Today was one of the most exciting, rewarding and awe inspiring days on the World Harmony Run GB.

The runners were led in by a very smiley Serena Kullich holding the torch, as the Eden Project members of staff cheered. This made the local newspaper, Western Morning News.

We had a great group photo at the start of the ceremony with the massive biomes as a backdrop. The local newspaper Cornish Guardian’s photographer was in attendance and the ceremony was mentioned on BBC Radio Cornwall.

The day started with a Torch-Bearer Award Ceremony at the Eden Project. The recipients of this reward were:

Tim Smit, Chief Executive (and co-founder) of Eden Project.

For his major contribution to changing the world into one where, in his own words, "plants provide a canvas on which we can paint an optimistic future."

Tim Smit was born in Holland on 25 September 1954. He read Archaeology and Anthropology at Durham University. Tim worked for ten years in the music industry as composer/producer in both rock music and opera. In 1987 Tim moved to Cornwall, where he and John Nelson together ‘discovered’ and then restored the Lost Gardens of Heligan. Tim remains a Director of the gardens to the present day. Tim is Chief Executive and co-founder of the award-winning Eden Project near St Austell in Cornwall.

Eden began as a dream in 1995 and opened its doors to the public in 2000, since when around 13 million people have come to see what was once a sterile pit turned into a cradle of life containing world-class horticulture and startling architecture that is symbolic of human endeavour. Eden has contributed over £1 billion to the Cornish economy.

Eden is proud of its success in changing people’s perception of the potential for and the application of science, by communicating and interpreting scientific concepts through the use of art, drama and storytelling, as well as living up to its mission to take a pivotal role in local regeneration. It demonstrates once and for all that sustainability is not about sandals and nut cutlets, it is about good business practice and the citizenship values of the future.

Tim is a Trustee, Patron and Board Member of a number of statutory and voluntary bodies both locally and nationally. He has received a variety of national awards including The Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal. In 2002 he was awardedan Honorary CBE in the New Years Honours List and he has received Honorary Doctorates and Fellowships from a number of Universities. Tim was voted ‘Great Briton of 2007’ in the Environment category of the Morgan Stanley Great Britons Awards. In January 2011 he was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Her Majesty the Queen.

Tim has taken part in a quantity of television and radio programmes and has been the subject of ‘This is Your Life’ and a guest on ‘Desert Island Discs’. He is a regular speaker at conferences, dinners and other events. Tim is the author of books about both Heligan and Eden and he has contributed to publications on a wide variety of subjects. He lives in Fowey, Cornwall and in his free time he enjoys reading, film, music and art.

Gaynor Coley, Managing Director of Eden Project.

For her invaluable contributions in steering the Eden Project to be such a success and making dreams become a reality. Also, leading the strategy to extend Eden’s influential environmental brand and programmes across the world. In her words, “Finding a better balance with nature is a big issue and it is urgent. Eden wants to be part of the solution, not just for the UK but across the globe”.

When Gaynor Coley joined Eden in 1997 the Project was little more than a garden shed in a sprawling nursery shared by 15 passionate dreamers. Arriving here was, she says, a daunting experience, “like stepping from an oil tanker onto a small speedboat with little petrol.” In the years since, with Gaynor’s hand firmly at the tiller, Eden has attracted nearly 13 million visitors, generated more than £1 billion for the regional economy and sustained 500 jobs at the former clay quarry near St Austell, and thousands more beyond.

Starting out as Finance Director, then becoming Managing Director and Deputy Chief Executive, Gay is a relentless advocate of daring to dream and organising to deliver. She says: “Eden is the perfect example of this. It began as an ambitious vision and through the incredible commitment and teamwork of the crew has been transformative in so many ways.

“I’m a huge believer that audacious dreams backed by practical skills can make change happen. If there is one thing that Eden has proved it is that ordinary people working together can build a better future for us all.”

Gay has a passion for education as a tool of transformation and after growing up in South Wales she studied Economics at University College London and went on to qualify as a teacher at the Institute of Education.

She went into the City to understand how to unlock resources and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Touche Ross. After five years of SMEs to PLCs and Big Bang in banking she decided she was well armed and moved to the West Country in 1987. She was Director of Corporate Finance at the University of Plymouth from 1993 helping it transform from a Polytechnic to one of the most successful new Universities in the UK before joining Eden.

Her first job at the Project was to make it financially and commercially secure and she led the development and delivery of the £86 million public and private sector funding package that allowed the Project to be delivered on time and on budget when it fully opened in March 2001. This provided a template that has been used by many other projects throughout the UK. Her Finance Team was recognised as the Accountancy Age team of the year in 2001.

She championed the governance structure that has enabled Eden to become a model social enterprise. Eden aimed to combine the commercial rigour of the private sector with a framework that keeps the social purpose firmly at the top of decision making and does this with a limited company wholly owned by a charitable trust that provides the legal protection of the mission.

In May 2001 she became Managing Director and steered the team through the first full season and a record-breaking 1.8 million visitors. This demand meant a second phase of capital development and the project team have raised over £50m for this investment since opening. Gay directs all the financial, operational and commercial aspects of the Project, which has won numerous awards over the years, many for exceptional customer service.

In 2005 the ICAEW (South West) awarded Gay the Best All Rounder Trophy and in 2009 she received the CBI Real Business First Women Award in Tourism and Leisure.

She is currently leading the strategy to extend Eden’s influential environmental brand and programmes across the world. “Finding a better balance with nature is a big issue and it is urgent. Eden wants to be part of the solution, not just for the UK but across the globe,” she says.

She loves watching films and her recommendation for a sound recipe for life is the Wizard of Oz: “Dorothy discovered that there is no Wizard, realised that there is no place like home and that we can change our destiny by recognising and working with the talents of the people who are around us every day”

She lives in Wadebridge on the North Cornwall Coast and away from work she likes gardening, interior design, reading, cycling and walking her faithful Gordon Setter Pluto.

Ken Radford, People and Gardens.

For running the People and Gardens project he has made a real difference to people’s lives to assist people with learning disabilities and mental health issues to develop work and social skills to enable them to take control of their own lives. The thought of the project is one where, “It’s not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain”.

Each recipient was presented with one of Sri Chinmoy’s paintings and the World Harmony Run book.

People and Gardens based in Watering Lane Nursery, Pentewan, near St Austell, was established by Ken Radford eleven years ago. The project aims to enable participants – whose lives have been affected by mental and physical challenges ranging from autism to Down’s syndrome – to play a greater role in their communities. The group has been growing a wide range of vegetables at the Watering Lane nursery and selling them in bags to Eden staff, Cornwall Council’s Adult Social Care department and the friends, family and carers of those working on the scheme.

Recently Ken has helped start a fortnightly delivery of the Quality of Life vegetable bag scheme in the St Austell area, with all the profits from this scheme going towards employing the disadvantaged. The ultimate aim of the group is to enable people to take control over their lives and find employment. People and Gardens works closely and in partnership with the Eden Project and the vegetable bag scheme was started to create jobs, providing real work for real pay for some of the participants.

Ken and his team have helped more than 150 people make real improvements in their lives through learning horticultural skills and growing food for the vegetable bags. Some of the participants go on to live independently, to study and to find jobs. The group was initially based at the Lost Gardens of Heligan before moving to Watering Lane, where participants work closely with Eden’s skilled horticulturists. There are currently 45 people taking part, all coming from within a 25-mile radius of the nursery and with an age range of 16 to 70. The project has recently become a community interest company.

Gaynor Coley said, “Eden is about celebrating the harmony and optimism of the human spirit and what the World Harmony Run does so powerfully is bring people together with the simple act of running.”

Harmony and the optimism of the human spirit is no more demonstrated than that oft of Ken Radford and his wife Lorraine who have overcome so many challenges to selflessly help other people. Together with the Eden Project they have created harmony in so many people’s lives who are in need of a helping hand.

Both Ken and Lorraine are such caring, compassionate and loving people and it was a honour and pleasure meeting them. The members of the GB World Harmony Team are planning to visit the Watering Lane Nursery in the near future to meet all the members of the project. We are so looking forward to meeting them!

Tim Smit most generously invited us as guests to attend a music concert that evening which half of the team gleefully accepted.(shots from later in the evening)

After the ceremony we took a tour of the impressive biomes. They are just so amazing and you could easily spend a whole day going around them. Unfortunately we just had an hour but I’m sure it is a visit that none of us will forget. A big, big thank you has to go to Angelina Lambourn, Media Relations Manager for helping us organise this event to its successful fruition.

After the tour of the biomes we ate some delicious vegetable pasties kindly supplied by the Eden Project. Thank you so much.

After lunch we still had much miles to cover and we split the mileage into three sections.

Prabala, out heroic French runner is running a marathon every day whilst he is on the team and he ran from Kingsbridge, Devon to the Torpoint Ferry. The women’s team ran from Fowey, Cornwall to Truro, the county capital of Cornwall. The men’s team had a coastal scenic route from Torpoint to Fowey.

The roads were very narrow and twisty with many blind bends that the runner had to be aware of – but the landscape and views were spectacularly beautiful.

The team made a brief visit at the historic picturesque fishing village of Polperro.

The men’s team running was complete with a ferry crossing at Fowey.

Thank you so much to all those who stopped to hold the Troch and wish us well on our journey. Your encouragement is the fuel we run on!

It had been a day full of so much joy that we all didn’t want it to end. You just live for days like this on the World Harmony Run.

We were truly heels over head!

 

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The World Harmony Run proudly supports the International Year of Youth (IYY) and the International Year of Forests (IYF) proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly.

See the recent Youtube video on African experience which illustrates IYY slogan "Our Year Our Voice"  International Year of Youth - Zambia World Harmony. They surprisingly mention Presidents and UN Secretary-General in a unique way! 

See also the UNESCO World Heritage (WH) Centre support for IY of Forests.  ... Convention for conservation of forest biodiversity. (more)

 

 

– Rasmivan Collinson

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Distance: 79 miles

Team Members:
Apaguha Vesely (Czech Republic), Prabala Carvalho (France), Balavan Thomas (England), Amalendu Edelsten (Australia), Atulya Berube (USA), Nandathu Saltzman (USA), Atul Arora (India), Lenka Svecova (Czech Republic), Shobhavati Davies (New Zealand), Shradda Kurzemniece (Latvia), Teekhnata Metzler (USA) Becky Xerri (Wales), Rasmivan Collinson (England), Suswara Payne (England), Devashishu Torpy (England), Serena Kullich (England), Rebecca Kullich (England). Sanjaya Spettigue (England), Tarit Stott (Scotland), Dhavala Stott (Scotland).

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

Gallery: See more images!

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