Features

We recently released our new album, 'The Journey On..', which includes the track Hushabye. (By the way, this has been chosen by one of the major radio stations in the USA, ABC Radio, as one of their 'Christmas Songs'.)

But, having been involved over the last 20 years with special needs education and theatre in the city, we also felt compelled - by the latest news about education in Stoke on Trent - to dedicate this song to the 'Save Abbey Hill Special School' project, and in particular to one of its pupils - Aidoan.
This dedication is going around the world in a special music video we have released, available on YouTube.

Soul Path - the music

It's perhaps natural that we might feel this way about children like Aidoan.
Our music is very much from the heart and soul, and indeed has been described as being from the universe itself.

Roughly described as a fusion of folk and ambient, Mike and I have been writing together for 20 years, with the aim of creating music that has impact and that is informed by the need to heal, empower and enable. You may well describe our current work as an amalgamation of Enya, Clannad, Jethro Tull and Genesis with a rich vein of haunting, Celtic, film-score inspired themes running through.

As for our beliefs - both Mike and I like to think we see (or at least have a sense of) the bigger picture. We don't like to squeeze a description of our spirituality into one box or label, recognising that each and every spirituality and religion is apt and indeed right for the individual who holds it true to their heart.
We have been working extensively with authors and film makers under the Real2Can label for a number of years now and share with them a sense of adventure and questing, if you like, to find the point where religion and science, spirit and quantum meet.

Essentially this means we believe in the sanctity and sacredness of the individual and self as an expression of the universal consciousness that is referred to as 'God'. We see our music as an expression of that with us as a conduit for music as an energetic, multidimensional component of the universe itself, in a Pythagorean sense.

Links

For more info on Soul Path, and a view of the Hushabye video, see:  www.soulpath.info
For more info on their record label, see: www.real2can.com

For more info on the Education Debate in Stoke on Trent, see link in the top right-hand corner of this page
For more info on the campaign to save Abbey Hill, and to view a video about Aidoan, see: www.saveabbeyhill.co.uk/

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An Open Letter

Below is a copy of the Letter which Steve has written in support of Abbey Hill.

"I was born in Oxfordshire with a brother with spina bifida - my first connection, if you like, to people with 'special needs'.

But after I moved to North Staffordshire in 1984 (to do a degree in music at Keele University), I felt I wanted to move into a field where I could be of use.
Since graduating, I have been based in Stoke on Trent working in social services, education services, health services, prison services and the wider community - specialising in working with music, drama and dance with people with 'special needs' and other 'minority' groups.
Among other achievements, I am glad to have been the first person (I think) to get a group of 'special needs' adults into the one act plays festival and there to win awards. We also made films, and had them shown on TV.
I have worked in most of the special schools in the area including Abbey Hill and have a life time's worth of experience, from the inside, of enabling and empowering 'these people' both through education and life-skills programs.

And, as much as I am in support of integration and interdependency, I am also highly aware of how 'the system' works and what resources such people and children need to enable that policy.
Unfortunately the children (and indeed adults) I have come into contact with, and particularly at Abbey Hills and other 'institutions' have very special and indeed severe needs which tend to be met far better in a specialist environment with trained and experienced staff.
Planning to close ALL the special schools in Stoke and 'integrate' them into mainstream with limited facilities will have far reaching detrimental effects on their development and future and will probably destroy all the good work that HAS been done in specialist facilities and schools.

Without getting too political, from the information I have to hand it seems that this move is more about cost cutting and money saving than it is about the welfare of the children involved, particularly as there has been NO consultation, (up until now that is) with the specialist staff who have the experience of how to work with these young people.
The obvious knock on effect of this scheme is that it will probably become 'policy' leading to closure of special schools nationwide, again with no 'real' provision. I am sorry I can't quote figures but I am aware that the amount of 'specialist' places being offered to youngsters in mainstream schools is FAR exceeded by the amount of students who will need those places.
Integration itself is such a complex and indeed challenging process for the people concerned and needs to be taken very carefully with each individual!

I have known Aidoan's parents and Aidoan himself personally for the last 2 to 3 years and have many colleagues who work at the school, hence my awareness of the situation, and want to be involved in raising other people's awareness.
This has got to happen not only locally but regionally and indeed nationally to have maximum impact, and perhaps persuade those bureaucrats involved that they are dealing with people not numbers (again another problem with the education system is that students are seen as a 'fiscal' unit, ie by how much money/funding they can attract into the education system, or otherwise).

Steve Mitchell   "