From Grass Roots to Green Lines: A Workshop

From Grass Roots to Green Lines

A Grundtvig Learner Workshop

exploring & creating slow journeys

An International Workshop based in Welsh & Shropshire Border communities

12^th – 18^th May 2013

The Workshop encouraged participants to develop ‘Green Lines’ – ‘trails’ that provide personal, social, environmental, cultural, & heritage, educational, health, celebratory & economic benefits to individuals and communities.

Members of the Green Line Workshop were from a wide range of European countries including Italy, Poland, Latvia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Germany & Romania. Many are active as leaders in their local communities.

Bishop’s Castle provided the accommodation and study base for this event with activities occurring in Bishop’s Castle, Mainstone, Clun and Knighton.

The Workshop investigated local ‘trail’ based initiatives in towns and countryside, exploring through a series of creative experiences, the underlying reasons and purposes for developing ‘slow journey’ trails & experiences & devising ideas and plans for development in their localities.

Themes encountered included: Quests, Tourist trails, Healthy Walking, Written Guides, Town Tours, Open Gardens, Safari Meals, Walking Groups & Festivals, Pilgrimages, Heritage Journeys, Specialist tours, collecting experiences, story telling, creative recording techniques & publishing.

The Workshop included group social activities designed to encourage participants to consider creative ways in which they may develop & build support for their own local programmes

The group took evening meals at most of the hotel and restaurants in Bishop’s Castle and on Friday evening, 17^th May, had a final celebratory international musical evening at the 3 Tuns, Bishop’s Castle open to all.

The Workshop was organised by Pathways: Inspirational Development CIC, a not-for-profit ‘Community Interest Company’ creating experiential educational activities designed to encourage personal and social development.

Pathways has, for over 20 years, organised many international partnership activities, most of which have been based in the Powys, S W Shropshire borderland.

Recent international projects have included work on Memorials, Heritage & Community Development.