So near I can almost touch it

As the Drala Jong fund grows, in recent times there have been a number of requests from donors and volunteers to get a more tangible sense of what Drala Jong will be, what facilities will be there, what work will need to be done to get it up and running, where it will be located and so on.

Well, it's confession time. . . mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. . . I've been reticent to blog about these things, because the answer to all these questions is very much 'it depends'.  It depends, for example, on how much money we finally do raise.if we raise £450,000 the project will still go ahead, on a slightly different scale.  Alternatively, we could easily spend £1,000,000 is someone were so moved to donate that much money.  Everything's relative (although as someone once said 'If everything is relative, why don't they send me Birthday cards?').  Those intimate with the project have not wanted to flag up a specific building because until the fund is closer to the £500,000 mark, it would mean, like Jim Bowen, we'd be saying 'Let's look at what you could have won'  If supporters set their hearts on a particular set of sash windows, they may ultimately be saddened if the property of their dreams isn't the one we end up acquiring.

Not the property of our dreams! Your dreams may differ. . .

What we've decided to do to respond to these requests is to meet people half way, and start to make the vision that is Drala Jong just that little bit more tangible by covering some of the key qualities that Drala Jong will possess.

There a various ways of enumerating the considerations in deciding what Drala Jong will look like, and where it will be, but they can all be captured under the headings of cost, location, facilities, condition, and flexibility.

For this installment, since finding property is all about location, location, location (so Kirsty tells us, and who are we to argue?), we thought we'd start with that element.  In terms of project goals, there is a balance in choosing a location remote enough to be suitably private, in an environment supportive of practices that are performed out of doors, yet close enough to major transport links and local towns and cities.  Sangha members and the public who have attended public retreats with us in Britain over the last 20 years will know that many of our retreats have been in various parts of Wales.  In recent times, they've been in and around Llandeilo and Llandovery.  Drala Jong will be a rural retreat centre - that is a given - and past retreatants will be used to having to travel some distance to get to our events.  Since our lineage holders had to travel to India and Nepal to receive teachings, our efforts are relatively easy by comparison.  The good news is, whether travelling within Great Britain or from abroad, the intention is to be more accessible than Llandeilo - our main location of the last 15 years.

The fund raising brochure stated it would be 'close to an hour from Cardiff' - the home of the lineage holders, and one of the sangha hubs.  With this in mind the location is going to be within the area encompassed by South East Wales and the Southern end of the Welsh Marches.  Specifically, in the region of Brecon, Abergavenny, Usk, Monmouth, Ross or Hereford.

All these locations are within the orbit of the main areas where many British-based sangha live - Cardiff and Bristol - the latter being particularly important given the presence of our Bristol Aro Ling centre.  These locations are also within reasonable distance of 3 regional airports at Cardiff (Wales), Bristol (South West England) and Birmingham (Midlands) for European travelers, with many being on rail or coach routes from Heathrow airport for transatlantic visitors.

For those used to travelling from South Wales or Bristol, compared Llandeilo these locations are closer in time and distance for all likely travelers.  Many are very considerably closer.  To give a sense of this, the travel times in minutes by road follow below (c/o the Automobile Association website):

mins.	Cardiff	Bristol	Birmingham	Heathrow
Llandeilo	75	114	173	204
Brecon	63	96	130	185
Abergavenny	53	64	105	155
Usk	39	46	98	135
Chepstow	42	27	99	116
Hereford	80	87	80	165
Ross	67	72	72	144
Monmouth	51	58	88	147

All these locations have direct or indirect links to the M4, M5 and M50 motorways:

For public transport users, and international travelers, most of these locations also have National Rail or National Express Coach connections which link to the regional airports and the national hubs around London.  Current travel times by public transport, and the number of changes needed - if any - for Sunday travel are as follows.  NB. we chose to show  Sunday travel times because retreats commonly end on a Sunday, and also because if you can get public transport on a Sunday in Britain it will definitely be possible to travel on a weekday (commonly far more quickly, with less changes - 'C' for change):

Rail?	Cardiff	Bristol	Birmingham	Heathrow
Llandeilo	C/2hrs16m	C/3hrs	2C/4hrs14m	2C/5hrs20m
Abergavenny	45mins	C/1hr	C/2hrs	2C/3hrs15m
Chepstow	44mins	C/1hr	C/90mins	2C/4hrs
Hereford	1hr6m	C/1hr28m	1hr40m	C/3hrs39m

Coach?	Cardiff	Bristol	Birmingham	Heathrow
Chepstow	1hr	30mins	C14hrs30m	2hrs5m
Hereford	2C/7hrs20m	C/4hrs35m	2hrs16m	C/4hrs50m
Ross	1hr30m	C/4hr15m	1hr25m	C/4hr20m
Monmouth	1hr5m	C/4hr15m	1hr45m	X

In essence, all the rail or coach connected areas are within 2 hours travel of Cardiff, Bristol and Birmingham by public transport, even on the worst travel day of the week (Sunday).  All the areas with good public transport links are much more easily accessed than Llandeilo, by 30 to 60 minutes.

So, that's location.  In the next installment of this Blog, we'll look at cost, and specifically what £500,000 would buy today in each of these locations.

A quarter of the way there. . . the Phurba of Space becomes the Phurba of Air

We are delighted to let you know that as at 31st December 2012 the total raised for Drala Jong stood at:

£114,229.80 / Euro140,867.60 / $185,729.00

This is a wonderful increase and really shows the support which the project is receiving from across the world. This is 23% of the target total of £500,000 - we're nearly a quarter of the way there.

The Drala Jong phurba will soon change to display our fundraising total so far.  It's first manifestation shows where we started out in 2012, with much of the Space Element manifest:

Later this year we will be able to update it show that we are making inroads into the air element section.  The phurba is courtesy of the remarkable Lama Shardröl, whose support for the project has been heartwarming.

For those of you who like more details about how funds have been raised in 2012:

We began the year with £70,505 in the UK Charity Accounts of Sang-ngak-chö-dzong.  In Britain and Europe we have raised £17,850 (some of our winter retreat money is still coming in and will be included in 2013 figures), donations in the US have raised  £24,870 (at today's exchange rate) or $40,006. This includes a transfer of the Montana Land Fund Appeal of $5,710 - many thanks to those individuals in particular who transferred their money for supporting this endeavour. The printing project of Lama Shardröl's sangha has also raised £1,004 ($1,616) so far, and also given exposure to the excellent work of the sangha's thangka painters.

People have found many ways to support the project - both big and small. There have been plant sales, car boot sales, garage and yard sales and second hand book sales.  There have been sponsored events to raise money from family, friends and the public (fortunately Mirek survived these events unharmed. . ). People have donated tips from their restaurant work. Items have been sold via Amazon and eBay or in Aro Ling. Apprentices have sacrificed their daily latte and given the money to Drala Jong. And people have given money in one off or regular monthly donations. Thank you to everyone who has helped.

So what will 2013 bring? In Britain inspired by the suggestion of the American sanghas and the success of the winter retreats we will continue with our retreat weekends at Frog's Leap.  We're delighted to let you know that we will be holding more such weekend retreats so that students of the Brevet Lamas will now be able to come along if they wish. On it's own this could potentially contribute £30,000 in 2013. Just over the water we are hoping to sort out the tax situation so that donations in Europe can be made tax efficient - thank you to Jens for working on that. Once resolved this will also benefit any other charitable activity in the Eurozone and help make more things possible across Europe.  Also in Britain we will be holding a fundraising dinner in April and at the end of the year hope to hold a Natural Dignity Ball. Raechel's Rabbit book will be out soon and we have Rinpoche's Blues Masters prints for sale as well as a number of calligraphies remaining - please get in touch if you are interested in any of these.

We would love to hear from anyone who has a plan for fundraising, or who would like to comment on the Blog.

Once again many thanks for your support

with much love

Ngakma Shé-zér Khandro & Ngakpa Namgyal Dorje

Camera for sale (Thank you Dad!)

Just a quick post to tell you that there is a nearly new Fuji digital camera up for sale on e-bay at the moment - kindly donated by my father, Cliff Watkins, member of the Beckenham Photographic Society.

If you want to bid, act now - after some costs are covered, all profits will go to the Drala Jong appeal.

These things for £140+ but the auction is starting at under £100, so if you want a bargain, and to help the appeal - bid away!

If you want to donate an item for auction for the appeal, do get in touch.  Of course you can just send a credit or debit card donation to us via Paypal by going to the Paypal website and donating to sncd.treasurer@gmail.com.

Anyway, happy bidding.  As they say in all good elections (sort of), bid early and bid often!

Best regards

Namgyal