BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Pagan Happy Litha!!

Wow that was one big turnout. Why is the government no longer funding the area?

For video feed go into youtube and type in Stonehenge summer solstice 2011 - there are many videos uploaded. Thankfully, the videos I reviewed the people seemed reasonable and respectful. *whew*

I assume the practical fighting is but one aspect of what you learn. I find it one of the most practical tools in the art of self defense. It's always perplexed me how it's typically the shortest of the training courses. I put quite a premium on that part of the learning. You are basically learning to defend yourself with nearly any object.

Hi Deb

The UK government is no longer funding National Trust sites as the NT is a charity that fundraises by itself in addition to having some taxpayer money from the government coffers. With all the spending cuts on the surface this makes sense in the short term but the NT may feel it if the grant is permanently suspended.

On the Ninjutsu front all the combat training is self-defence oriented and there are no 'sporting' Ninja contests that I know of. Mark Lutman, the instructor for Portsmouth and Basingstoke often jokes that he began to train in the art to improve his Karate competition skills and lost the last competition he was ever in - even though the 'winner' was lying unconscious on the floor at the time!

I'm not into competitive martial arts, so all the ones I trained in before Ninjutsu were also non-competitive. I trained in Aikido and was able to use it for self defence as I explained here . Sadly the esoteric side of the art in the UK is not practised as thoroughly as the combat side, but I have managed to explore all angles through travelling to the places it still is, such as Japan, and by following the Pagan Path.