got up on stage to read his poem, Vesica Piscis, which appeared in The Chalice, issue No. 34, the recent edition of our journal for companions of Chalice Well.

Natasha Wardle then introduced our first speaker of the day, Ned Reiter.

Ned, a local herbalist based in Glastonbury, gave a fascinating talk on the history of herbalism going back thousands of years, and our relationship with plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rainbows End did us proud again this year providing a delicious vegetarian lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, Andrew Johnson, a herbalist also based in Glastonbury, led a world cafe round table session on healing energies. He started by asking us to see what energy we picked from plants he'd placed on the table.

Andrew also asked us to dicuss the different healing properties we experienced in locations within the gardens.

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards Andrew collected the thoughts shared by each of the tables.

 

 

 

 

 

We returned to the Vesica pool for our closing ceremony at 3pm.

Thank you to Ned and Andrew for their wonderful contribution to our annual Companions Day, but most of all to our Companions all over the world whose support allows us to preserve this living sanctuary.