Have you heard of the Friendly Floatees? Some 29,000 bath toys, mainly plastic ducks, spilled accidentally from a container ship into to the northern Pacific in 1992. And they have been drifting around in the ocean currents ever since. (Well, for at least 20+ years after the incident. I can’t find anything much more up-to-date on the net.)
The National Geographic magazine takes up the story: “These so-called Friendly Floatees have been drifting ashore for over 20 years, sometimes in surprising parts of the world—not only Alaska, but also Hawaii, Australia, Indonesia, and Chile. By the early 2000s, a few had even been found as far away as Maine and the British Isles. It is presumed that many Friendly Floatees are still adrift at sea, including in the infamous North Pacific Gyre (the location of the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch). The destinations they have reached, and the time it took for them to wash ashore, have helped scientists better understand the complex dynamics of ocean surface currents.â€
.Why am I telling you this? I suppose this is a ‘good news story’, worthy of a smile, but the vast amount of plastic waste now being dumped into our oceans (8000 million kilograms of plastic every year) is no smiling matter. It is a scourge not only on the quality of the water but of the teeming wildlife that lives in the ocean.
We have decided, here at the Watermill at Posara, that we ought to do something about it.
Yes, in a fantastic deal with the Ocean Bottle company we’ve created a scheme to collect each year 450 kgs of ocean-bound plastic from the world’s most polluted rivers and waterways and ensure that it is not dumped into the sea. This is equivalent to around 40,000 single-use half-litre bottles. It makes us, and our guests ‘plastic neutral’ for the year.
It’s all part of the Watermill’s endeavour to be even Greener, not only in reducing plastic waste, but also in cutting our carbon emissions. (We have already saved more than 35 tonnes of carbon dioxide through making our own electricity from the sun. This helps, among other things, to power the air conditioning system we have in every room at the Watermill.)
We will be filling you in on the details of our plastic initiative early in the New Year, so watch this space! In the meantime you’ve only got three or four days to take advantage of our Early Bird discount offer: £75 (British pounds) off the cost of any 2023 creative course, if you book before the end of this year. You know makes sense: come and enjoy inspiring tuition, warm hospitality, stunning locations, delicious food and wine and the convivial company of like-minded people, be Cooler and Greener – and save money!.
Below you will find dates and links for all our 2023 courses. Just click on the link of the ones you like to find out more detail. You will see that some of our creative weeks are already fully booked, but if you fancy that particular week or that particular tutor, don’t despair: there are often cancellations. Please get in touch via the Watermill Contact Form (by clicking here) and we will put you on a waiting list.
First of all, our inspiring painting courses:
Harry Westera
15 – 22 April 2023 – still plenty of places
Watercolours
To learn more about Harry and his course at the mill, please visit his 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Ali Hargreaves
22 – 29 April 2023 – fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about Ali and her course at the mill, please visit her 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Randy Hale
13 – 20 May 2023 – fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about Randy and his course at the mill, please visit his 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Pamme Turner
20 – 27 May 2023 – one or two places available
Watercolour and gouache en plein air
To learn more about Pamme and her course at the mill, please visit her 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
James Willis
3 – 10 June 2023 – one or two places available
Watercolours
To learn more about James and his course at the mill, please visit his 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Herman Pekel
10 – 17 June 2023 – fully booked, waiting list opene
Watercolours
To learn more about Herman and his course at the mill, please visit his 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Maggie Renner Hellmann
24 June – 1 July 2023 – two or three places available
Oil and watercolour (acrylic, pastel)
To learn more about Maggie and her course at the mill, please visit her 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Fiona Graham-Mackay
1 – 8 July 2023 – still plenty of places
Painting en plein air (oil, acrylic, watercolour, pastel)
To learn more about Fiona and her course at the mill, please visit her 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Belinda Biggs
8 – 15 July 2023 – still plenty of places
Watercolours
To learn more about Belinda and her course at the mill, please visit her 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Mary Padgett
26 August – 2 September 2023 – still plenty of places
Pastels (and other portable media) en plein air
To learn more about Mary and her course at the mill, please visit her 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Mike Willdridge
9 – 16 September 2023 – one or two places available
Watercolours and drawing (also gouache and acrylics)
To learn more about Mike and his course at the mill, please visit his 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Brienne M Brown
16 – 23 September 2023 – Fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about Brienne and her course at the mill, please visit her 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Charles Sluga
23 – 30 September 2023 – two or three places available
Watercolours (acrylics and oils)
To learn more about Charles and his course at the mill, please visit his 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Tim Wilmot
30 September – 7 October 2023 – fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about Tim and his course at the mill, please visit his 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Grahame Booth
7 – 14 October 2023 – fully booked, waiting list open
Watercolours
To learn more about Grahame and his course at the mill, please visit his 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Our wonderful knitting weeks:
Georgia Farell
29 April – 6 May 2023 – Still plenty of places
6 – 13 May 2023 – fully booked, waiting list open
Knitting and La Bella Vita
To learn more about Georgia and her course at the mill, please visit our 2023 Tutor Profile Page.
Watermill Knitting Retreat
15 – 22 July 2023 – two or three places left
Knitting and La Bella Vita
To learn more about the Watermill Knitting Retreat at the mill, please visit our 2023 Retreat Page.
Our inspiring writing course:
Jo Parfitt
17 – 24 June 2023 – two or three places available
Write your life stories
To learn more about Jo and her course at the mill, please visit her 2023 Profile Page.
Our unique Italian course:
Giulia Balestri
14 – 21 October 2023 — still plenty of places
Learning Italian with the Italians
To learn more about Giulia and her 2023 course at the mill, please click here.
There’s more about everything on the Watermill website, which you can see by clicking here.