Cultural and Heritage Magic

Yesterday I gave a presentation to the Metro Trails Forum here in Perth and highlighted the history and current development of the Trail:

This is the year that the Trail will be marked and our Board Member Clive McIntyre is progressing this for the group.

Next year is the Bicentenary of Dom Rosendo Salvado the founder of New Norcia and our inspiration for starting the Trail in the first place. We are working with New Norcia, the Cities of Subiaco and Perth, the Whadjuk peoples and local Theatre and music groups to make sure that it is a very special occasion and the start of a deepening our understanding of our rich cultural heritage.

We are also hoping to create a series of Podcasts that will reflect each day of the journey: and this is being done with the help of Richard Offen of Heritage Perth.

Finally, we are looking for a Sponsor(s) so that we can offer a prize for a piece of Visual Arts to represent the ethos of the trail, so please check your bank balances and see if you've got any spare cash you can contribute ;)

I look forward to sharing some of the concrete reality that this coming year promises.

Board Meeting Thursday 22nd September

A difficult, but good and necessary Board was held last evening, where we made a philosophical change to our Strategic Plan. It was felt that the big point of difference of the Pilgrims Trail from all other walking trails in Australia is that it does have a Spiritual element: and that isn't necessarily limited to religious thinking.

So we have decided to promote group walks along the Trail that will entail more orderly use until such time as the infrastructure is there to cope with the more casual walker/camper. This decision was made because of the success of the 3 years of Camino Salvados that have been held with over 120 people now having experienced the trail. The average walker on these event walks has been a woman in her early 60's: and one who likes to know that she has somewhere to sleep at night!

The other major challenge is now to develop a business plan to help achieve our goals and we are very thankful to Bank West, and to Craig Stevens who has been so helpful with time and ideas.

The final challenge is to get some funding. We were unsuccessful with 2 or our 3 applications to state bodies: we are now looking for a Benefactor" who is inspired by the idea of the Pilgrims Trail to help us bring it to reality. Please let me know if you know that person!!