Education Working Group Members

Chair:  Graham Bell

I have been teaching Permaculture since 1989 and was awarded the Permaculture Community

Service Award in 1990 after taking over Permaculture Magazine for two years. At that time I was a member of the Permaculture Council and helped build the early foundations of what we now have as an Association.

I have done much to help Andy Goldring in his endeavours to build the Association since without formally being a member of the Trustees. I have written two books on Permaculture: The Permaculture Way and the Permaculture Garden (and numerous articles)which were intended as interpreting Permaculture principles in an easily digestible way for people in a European culture and (obviously) in the northern hemisphere.

I have taught permaculture on four continents over twenty five years. England, France , Iceland, Israel, Ireland, Scotland, Slovenia, West Africa (Gambia, Senegal, Guinea) have all seen full courses whilst we have also taught shorter sessions in Denmark, Germany, Palestine, Spain and also done stuff in Holland, Malta, USA.

I spent most of the time in the early 2000’s trying to connect business media and politicians with the essential ideas behind Permaculture without ever using the word and am friends with many senior politicians and journalists.

I was the lead instructor for the countryside premium scheme for LANTRA(formerly the Agriculture Training Board) in the 1990’s and became a trainer of trainers for them. I have City & Guilds qualifications as a trainer and assessor.

I have returned to teaching Permaculture Design Courses in the last couple of years as I feel my copious experience should be shared and I wish to help a new generation of teachers achieve credible levels of skill and experience. With my wife Nancy our twenty three year old Forest Garden is an inspiration to many. Our courses are legendary at Garden Cottage with food from the garden, inspiring conversations and uplifting experiences. We feel we can support theory with practice as few can.

Joe Atkinson

Aranya

Permaculture education has been a focus of mine since the turn of the millennium. My main focus during that time has been in delivering permaculture training, mainly full design courses over two weeks or six weekends. I've taught fifty six of these as of September 2013.

I completed the Certificate in Permaculture Design as a two week residential course in 1996 and from that point on I was hooked. I went on to participate in two separate week-long Teaching Permaculture Creatively courses and to complete my Adult Education Teaching Certificate in 2001. Since 2006 I’ve been co-teaching Training of Permaculture Teachers courses with my colleagues at Designed Visions.

I have also designed and implemented several major garden projects during the last decade using permaculture principles, that formed a significant part of my Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design portfolio (completed in September 2003 and since then available online). I served as a trustee of the Permaculture Association (Britain) for five years (2000 to 2005) and then served on the Interim Diploma Development Team between 2005 and 2010. As well as being a senior Diploma Tutor I now also serve on the Farming working group as well as being a part of the Education working group.

My book 'Permaculture Design: a step-by-step Guide to the Process' was published in Spring 2012. I'm currently involved in co-ordinating a number of other projects, including making short films and writing a second book about 'Systems, Patterns and Principles in Permaculture Design'.

Peter Cow

Peter is an experienced Permaculture teacher and designer based in Surrey, and active all over Europe . He teaches and convenes Permaculture Design Courses, Introductory Weekends, People and Permaculture courses, and other bespoke specialist and advanced courses around Europe. He I particularly passionate about social Permaculture - researching and sharing the tools and patterns of a regenerative culture.

He is an active designer, consultant and mentor for various Permaculture projects, individuals and community groups in the UK and further afield. More details of his services, designs and upcoming courses can be seen at www.livingincircles.com

Some history - after being involved in the direct action protest movement in the 1990's for several years, Peter became inspired by the idea of 'Positive impact living', and went to the first Natty Gathering at Brickhurst farm in August 1998, where he did his Permaculture Design Course. He then went on to co-found the Steward Community Woodland sustainable living project in Devon in 2000, where he lived for seven years, learning to live in community, and how to grow, build low impact structures, make good compost and manage a woodland. He left the community in late 2007 to move to London, and now teaches, travels and consults itinerantly internationally.

He completed his Permaculture Diploma in May 2007, which included designs for events, low impact building construction, land management and perennial gardening. He is a UK Association registered Permaculture teacher, Diploma Tutor and LAND Project Tutor. He graduated the Designed Visions 'Training of Teachers' course in 2007, and has co-taught the Permaculture Design Course with Aranya and others since 2007, as well as running introductory weekend courses in England and Portugal. In 2011 he has also been involved in 8 Shields events, including the UK Art of Mentoring gatherings, which add indigenous cultural wisdom, nature connection and mentoring to his palette.

He has recently been involved in helping to set up the Portuguese Permaculture Diploma system, and is an active member of the European Permaculture Teachers Partnership and the UK Education Working Group.

Ute Kelly

I completed the PDC in Leeds and am now registered for the diploma - and looking forward to deepening and extending my understanding of permaculture design and my practical skills!
With my family, I have just started renting a field near Hebden Bridge, and we're in the initial observation/design phase - hopefully to create a forest garden but integrating other elements too.

I work part-time as a lecturer in Peace Studies at Bradford University, and as part of that will be involved in developing and embedding the design course there (which ran for the first time this year with Leeds permaculture teachers).

Paul Paine

Paul is a community gardener and permaculture teacher based in Nottingham.