In recent years, festivals seem to have undergone something of a change. Where festival communities in the past were exactly that, as audiences have grown, and society has changed, so a certain ‘disposable’ mentality seems to have crept in. Footage of the immense clean-up operation that followed last year’s Glastonbury (which saw everything from bottles of alcohol and food to complete tents and bedding removed from the site) was a sobering look in the mirror for many festival-goers with the more socially and environmentally-conscious re-evaluating their needs and wants when heading to a festival.
One festival, however, has bucked the trend. Bearded Theory has always prided itself on its green credentials and, over the years, it has introduced numerous elements to maintain the community aspect of the musical festival experience. An Ofsted-accredited school allows children to attend the festival without skipping class, recycling is common place and the audience noted for the respect with which they treat the beautiful, Catton Hall grounds.
This year, the festival has gone one better. Following suggestions on the ever-active community board, the festival directors have implemented a food bank scheme where every festival-goer is invited to bring an item of food that can be donated to the Padley Group. It’s a simple idea (albeit one with numerous logistical issues) which, at minimal cost and effort to the attendees, can make a considerable difference to the local community. We sought out Sally Booth, who has led on the project, to find out more about the scheme, its challenges, and how it can help the local community.
This is something completely new to me – normally when I do interviews, it’s musicians and I’m asking about chord progressions, album art and stuff…
I’ve no idea – I can talk about chord trousers… [laughs]
Well, Ok that’s a starting point!
I do have some questions, however. The first thing is that I think that there has been, particularly in the last couple of years, a perception that festivals in general are incredibly wasteful – there have been news stories about tents and equipment being left behind…
Everything’s disposable…
Exactly – so the first thing is that you’ve got this new idea about the Foodbank and, obviously Bearded Theory is known for being much greener than most of the other festivals out there, so when did you first come up with the idea for this and how did it come to fruition.
Well, basically I’m one of the original organisers of the festival, and it was mentioned on a chat page on Facebook because a lot of gigs have been working with food banks – especially Ferocious Dog, they started it – so, it’s something that’s been building, and someone mentioned it, months and months ago… it may even have been last year (but we’ve all got full time jobs, so we can’t do everything we want to do), but definitely a couple of months ago someone mentioned it on there, so I spoke to the directors and they said “let’s do it!” and when they say “let’s do it” they mean me! [laughs]
So, I don’t live anywhere near the festival, I’m based near Peterborough, so I had to find a local good cause, that would benefit from our efforts – there’s no point collecting it if no one wants it – so, I linked up with the Padley Group. They’re an amazing centre. They do training, they help the homeless, they’ve got a food bank, they’ve got a community kitchen and a community fridge so, particularly because, in my real job that’s the kind of thing that I do – I’m a support worker and I give out food bank vouchers – so, it’s great to be able to, in my other life, give something back as well.
So, yeah, it’s with the Padley Group. We’ve had a lot of logistical issues to sort out with them, but with the support of our crew, basically, we’re going to be able to transport all the stuff over to them, because obviously they were a bit worried that they’ve only got three Fiestas between them – so how could we get 5000 items of food over to them. But we’ve got access to trucks, or pick ups or whatever, so we’re going to look after it and make sure that they benefit from it really. So, yeah, it’s all sorts of… society needs it and I think that the demographic of our festival is such that they understand that they’re no more than two pay packets away from needing this sort of support. Maybe not personally, but they’ve been touched somehow by these sorts of issues – maybe they’ve donated in the past or they’ve walked past people who need help. Our audience is not immune to the possibility of it being them in need of this sort of help.
I think it’s interesting that you mention that because I think Bearded Theory, perhaps more than most other festivals, is centred around this idea of community spirit and I’ve always thought that music is a perfect unifying force, so combining these things seems ideal…
Absolutely – music is a great leveller. We appreciate that our audience are drawn from a wide range of backgrounds. We’re not a niche, boutique festival that is exclusive and when I see the listings we’re not getting people who are only from, say, a very hippy background. So, I think that this is teaching the children the social responsibility because potentially they come from background where they haven’t been touched by these issues. The adults know it, but it’s also about showing the next generation how to be empathetic, how to see that other people are no less than you just because they’ve got less. That’s the other aim – to inspire the next generation.
I think that’s very important, because one of the themes that seems to find its way into a lot of the music I listen to is that there seems to be a fragmentation of society and where we thought, maybe twenty years ago, that the boundaries were going to come tumbling down, the walls seem higher than ever in many respects – so it’s necessary to teach people to move away from this ‘want it now culture’…
It is changing that mindset – you’re exactly right. And I’ve done it, I’ve been to Glastonbury and driven out of there with a camper van full of drink or pot noodles that we were planning to eat, but really couldn’t be bothered to go back to the camper van for, so we took it home and then found it the next year we went camping and threw it out because it was out of date.
So, what we’re saying is: give it to us and well give it to someone who needs it – someone who needs that hot food or drink (not alcohol, obviously) or whatever. It’s about questioning what we do that adds to that food waste mountain. As I say, I work as a support worker and one of the projects we work on is that we get all the food waste in Peterborough and there’s a charity that’s been set up that delivers it to community fridges, food banks, churches. So, nothing’s wasted and that’s where I’ve just been. I’ve just been to get a load of food that would have been thrown away because it’s bank holiday weekend, and I’ve got some bags full of fruit and vegetables that, if we don’t eat, our Guinea pigs will. So, it’s not just about poverty, it’s about the wider issue of food waste as well.
You mentioned that it’s a festival with a wide demographic and I think that, perhaps one of the most frightening things in society, is that the squeeze is on to such an extent that you’ve got a large number of people, even in professional jobs, who still need the services of food banks.
Yes, definitely. It’s not about being unemployed, it’s not about being a single mum – it’s about professional couples even, who are struggling to make ends meet. Especially if they’re in rented accommodation. They’ve got no say if their rent goes up, social housing is a little bit cheaper, but still, it’s like with Universal Credit coming in, it’s at least a six week wait and what are you going to do? People need to eat. The situation that we’re all in is just not good. As you say, it can affect anybody.
The other big change is that we live in a society where you get instant feedback on any idea you put out there so, how have you found the response has been to the announcement?
It was really good and really, really positive. As I say, because it came from feedback from the customers, it’s been received even better because we’ve listened, we’ve responded, and it isn’t about us. It’s not necessarily about them either, because most of the things that we do to improve the festival is about making their experience better, but this time they’ve got to lug some stuff to us – we’re actually asking something of them, perhaps for the first time, and they’ve responded amazingly. We put a target of 5000 items – I personally think we’re going to smash that. I did want to say 1000 bags first, but we didn’t know what we could do as it’s our first time, but I think we can do it… 10,000 people come to the festival. There’s 10,000 people on site, then there’s the crew, the caterers and the stall holders… if everyone bought one tin or one packet, that would be amazing.
I’ve also suggested that all people who are attending the professional school, that their entrance fee could be a donation as well, but obviously that’s never compulsory – everything’s free for children – but hopefully through that we might be able to raise some more for them.
It’s such a cool idea and I’d imagine that a lot of the artists connected to the festival, as they tend to be more socially aware artists at Bearded Theory, I’d imagine they also would want to get involved (or perhaps they already have)?
They haven’t as yet that I know of, but at the end of the day there is potentially a lot of wastage back stage in their dressing rooms. Some come in, they play, they go. Others are there for a few hours or whatever and they’ve got riders and things and we’re always very… mean, shall we say. We give them the minimum, we don’t pander to any divas, it’s not what we’re about, so potentially there is food there that we can donate ourselves because it’s already been paid for, it’s already been allocated, so why not. As long as it’s not alcohol, obviously, which is normally what they leave, bizarrely.
So, throughout the site and throughout the different elements of putting on the festival, all the band have had the press release and they know we’re doing it. If they were to bring something, that would be amazing, but the headliners are actually flying straight in to us, so I don’t think unless it’s BA’s packet of peanuts or something, they may not have the opportunity to get anything! But, I’m sure that the type of bands that we book would have that mindset already. It’s not like we’ve got young kid bands (well, we’ve got Blossoms) but, it’s different. They understand, I think as well.
I’ve just got one last question which is that the other aspect of wastage at festivals that’s been reported is the tents and equipment that get left behind – do you have plans for all that stuff?
Absolutely. So, we’ve got a plan for that as well. The idea is that, as people are packing up their pitch which is either the Sunday night or on the Monday, if there’s anything that’s usable (and we’re not talking about broken chairs and broken gazebos!) if they want to donate it to us, then we’ll have a donation station there and that will be going to the local, homeless charity and also one that’s local to me as well. I’ve got an organisation coming up from Peterborough to collect the left-over gear, because they’ve got storage as well. And, it’s about looking after everybody, not just in Derbyshire. It’s where there’s a need and there-s a big need for tents and sleeping bags. I do think that the crowd that we get – they’re not the ones to leave the campsite like you see at V or even Glastonbury, which is just horrendous when you see the wastage there. They are likely to bundle it all up and pass it along rather than leave it there in a state for someone to clear up for them. Our camper van field last year was spotless, not even one bit of litter. We looked around and it was like “what are you doing?” Someone did leave a sofa once, though, which was quite bizarre and we had a car abandoned last year so, you never know!
Bearded Theory takes place at Catton Hall from May 24th-27th. It has a remarkable line up and is well known for being one of the friendliest festivals you can attend.
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