We attended the Pagan Federation North East Conference in York in APril 2012. We had an excellent day out meeting and talking to so many people and it really came home to us again how affectionate the general public are about Doreen and her legacy. We were accompanied by Esme Knight of Pagan Pride organisation (www.paganpride.org.uk) and Sarah Kay of Nottingham Pagan Network (www.nottinghampagannetwork.org.uk) who shared a stall with us and bravely manned it all day while Ashley was off and about networking and hob-knobbing !
Ashley gave his talk on Doreen's life and legacy as one of the event's main speakers and had the "interesting" experience of addressing the likes of Patricia Crowther and Philip Hestleton on the subject of Doreen which he describes as "hair-raising". Ashley invited PAtricia to add colour to the parts of his talk he describes as "a bit stuffy" and and rather a double act ensued to the delight of the audience: Ashley providing dates and facts and Patricia reaclling her personal memories of the events he mentioned! Ashley finished up by giving a talk written by Doreen as an introduction to Witchcraft from the 1960's and a few small artefacts that had belonged to Doreen were exhibited to a number of fascinated people. Patricia Crowther capped it all off by reciting, from memory, a poem Doreen had written for her and this ensured a ral ovation at the end.
Having had a very long chat with Patricia, we're pleased to say that CFPS and the Foundation are now in discussion with Pagan Pride, NPN and PFNE to put on an event later in the year to honour Patricia Crowther along the now familiar CFPS theme of "A Day For . . ". While there are no details yet, the event will certainly be held in the north / midlands and not in London as are all the CFPS conferences normally . .
All in all, an excellent day cementing support for the Doreen Valiente Foundation from the Pgan Federation, Patricia Corwther and the wider pagan public. Thanbk you to everyone who made us feel so welcome in York including Steve (PFNE) and Esme's mum and dad who put us up and provided excellent conversation and company too. Blessings to all of you!
