The British Wheel of Yoga
Registered Charity No. 264993
EASTERN REGION
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex,
Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk
GOVERNING BODY FOR YOGA IN GREAT BRITAIN
YOGA CLASSES
A SHORT HISTORY OF EASTERN REGION
To celebrate the Wheel’s fortieth anniversary the regional
committee have put together a short history of Eastern Region.
The British Wheel of Yoga was founded in 1965 by Wilfred Clarke. Like many new spontaneous organisations, the demand and growth kept out-stripping support. It was soon recognised that a national frame-work was needed and the first national structure had six regions ~ see the extract from one of the early Wheel magazines.
You will notice from the above we had ‘provincial’ members and those of you that are not myopic might notice that by 1973 we had changed the name from The Wheel of British Yoga to the Western Yoga Federation. It was changed to The British Wheel of Yoga in 1974. The old and new logos are shown below:
You will also see that Wilfred spoke about ‘the Federation’ and Acacia House in Acton London, was referred to, for a while, as the Wheel’s [Federation] Headquarters. The Wheel had a purpose built unit installed behind Acacia House, which was used for seminars and was still in existence in the early ‘90s.
For details of Eastern Region's current officers please go to Regional Structure page on this wesbite.
Regional Officers Initially in the development of the Wheel, Eastern Region was part of BWY's South East Region, which included the regions that are now London and South East. Eastern Region itself came into being in 1975, when the British Wheel of Yoga expanded to eleven regions. Eastern Region came into being as separate B.W.Y. region in 1975, when the British Wheel of Yoga expanded to eleven regions. Regional Officer ~ Roll of Honour
Ken Thompson
Brian Down
Bob Bury
Julia Nichols
John Cain
Position Vacant
John Green
Jonathan Heath
John King
Position Vacant
Gill Pendreich
Helen Smith
Ian Burgess
1975-1978
1978-1980
1980-1982
1982
1982-1993
1994
1994-1996
1997-1999
1999-2000
2000-2002
2002-2004
2004-2007
2007-
The first Regional officer for Eastern Region was Ken Thompson and initially we only had four counties in Eastern Region with Cambridge coming into region in 1975 bringing us up to five counties. Essex was divided into two sections in 1987. Eastern Region is ‘managed’ by Regional Officer who heads up the Regional Committee and sits on the BWY Executive committee which organises the national organisation. The Regional Officer is our line manager and the link between the region and the national organisation. The Regional Committee consists of the Regional Officer, the County Representatives, Regional Treasurer, Regional Editor, Training Officer and Website Admin. The Committee meets 3-4 times a year. John Cain writes: ’I took over the job of Regional Officer at a time when there seemed to be no written systems or guidance for running the regions. I was lucky to have a tremendous group of County Representatives who worked their socks off for the region. Between us we put the region on a firm financial footing and developed a basic documented working structure and. It was hard work, but a lot of fun’.
Helen Smith writes: I guess the main reason I thought I would have a go at the Regional Officer role was that I thought it would be an interesting challenge and I would get to know what goes on. Well so far I have not been disappointed, I've met loads of nice people, been to places and events I hadn't been to before and it’s been brilliant. What I did not foresee was that part of my duties as RO at Congress 2005 was to dress up as a circus performer and appear on stage! I still don't quite know how that happened ........
Regional Treasurer
The Regional Treasurer oversees the regional finances in accordance with the BWY guidelines and the Charities Commissioner regulations Regional Treasurer ~ Roll of Honour
Maude Defty
Betty Belsham
Ian Burgess
Hugh Frost
David Primett
1976-1989
1990-1991
1991-1993
1993-2004
2004-
David Primmet writes: 'I am now in my second year as Treasurer, having taking over from the excellent work of Hugh Frost. He ran the Regions finances for many years and BWY Services locally. Whilst most of my time is spent dealing with the payments and receipts I am active in the Regional Committee, and am hoping in the near future to assist in running the first Regional Festival in the East. I am enjoying seeing the work of the Wheel evolve."
Regional Magazine
The first Eastern Region magazine that we are aware of was Satsang, which started the Autumn of 1978 with Brian Down as the editor and ran to twelve pages. It was run off on an old Gestetner machine, with the ‘copy’ typed out on a skin and run off by hand [and the sweat of the brow]
The cover of very first edition of the Eastern Region Magazine that we produced called
‘Satsang’
The re-birth of the regional
magazine. The new title
was Yoga-East ~ although
from the front cover design
most regional members
thought it was ‘Yeast’ and
the name stuck.
The current version of the
regional magazine now
professionally printed and
the title modified to read:
Yogaeast
In 1979 Brian handed over the reins to Jenny Surey when he became Regional Officer. Satsang ran for twelve issues and then ceased publication.
The regional magazine was re-started in 1983 and by this time the regional funds had sunk to an all time low [ £25..00 ] and there wasn’t enough in the kitty to cover general correspondence or sending out diplomas, etc, let alone produce a magazine. It was the financial input from some Essex teachers, led by Rita Gregory, that enabled us to get the first editions out.
The re-started magazine was edited by John Cain and Bernard Booty and run off on a second[or third]-hand Gestetner machine. Initially the new magazine wasn’t as big as the version started by Brian and Jenny.It was just three double sided sheets of A.4 simply stapled together. In 1984 we got back to the folded version and went up to sixteen pages. Molly Allen took over from John and ran the magazine for five years.
Since then the magazine has continued under several editors ~ Anne Heyden, Marion Pidgeon, Christine Matthiesson, Kay Russell, Fran Hiller, Debbie Kilby ~ through to the current editor Caroline Bradley.
Regional Editor ~ Roll of Honour
Brian Down
Jenny Surey
John Cain
Molly Allen
Anne Heyden
Marion Pidgeon/Christine Matthiesson
Kay Russell
Fran Hiller
Debbie Kilby
Caroline Bradley
1978-1979
1979-1980
1982-1984
1984-1989
1989-1992
1993-1996
1997-2002
2002-2005
2005-2006
2006-
Molly Allen writes: “I enjoyed being Regional Editor. The incoming mail was highly entertaining and informative. Turning back to another era[apologies to younger members], I used to type out all the info on an old pre-electric typewriter, then collate it and send it to John Cain and Bernard Booty who ran it off on an old Gestetner machine then they would staple the pages together to send out to the county representatives”
Kay Russell writes: I grew to love it, even the hair-standing-on-end, flying-by-the-pants bits (in retrospect) and miss it still. Coping with technology - a mystery and a challenge; from IBM to Apple Mac and back again. Getting to know and still be friends with so many people. The enormous satisfaction of seeing each copy in print Feeling useful. Thanks to all of you that convinced me I could do the job of regional editor.
The County Representatives The counties that make up Eastern Region are Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, East & West Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Each county has it’s own representative who is part of the decision-making group that manages the region’s affairs
When the region was originally set up, the CRs were responsible for collecting subscriptions, sending out the Wheels magazine and the news -letters, organising seminars and answering queries from the county or people looking for classes.
County Representatives ~ Roll of Honour
Bob Bury
Hildegard Andreyev
Roy Islip
Hilton Francis
Ken Thompson
Maude Defty
Rita Gregory
Vi McKenna
Hazel Fisher
Kerstin Elliott
Joan Wyatt
Hugh Frost
Jeanette Armsworth
Daphne Feavers
Ann Barney
Brain Down
Roy Stevens
Valerie Langford
Thelma Lovewell
Bob Roberts
Joey Robinson
Joan Roche
Ann Davenport
Margaret Townroe
Hugh Frost
Sally Studd
Carole Tovell
Dianna Ship
Roy Stevens
Annie Knights
Angie Jacobs
Catherine Linton
Margaret Woodley
Dennis Gladwin
Mary Thurston
Jill Turner
Anne Sparkes
Angela Uff
Rita Bartholomew
Gill Pendriech
Charlotte Prud’homme
Yvonne Jones
Megan Joyce
John & Kay King
Jan Cory
Kerry Bryant
Jeremy Jones
Dorothy Turner
Ian Burgess
Anne Woolnough
Chrissie Clarke
Lorraine Croxford
Phil Ansty
Chris Watson
Fiona Mason
Carole Ledger
Beverley Nolan
Mike Beaven
Sophie Massey
Enid Feinson
Emma Escott
Kari Knight
Ian Burgess writes: I became County Rep for West Essex in 1993. To be absolutely honest I only took the job on to give myself an excuse to give up being County Treasurer. Why on earth I did that I’ve no idea because I am totally useless at figure work*. Gill Pendreich had been looking for a replacement CR for herself for about 18months and someone said to me “you know as a County Rep you don’t actually have to do very much”. Well, what a misrepresenter of facts that person turned out to be (notice the P.C.-ness here!) In the main, though, being a CR has been a pleasure – even including Regional Committee meetings. As it happens, these meetings are one of the pleasures of the job – especially when we go punting on the Cam afterwards! Of course, there have been downsides but ( in the words of the Frank Sinatra song) ‘too few to mention’. I love being C.R. and I’ll continue with it as long as I’m able and while people let me. Hari Om
Kerstin Elliott writes: [written in the shade of a hazel tree] I was persuaded to stand-in as temporary County Rep by Julia Nichols in the early eighties and 14 years later was still there. ! In the meantime ~ it was a lot of work at times but also very enjoyable. I got to know so many of the Herts members and its teachers as well as the other officers in the region. It opened my eyes to the pleasures of going to seminars, courses and the Wheel’s Congress. The support of the member, especially in St Albans, meant I could benefit form the insights of many different and wonderful teachers.
Teacher Training Courses
Before 1970, teacher training was run on what would be best described as “an apprenticeship scheme”. A list of people authorised to run teacher training courses was kept in the ‘grey book’ by BWY. In 1970 the BWY teacher training course was formalised. This was a course designed by Chris Stevens, supported by Velta Wilson, Ken Thompson, Vam Morais, Tony Crisp, Wilfred Clark, Swami Purnanda, Karl Werner, Frank Chandra, Pandit Vishnu Narayan, Monty Barnes, etc.
The first courses that were run in Eastern Region were in 1972 and run by Ken Thompson in Essex at ‘the Hermitage’ [ Brentwood Evening Institute ] in 1971, other courses soon followed with Hildegard Andreyev in Beds and by Hilton Francis in Norfolk.
Ken Thompson writes: Chris Stevens, with the help of Velta Wilson and myself put together the first educationally approved BWY teacher training course in 1970/71. It was a 90 hours, one year course. I ran the first one in Essex (Sep 1971) from the 'Hermitage', Brentwood Evening Institute.
