Sunrise Festival

Sunrise Festival 31st-3rd June 2007. This must reckon as the best kids event I have run. Despite friends from Peckham Wildlife centre pulling out at the very last moment, my flexibility of permaculture training allowed for a very enjoyable weekend. Crispin and myself set the yurt up during the middle of the night. Amongst the marquees and tents this grubby looking thing stood out. My plan was to paint it. It didn’t matter how good the artistic quality was, but just to get some colour on it would suffice. In fact, leaving the paints out allowed small groups to come by once in a while and help themselves as it suited them. Considering that it had been raining all week it seems I brought the weather with me again as glorious sunshine accompanied us during the weekend. So the artwork remains, and will accumulate with every succeeding festival.

Only two men this time, but we had a variety of activities for the kids to get on with. I gave trailer rides around the grounds, going into the odd illegal spot; the kids loved it. It also maintained my peak fitness and allowed me to get out into the festival setting. We picked some elder flower there and then and as always Brighton Permaculture Trust with their kitchen allowed me full access to my needs. On the menu were elder flower fritters, rye biscuits baked in the outdoor cob oven opposite, and pancakes with chocolate. I had also brought my homebrew elderberry wine (average quality) and tinkled the odd guitar tune once in a while. The main activities were the pole lathe and shaving horse. Young boys were attracted to the idea and by the end of the weekend we had made a set of stumps and bails, a cricket bat and a wooden ball. We finished off the event with a game of permaculture cricket.

Hard work but this festival is small and unique, as such suited to my developing career.