Permaculture Design Course in Hebden Bridge Area (Oldtown)
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Do you want to think creatively about the future? Work in a practical way
towards a better life? If you do, then his course is designed to help you.

We will look at the really important things in life: such as food
production, energy use, buildings, work and finance. We will learn how
nature provides for life in a productive way, looking at the major support
systems on the planet, such as soil, water and climate. How we can live
sustainably within these resources? Permaculture design is about designing
using inspiration from natural ecosystems which are far more efficient
than man-made systems. We will also be considering the systems that we put
together to support ourselves, such as finance, transport and
organisations.

This course will introduce you to the practice of Permaculture Design
relevant to a domestic home situation as well as community scale and
larger scale projects. It is therefore also relevant to people involved or
interested in Transition Towns.

By the end of the course, you will be able to begin to move forward in
your activities by using design, rather than just drifting along with the
crowd.

The course introduces you to the principles and techniques of ecological
design. It will also give you an insight into learning from Nature, which
is the greatest teacher on the planet. The course runs over seven
weekends, these are the themes for each weekend.

- Introduction to permaculture design and learning from Nature
- Soil, conservation and soil-building
- Water, its importance and potential uses
- Trees and their energy transactions
- People and settlements
- Group design work and practical
- Complete practical work and presentations of results

The programme covers basic theory of natural systems, and we will use a
variety of sessions during the course, including talks, slideshows,
discussion, videos, group work and practicals

In addition to this weekend work, we will organise some site visits to
permaculture projects in the locality.

The course is delivered in partnership with the WEA (Workers' Educational
Association) and you will be expected to do some additional course work
between weekends and work on a design project of your choice as part of a
group. We will give you plenty of help and guidance with this and you will
end up with a Level 3 (A-level standard) accreditation in Permaculture
Design from the Open College Network. You will also get a certificate from
the Permaculture Association Britain that you have completed the
foundation course in permaculture design. This allows you to go on towards
the diploma in permaculture design, should you wish to do so.

The dates and times of the course are:
10am - 5pm on the following weekends

31st Jan - 1st Feb
28th Feb - 1st march
28th & 29th march
25th & 26th April
23rd & 24th May
27th & 28th June
11th & 12th July

(also will include a couple of additional evening sessions 3hrs each or an
additional day tbc)

Venue: Wadworth Community Centre in Oldtown.


Course Fees:

The fee for the course (now including accreditation through the Open
College Network) is £288.

Concessions are £42 (including accreditation and registration) however we
are also asking for an additional voluntary contribution from concession
fee payers of £20. This is to cover additional costs of the course that
can't be funded by the WEA. This would make the total for full concessions
£62. To qualify for this full concessionary fee you need to be in receipt
of any of the following income related benefits.

- Job seekers allowance
- Working Tax credit (with a household income of less than £15,000)
- Housing benefit
- Council Tax benefit (but not just the single person's reduction)
- Income Support
- Pension guarantee credit

Partial concessions (£22 off the full fee) are available for people in
receipt of the following:

- Disability Living Allowance
- Incapacity Benefit
- Invalid Care allowance
- Severe disablement allowance
- Attendance allowance.

Payment:
Please send initial deposits in order to book your place,
Full fee payers (and partial concs.) initial deposit: £100
Concessionary fee payers initial deposit: £20

Please make cheques for the deposit payable to Angus Soutar, but send to
Joanna Dornan, 31 Lovell Park Hill, Leeds, LS7 1DF.

Full payment of the rest of the course fees is required in January. We
need to be sure we have commitment from enough people in order to run the
course. (However if this is an issue please let me know we may be able to
negotiate part of a final installment to be paid in Feb, let me know if
this would be helpful)

Tutors
The course will be delivered by a team of tutors, all of whom are
permaculture practitioners.

Angus Soutar
Angus Soutar is the lead tutor. He has been teaching permaculture design
for 15 years to diverse groups in a variety of locations. Angus is
currently working on projects in local food, recycling and other
small-scale enterprises. He has previously had experience in the energy
industry with engineering design and project management. He is also
working on finance and currency systems.

Angus is the co-ordinating tutor for the permaculture diploma in the north.

Joanna Dornan - apprentice tutor
Joanna completed a permaculture design course in 2007 in Leeds, she has
since been involved with a permaculture designed community allotment /
orchard project in Leeds. She has apprenticed as a trainee tutor on the
Leeds Permaculture Design Course earlier this year. She is interested in
creative methods of learning and groupwork as well as particular interest
in permaculture food production.

Other input will be from Kath Baker - experienced local permaculturist,
Maz - local permaculturist and bio-dynamic gardener and other visiting
tutors from the Yorkshire Permaculture Network, including Andy
Goldring/Suzi High from the Permaculture Association of Britain.

Recommended book list (its not essential to read anything beforehand, but
if you do, try one of these):

- The Permaculture Way : Practical Ways to Create a Self-Sustaining World.
By Graham Bell. Permanent Publications, UK . 2004 (2nd ed.). 239pp.

- The Permaculture Garden . Graham Bell. Thorsons, London . 1994. 170pp.

- Permaculture: A Beginner's Guide. Graham Burnett. Land and Liberty ,
Westcliff On Sea, Essex , England . 2001. 60pp.

- Urban Permaculture. David Watkins. Permanent Publications, U.K. 1993.
152pp.

- Permaculture in a Nutshell. Patrick Whitefield. Permanent Publications,
U.K. 1993. 75pp.

- Earth User's Guide to Permaculture. Rosemary Morrow and Rob Allsop.
Kangaroo Press, NSW Australia . 2006 (2nd ed.). 164pp.

- Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. David
Holmgren, Holmgren Design Services, Australia , 2003, 320pp.

(All available from the Permaculture Association)

Recommended websites
www.permaculture.org.uk
www.holmgren.com.au/
www.permaculture.org.au
www.permaculture.co.uk
http://www.spiralseed.co.uk/permaculture/ has a useful online introduction.