LATEST NEWS

October 20th, 2009

We are currently trying to contact people who might be interested in becoming involved with ICAN or supporting in some way the aims of our project this is including various celebrities and well known people in public life.  This will be a time consuming process.  In fact there is no reason it should end unless the natural environment no longer needs conserving!

£500 reward for information leading to us purchasing land as a result of you telling me about it.

To facilitate meeting more than once a year at a camp, and until there is land for a camp, there are now international evenings in Totnes with music and people bringing food typical of their culture and country. So many came last time that they could not all get in. See the photo below. Half the people were from other countries and the musicians were those from the 2005 camp. Lively, good, fun music. For some more images in a popup window click here.

People showed travel films and slides from their country. This included twice across Tibet, Madagascar, Lithuania and Switzerland. The amount and diversity of food was incredible. There are also international Sunday "walks". Its not only walking. We have been surfing and caving.

For more information on walks, caving etc., see my BLOG  - a link will be here very soon. 

The Sidmouth Folk Festival is now no longer international and was reduced to people mostly over 50 and 60 years old in pubs. There was no music at all on the sea front at the weekend of 2006 or 2007 but in 2008 it improved. However there is much less attraction to camp there. So there was no camp in 2006 or 2007.

 To buy only a small bit of land near Sidmouth could still be considered but the Totnes area would be more favourable; an interesting, musical town near Dartmoor and the sea.

There is often no land at all for sale and that which is, is often too steep, too wet or no water at all, north facing or no road access. Other people have offered to come in to help buy the land, which puts our buying power at approximately £150,000. This changes as peoples circumstances change. Thank you to those doing bank standing orders to help ICAN. I have not got many of your addressess to please could you send them to me.

I had no idea that trying to buy land for nature education and conservation with an international camp could ever have been so hard. First to get the money then to get the land. Despite this I won't give up and I am committed to achieving these aims if I possibly can. The first camp was in 1977 on the beach.

Help. We need someone local who has the ability to update this web site. I have neither time nor ability. You will get some pay for helping. Until then for updates write to me, Friar, P.O. Box 18, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5WL, UK.

Future camps in the name of ICAN might not be held at the same time as the new Sidmouth Folk Week but on ICAN's own land when purchased.
Those camps will be advertised here.

The end (in 2004) of the 50 year International Sidmouth Festival also ended the ICAN camps as they were. 

A two hour video of the last Sidmouth Intrnational Folk Ferstival has been made to sell for £12 to help the land fund.

BUYING LAND for the camp and Nature simply must happen. The search has been going on far too long and I (Friar) need your help in ways which don't have to cost you money and could even make you money.

Here are some ideas and recent efforts:-
I recently went to look at land only 1 ½ miles from Sidmouth centre, yet not a house in sight and 3 times larger than our current site, good road access, all flat for camping, near stunning cliff top views with footpaths to an almost private beach, plus mains water. This was a bargain at £35,000, but I only had £30,000, so it was lost. I have also looked at land near Totnes.
The "lost" land would have been ours, or some of it yours, if I could have quickly got £5,000 then land to the value of £5,000 immediately sold to repay you, or put in your name so it would have been yours to do with as you wish. I need people to offer help in some way to prevent the loss of any future suitable land, but if you offer money then I agree to buy land and you go back on your word I would be in trouble.
Therefore, if you offer money and it is called upon to be used, PLEASE honour your word.
An Independent legal person may be called upon to hold any funds to ensure security for all concerned. More details on request.

Some people are finding themselves with unexpected money due to being left property in a will. Property prices have as much as trebled in recent years so even a bungalow can be worth ¼ million pounds. Some may be in a position to help with a little of this.

I have also advertised to find people who know nothing of ICAN to join with funds to buy a large piece of land, then of course they keep their bit. By doing this they will pay much less per acre perhaps as little as £2,000 whereas a small plot can sell at £6,000 to £10,000 per acre. I have received details of some lovely flat land, 25 acres at £50,000.

WORLD RECORD BREAKERS HELP OFFERED
Before Christmas, two World Record breaking stars offered to help. In November Doug Scott CBE, the first man ever to summit  the South West face of Mount Everest (& more), and in December, Danny da Costa, the World Masters Judo Champion (& more).

Doug has donated 2 pictures, one a photo taken by himself of the Hillary step of Mount Everest signed by Sir Edmund Hillary personally, not a copy. Hillary was the first person ever to summit Everest. It is also signed by Doug Scott. The second is a picture of Everest signed by the painter Graeme Lothian, Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Chris Bonnington (a world famous record breaking mountaineer and Rebecca Stephens (the first British woman to summit Everest).
These pictures are for sale to the highest bidder to raise money to buy land.
Doug Scott has climbed the highest mountain of each Continent on Earth, all without oxygen except Everest, although he "slept" overnight near the top of Everest with no oxygen, tent or even a sleeping bag at minus 50°C. This achieved the World Record for the highest overnight bivouac. During a life of endless danger and achievements Doug crawled for almost a week with two broken legs down one of the World's highest mountains, the Ogre, in the Karakoram. Another time, while being swept away in an avalanche tied to a colleague, the rope snapped, Doug lived, his colleague died. Doug now runs a charity building schools in Nepal and lectures throughout the UK to packed houses. He gave half the takings from one talk to help the land fund.

Danny da Costa was the World Masters Judo Champion in 2003 in his category, was a former European Open Judo Medallist plus 3 times British Champion and a British Boxing champion. Danny now teaches Aikido with 4 Black belts and 6 in Judo. Danny has offered to help obtain land.

It is wonderful that such people have helped and continue to do so. Sincere thanks to Doug and Danny plus others from the past. It is sad that no environmental bodies have helped, even when we saved a massive pond containing at least one endangered species and a host of wildlife.

The Triodos environmental Bank has suggested an overdraft, possibly £10,000 at approximately 6%. Alliance Leicester has offered a loan, but at 10% it is high.

A few other people are interested in coming in to buy land and one long term helper, Peter Klosin, is looking at all land for sale by anybody full time, to help achieve  the goal which has eluded us for too long. Our own land; for nature, the camps, the activities which take place at the camps and for you.

If you want to but land and keep it in your name but for ICAN's use it might be an investment for you.
Please contact us with any help you might wish to offer. Previous web pages will be left to view as they give some history of our past since 1977, but due to recent changes they might be less relevant.

Thanks
Friar

BECOME AN ICAN SUBSCRIBER

ICAN is desperate for funding. The income from camping was not enough to cover costs never mind to realise our goal of a permanent Nature Centre. If you have visited an ICAN camp and enjoyed your stay, please help us continue by making a standing order of as little as £2.00 (or more if you can) a month.

To do so you may download a standing order form from here in PDF format- right click the link and save to your Desktop. Then open with Adobe Acrobat, print out and complete the form and send to ICAN, PO Box 18, Totnes,TQ9 5WL.UK "
Alternatively, Contact Us for further details.!

Supporters folding the newsletter and 5 different posters into envelopes.

A PERMANENT SITE FOR ICAN

Click here for information regarding helping ICAN to purchase land to help nature.

We might be able to put about £25 - 30,000 toward buying a farm for the ICAN Project and Camps. This would be on a buy to let basis which means the maximum we could borrow would be £70,000. A farm for as little as £100,000 will be hard to find so we need all the help we can get.

Can you lend/donate money, find a farm in the Totnes/Sidmouth area, advise on low cost loans or help in any other way? Rooms would be let to repay any loan plus other activities held throughout the year, such as camps.