Only seven weeks to go until we
welcome everyone to the Springfield Sanctuary Celebration from 1pm on Friday 29
August until 4pm on Sunday 31 August.
The festival is open to everyone
who would like to come and share the weekend with us. Although the majority of
talks are around using herbs, we are delighted to welcome the former Birmingham
poet laureate and broadcaster, Charlie Jordan, who will lead a creative writing
workshop on Friday afternoon from 1pm-5pm.
The theme is "Inspiration
from Nature" so herby people can be inspired by a herbal ally and others
can commune with the 400 year old oak trees, the babbling spring, the
incredible view or talk to next door's Jacob sheep or the busy bees. Bring a
packed lunch with you and there will be homemade drinks and cake available
throughout the afternoon.
On Friday night there will be a
shared evening meal (Please bring something to share in a suitable cooking pot
and bring along a portable burner although we will have some to heat things up
on.) followed by an open mic where authors can share what has inspired them
during the workshop and/or bring along something they wrote earlier or a song
or a tune to play on a musical instrument.
There's usually an acoustic jam
at the end of each night's open mic. Please bring an instrument or something to
beat time on.
Sky Symphony Kite Team, will be
performing twice on Saturday and Sunday. When they're not performing, they are more
than happy to teach people how to fly single line or stunt kites and if they
ask nicely, Roy may even let them play with his four-line Revolution
Adele Rodriquez from Stow-on-the-Wold
is now keeping bees at the Sanctuary and is going to talk about bees and has
offered to show the beehives. There will also be herb walks to identify plants
growing in the two fields and the herb beds around the Sanctuary. We've just
had a wildflower meadow survey undertaken by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust so
I'm hoping there will be feedback from that at the festival.
Over Saturday and Sunday there
will be talks about various aspects of herbs including female contraception
through the ages, male fertility, bitters, herbs for children and pelvic
massage. There will be opportunities to pick herbs and make your own medicines
during practical workshop sessions.
We run a single session programme
with plenty of down time so people have a chance to make friends, try out some
herbal crafts, browse the craft stalls or generally chill out.
On Saturday night we have another
shared meal to which we ask people to contribute. We provide tea and cake
throughout the festival so everyone who attends is asked to bring cake with
them. After the meal there will be another open mic, so bring your party
piece/instrument/voice etc.
Camping is available in the field
next to the main marquee so feel free to bring your tent, campervan or caravan.
We offer a pickup from Kingham station for anyone coming by train. (You need to
let us know your arrival time.)
The festival is funded by
donations to cover the costs of hiring marquees, toilets etc. We suggest a
donation of £50 per adult if you are staying for the whole weekend and £25 if
you visit for one day. Children under sixteen are free.
We look forward to seeing you at
the Sanctuary soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment