Hope in the Making

Another one of my 'happy places' is Greenbelt. This annual Faith and Arts Festival takes place at Boughton House in Northamptonshire over the August Bank Holiday. It's been going since the 1970s and has developed and changed over the course of the years. I had heard of it as I was growing up and in some respects still feel like a relative 'newcomer' to it, although I've now been attending for 14 or 15 years. More HERE.

In 2014, after 15 years at Cheltenham Racecourse, the festival was moved to its current home. The setting is beautiful and home to around 11 or 12,000 people from Thursday to Monday. For a number of years I helped with the WATCH (Women and the Church) stand at the festival but for the last few years I've been on the Greenbelt Taxi Team helping ferry festival-goers around the campsite on golf buggies or taking luggage to cars on arrival and departure days on flatbed trucks. It's a great team and I love the conversations I have as I ferry people around.

Greenbelt is special for me because it's about community. It's also a place where differing views can and are heard. Greenbelt tries to be as accessible as it can - it has a dedicated Access Team for those who need help and they help somewhere in the region of 1000/1200 people enjoy the festival. The festival is also a place of radical inclusivity, a space where the LGBTQI+ community feel welcome and not out of place (I hope).

Outside of my working hours (I do about 8 three hour shifts across the weekend in return for a free ticket), I don't cram my diary with talks or music, trying to see a few things but it's also impossible not to bump into friends or get involved in a conversation over a pint in the Jesus Arms.

A few years ago well-known musician and music producer, Brian Eno (Link HERE) came to the festival to talk about what he does. Interestingly, he's an atheist but runs, each week, a Gospel Choir. He talked of community and belonging but in a non-faith context. Since his first appearance, he's been every year since, this year being no different. He was interviewed and part of a discussion with Liz Slade - to talk as 'religious outsiders' to ask if art and religion have a shared purpose. At the end of the session, they led us in a wonderful rendition of 'We shall be known by the company we keep' (I'm hoping we might be able to sing it at church sometime).

I also heard an interview with Patrick Grant of Great British Sewing Bee fame. He talked of how he purchased a 200 year old tailors on Savil Row, attracted to them not just by their history but also their knowledge and pride of the source of their fabrics and materials used. Patrick talked of the consumer and disposible nature of clothing today - the other company he runs that worked hard on releasing a handful of new clothing lines when the fast fashion producers are releasing over 250,000 new lines every year with the help of AI and with little human intervention with absolutely no knowledge (or care) of the provenance of the materials in their clothing.

There's also the music. There's a wide variety to suit many tastes. Rebel Rouser, one of the three or so music venues tends to have louder, punkier music and is tucked away. The main music venues are the Glade Stage and Canopy which sit either side of the Jesus Arms, the main onsite pub. I was thrilled this year that my shifts worked so that I could see both Beth Rowley and Kate Rusby.

Festival goers were treated to wonderful weather across the weekend and it was a shame to leave for home. However, like all good things, they must come to an end. I've returned with more books that I'll work my way through. A couple of which I hope will be great resources for me too.

Finally, one thing that all festivalgoers are very proud of is the condition of the site after the campers have left. One of the Greenbelt photographers took the following photo just an hour or so after the last camper had left. Spotless (the remaining tents are the pre-erected tents). Compare this to the mess left behind at Glastonbury - link HERE.