For Greenbelt Angels

and Volunteers

April 2009 greenbelt.org.uk

Wing & A Prayer

2

Our theme this year has been

evoking all sorts of ideas from

investing in the life of an olive

tree on the hills of Beit Sahour, to

small lives casting long shadows,

to a journey ‘of the path, not the

punctuated end-point’, to lives lived

in the care system. To read some more thoughts on the theme see greenbelt.org.uk/theme

Front cover: Greenbelt 2008 © Jonathon Watkins

© Elaine Duigenan

In this issue.

4 News from GBHQ

Angels

5 HaloAngel news and info

6 An Angels shareAn everyday story of Angels

7 Giving response form

Partners and Associates

8 Christian AidNadia’s story

9 Department for International Development Food for thought

10 Church Urban Fund … is … 21

11 Church TimesAct Now to Save Greenbelt!

12 Intelligent investments365

Volunteers

13 Greenbelt:handmadeVolunteer news

14 Volunteer profileMartin Thompson

15 Team Leader DayTamsin Vella

16 Last wordsPaul Bennett

Letter from the Festival Director

We’re all in this together – The Long NowWhilst the economy is in freefall and people are understandably tightening their belts, there also seems to be a coming together, a strangely emergent generosity. Spotted in the recent protests around Gaza and the G20 summit these harsh economic times appear to be fostering a spirit of sharing, a sense of community. The once-sweet relationship we had with our credit cards has now turned bitter, as Simon Goodman* comments ‘Plastic keeps us up at night, it ruins personal relationships and gnaws at our sanity’. Apparently ‘perkonomics’ - the use of perks to satisfy a desire for original forms of status and expediency is the brand approach to our new found sense of thrift and compassion. Yet for some it has turned in to a sense of panic, where you can buy one get one free on a brand new car even whilst the world is rapidly burning up and melting away. Goodman goes on to say that ‘The trouble for brands is how to keep customers loyal when the offer of freebies override any sense of prior commitment’.

I’m not sure Greenbelt is a brand nor a community – perhaps a movement – however I am confident in the loyalty of those who are Greenbelt (that’s you, me, them and us). Greenbelt is incredibly altruistic in its make-up with 15% of our income gifted and much of the festival delivery handmade by individuals across the country. At a Festival where only fifty percent of our income comes from ticket sales (and that’s when the sun shines) we rely on this coming together around a shared mission.

The world we find ourselves in is perhaps causing us to peer out from behind the candy-coated comfort of retail therapy and more towards each other. We are looking for hope together, dusting off resources that were hidden behind skewed perspectives and rediscovering purpose in life.

I find the Easter story hopeful if also quite difficult. Perhaps it hints at a quality of life that harnesses unselfish concern transcending death to rise as a fresh symbol of praxis in future generations. My hope is that Greenbelt will continue to foster hospitality and community. To inspire us through the arts and faith to a generous life, one beyond our own context, to open minds and encourage risk. At a time when brand and USP become even more vital amidst the saturation of the festival market, Greenbelt deals in its own currency where loyalty is organic and genuine. This for me is The Long Now, a symbolic commitment to a future together.

Thanks for your continued support and generosity, more than ever.

Beki Bateson Festival Director

* Free Brand Love by Simon Goodman in House/Spring 09

3

Beki at Greenbelt 08 © Martin Wroe

4

News from GBHQ

In January, Dave King stepped down as our Programme Coordinator, and has been replaced by Matt Stone. Dave was with Greenbelt for two years, and has now moved on to work for West London YMCA. Dave says “I’ve been privileged to place my fingerprint on the Festival and I leave carrying lots of fantastic memories and with many new friends. Greenbelt is such a part of who I am that I’m already planning to bring a group from the YMCA!”

Interview with Matt Stone new Programme Coordinator

What did you do before joining Greenbelt?

I worked as Box Office Manager of the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn, London. I ran the Box Office and was in charge of press nights.

I also did some freelance work as a gig promoter and band manager. It started when I spoke to a guy in The Good Ship in Kilburn and asked if I could put on a gig night. It went really well and I ended up doing it a couple of times a month for about a year, but I have no time any more!

Who were the best unsigned bands you put on?

The two I think have got the best chance of getting a record deal are probably We Rock Like Girls Don’t and 31 Commercial St.

What did you know about Greenbelt before getting the job?

I’ve been coming to Greenbelt most of my life, as my parents are big fans. Then for the last few years I’ve volunteered – I’ve been a steward and helped with the Visual Arts team. I always enjoyed the Festival, and liked the diversity.

What other Festivals do you

go to?

Glastonbury, Green Man and the Camden Crawl. I’ve always thought of going to the Notting Hill Carnival, but it’s the same weekend as Greenbelt!

What are you most looking

forward to in Greenbelt 09?

Seeing it from a brand-new perspective; I’ve been a festivalgoer and a volunteer, but this will be a unique Greenbelt experience for me.

So, you’re responsible for the

new youth programme at this

year’s Festival – what’s it all

about?

Well, we’re making sure that we really value the youth and make more of the programme more suitable. We don’t want to keep them hidden away in one venue, so we’re developing The Shed, a village that will be designated to the youth to make it exactly what they want. There’s The Showreel, a late-night cinema and The Shack, a late-night café for youth to hang out in.

We consulted some young people and those who ran last year’s youth programme and this year, the youth events will be inbuilt within the whole Festival rather than being separate. We’re looking for continuity, and we don’t want so much separation between the main programme and the youth programme.

There’ll obviously still be loads of events especially for young people, but hopefully there’ll also be stuff in the wider festival programme that the young people will want to go

to. We want to help the youth experience the whole Festival. That’s a big part of our job; making young people central to the whole festival and help them on their festival adventure.

Nathan Jones has joined the team as Communications & PR Manager, taking on what was Paul Northup’s role. The job is now full-time and based in the London office. Nath who has moved from Swansea has experience in marketing and communications for arts organisations and has also been a Greenbelt venue manager.

Greenbelt staff news

Matt Stone

Nathan Jones

5

ChangesIf you do make any changes to your giving via CAF please let us know as they charge us for accounts that are left open even when there is no activity.

Don’t forget…To login to the exclusive Angels section on our website - greenbelt.org.uk/angels

Username: angelsPassword: high13igh

Angel LoungeVolunteer a few hours in the Angel Lounge during the Festival encouraging others to sign up to support Greenbelt financially and assist Angels with queries. Please email angels@greenbelt.org.uk

halo. Angel news and information. greenbelt.org.uk/angels

© Alison Whitlock

To become a Greenbelt Angel or to increase your giving please use the response form on p.7.

6

Nick Thorpe is a freelance

journalist and author of two

travel books – Eight Men and

a Duck & Adrift in Caledonia -

and a work in progress called

The Lost Art of Letting Go (due

in 2010). He is also features

editor of Third Way magazine

and lives in Edinburgh with his

wife and young son.

How did you hear about

Greenbelt, and what made you

decide to come for the first time?

Peer pressure mainly. I first ventured to Greenbelt with my church youth club back in 1982.

What did you think about your

first Festival?

Memories of that first initiation include a Christian metal band called Leviticus and the availability of studded belts on the leather stall, which at the age of 12 seemed to me the height of rebellion. The facilities were a little less inspiring back then, with baroque tales of people falling through (open-air) plywood toilets into vast cesspits - and of course there were no mobile phones back then, just a central noticeboard covered in desperate shreds of paper saying things like “Where are you?” I seem to remember taking about two days to track down a girl I particularly fancied, and we eventually tripped into someone’s tent while attempting our first snog under the stars.

What do you love about

Greenbelt?

Over the years I’ve felt more and more at home in this nurturing, wandering tribe, and it’s shaped my faith hugely. I went on a

Greenbelt trip to El Salvador and Guatemala in about 1992, which marked the politicisation of my spirituality, and a fusion of faith with social justice. I love the way Greenbelt has grown and changed with me, pushing boundaries while keeping the faith. I love its refusal to get insular, and the way it opens the debate to those outside the traditional faith community, enriching everyone in the process. And I’ve enjoyed being both punter and contributor in recent years. Greenbelters are a great crowd to bounce ideas off.

What made you decide to become an Angel?

I decided to become an Angel to try and give something back to the field of dreams I’ve called home for 25 years. That and the fact that Angels (used to?) get shower tickets more easily...

Funny you should mention that, Nick, because this year for the first time we are selling shower tickets online pre-festival (as well as some at the Festival on the day). See the website for more details from May 1st.

The Angels Share

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Greenbelt Angels.To become a Greenbelt Angel or to increase your Angel giving, complete this form and return it toGreenbelt Festivals 83 London Wall, London EC2M 5ND

8 partner8

Eighteen-year-old Nadia Kabula’s story is not an extraordinary one. For many people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), life is a struggle. Following ten years of conflict, malnourishment and preventable diseases still claim thousands of lives each week. Christian Aid partner organisations are helping to rebuild lives and livelihoods in some of the DRC’s most vulnerable communities.

After the greatest challenge of Nadia’s life, Christian Aid partner Humanité Nouvelle was there to help her focus on the future and the hope of a better life. Nadia’s father died suddenly two-and-a-half years ago. Her grieving mother, Brigitte, struggled to provide for her six children. Even though Brigitte works gruelling 48-hour shifts, some weeks her transport costs total almost as much as her weekly salary.

Nadia was profoundly affected by the death of her father, whom she adored. And his death had immediate practical implications. There was no money to pay for her schooling, so she had to drop out and care for her younger siblings while their mother worked.

Families like Nadia’s often hear about Humanité Nouvelle’s tailoring course through their local church. The course helps poor girls to develop skills to support themselves and their families. Nadia explains why girls in similar situations turn to sex work: ‘They need to pursue their education and, with a lack of means, get desperate.’

It would have been easy for Nadia to despair. But instead Humanité Nouvelle ‘have given me education for life’, she says.

She completed the course and now helps to teach the new intake of girls.

Nadia still takes care of her siblings, as well as being a mentor at Humanité Nouvelle. Her mother describes her as ‘a blessing... [without her] things would be very hard’. And it’s not just her family who speak so positively of her – her pastor also talks about the inspiring influence of her gospel singing.

Nadia is confident that she can earn a good living from sewing and she is clear about her priorities: ‘If God helps me… I will do all I can to take care of my siblings and my mother.’

Collectors during the house-to-house collection this Christian Aid Week might feel inspired by Nadia. Even in difficult circumstances she is planting seeds of hope around her. And Nadia’s mother has a message for us: ‘You volunteers should not be discouraged when you’re turned away from houses. You should carry on because without that money it would be very difficult for… children from destitute backgrounds to get training, get a job and secure their future.’

Your time and money are more valuable than you know. You could give a chance of a brighter future to another young person like Nadia, and support them to bring hope to the people around them. The ripple effect of collecting at Christian Aid Week is immense – by taking part you are working alongside people like Nadia to help change the world. In the DRC:

of material, from which a three-piece woman’s outfit can be made

girl with enough material to complete a 12-month tailoring course

monthly salary of a tailoring instructor.

Order all the materials you need for a successful Christian Aid Week by visiting www.caweek.org or by calling 08080 005005.

Free resources include a comprehensive DVD-Rom, a church poster set, a collector recruitment poster and prayer and action cards.

Nadia’s Story

Nadia Kabula has completed a tailoring course with Christian Aid partner Humanité Nouvelle. She says it has given her ‘education for life’ © Christian Aid/Heidi Bradner

9partner

Food for thoughtIt is a hot summer morning in

Ganeria village primary school

in the northern Indian state of

Uttar Pradesh. Teacher Sunita

Misra is correcting worksheets

as her Class 3 students quietly

read their books.

As the clock strikes 11 am, bedlam breaks out. Even seven-year-old Kaushal, who is hearing-impaired, needs no special signal. He joins in with the rest of his class in rushing to form a queue outside the school kitchen where the mid-day meals are being dished out.

“Before hot, cooked, mid-day meals were served, children would go home to eat and not return,” says Sunita.

“Now they know that meals will be served in school. This has given them an incentive to come to school and stay on till the end.”

Free school dinners came to Utter Pradesh in 2004 as part of a major government education initiative supported by DFID. Within three months all primary schools in the state were providing pupils with something to eat. For many children in this poverty-stricken region, this will be the only meal they get all day.

Good for girls

All schools now have utensils, fuel and a cook hired especially to prepare the meals. This has helped to bring children, particularly girls, to school and greatly improved attendance.

Anant Singh of Primary School Ajgan, District Unnao, has noticed the difference the meals have made in drawing in girls. Attendance has jumped, he says, from 106 in 2005 at the start of the scheme to 142 by 2006.

“Since there is no additional

expenditure on food and their

daughters are assured of at least

one meal per day, parents are

willing to send them to school.

“Once they are here, our

teachers are able to focus their

attention on studies.”

The taste test

Menus change daily, ensuring

that children get a balanced diet,

receiving nutritious vegetables,

soya and pulses. But efforts are

made to make sure it’s tasty

too. “The real challenge is to

combine nutrition with taste,”

says Kamlesh Tiwari, a local

leader in Unnao town, who is

in charge of implementing the

scheme in his neighbourhood.

“This is why we have two

mothers taste the meal before it

is served every day. If they are

satisfied, we know their children

will be too.”

Parvati Chaurasia doesn’t mind

coming to sample the food every

day, even if it means leaving

her chores undone. She knows

that her daughters, Sonal, six,

and Komal, 10, look forward to

their daily meal. “Their health

has improved and so has their

motivation. At least now they

will not remain illiterate like me,”

she says.

While the mid-day meal remains

a big incentive to attend school,

it is not the only reason that

numbers have gone up. Other

improvements carried out by the

programme – such as supplying

free text books and installing

toilets – help make sure that

once children get through the

school doors, they have a reason

to stay there.

This article appeared in DFID’s

free Developments magazine.

Visit www.developments.org.uk

© Sean Sprague / Panos Pictures

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Church Urban Fund … is … 21We’ve come of age - this doesn’t

mean that we’re past it! Instead,

21 years on, we know what

works and we’re well placed

with our years of experience

to meet the needs of England’s

poorest communities – needs

which are growing as we head

into a recession. Poverty in

England may seem unlikely, but

it’s all too real in some areas

and it shows itself in many

different ways; from loneliness

and isolation to addiction, family

breakdown and abuse, as well

as simply not having enough

money to pay the bills.

This year we will be launching a major programme in response to the recession, to bring seeds of hope to the communities most affected by mounting difficulties and to enable us to support a greater number of projects across the country. Look out for further announcements around the 7th of June, which we call Church Urban Fund Sunday.

The Church Urban Fund puts faith into action, raising money and changing lives. We help to alleviate the effects of poverty by funding local community faith-based projects that work at a grassroots level to change situations and offer hope.

Over our 21 years, we have given more than 5000 grants (totalling almost £65 million) to projects across the country. This has enabled real change to take place in people’s lives - people like Anna, who was helped into accommodation and work by the Upper Room project’s ‘UR4Jobs’ programme in London.

Anna

Anna arrived from Eastern Poland in 2004. She had been her grandchildren’s carer, but she decided to come to the UK with a view to supporting her family as employment and regeneration were scarce in her part of Poland. Anna had worked as a forklift driver in a furniture factory for 20 years but her job ended during the transition from Communism.

Initially, she found work as a live-in carer but she was left unpaid. Anna moved to London from the north of England and, homeless and jobless, began to access local homelessness services – in particular, The Upper Room and its programme UR4jobs. Anna lived in a squat for 2 years and lived on the income from her casual work as a cleaner.

During 2007 she was evicted, and found herself living in a car. Ur4Jobs was able to find her accommodation as a member of a housing co-op and she was

able to start volunteering in the kitchen. Anna now works as the UR4Jobs Kitchen supervisor; she is learning English and is registered with a cleaning agency.

Ur4jobs also helped her open a UK bank account, register for National Insurance and to enrol for free NVQ Level 2 Food Hygiene training to equip her with vital skills for work. Anna is now involved as a founder member of a new Upper Room activity, ‘Baby Gadaja’ - an Eastern European women’s support group, which meets on Saturday afternoons to exchange ideas and plan social activities.

In times of financial crisis and uncertainty, the people on the margins of society are affected the most. This year, more than ever, we need to ensure that those who face the greatest hardship are given the support that they need – go to our website www.cuf.org.uk to find out more about what we do to help them, and how you can get involved.

associate

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Act now to save Greenbelt!Paul Handley

Editor of Church Times

February, and Greenbelt feels as if it is on the other side of the world. March, and the world begins to turn towards it once again. April, and the sun appears over the horizon, and sweet showers pierce the March drought to the root. Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, and my Church Times colleagues ask whether we’ll need a bigger tent at Cheltenham this year.

This will be the sixth year that the Church Times has been associated with Greenbelt, and each year we seem to need a bigger team to manage all the things we do at the festival. In 2008 we promoted the Church Times (obviously), practically gave away subscriptions to Third Way magazine, celebrated the first birthday of Caris, our magazine for teenage girls, gave out copies of our popular Greenbelt Guide, and hosted an exhibition of cartoons by Dave Walker and other Church Times cartoonists, as well as staging a hopelessly oversubscribed debate between Giles Fraser and Paul Vallely. All this, as well as going to every event in the festival (OK, that’s a lie) for our comprehensive review.

I’m sorry to have to announce that, as a result of my calculations, in the year 2063 Greenbelt will be renamed the Church Times Festival, simply because all the tickets will be taken up by Church Times staff, volunteers, husbands,

children, and retired editors (I

shall still insist on going). The

old Greenbelt Trust will have

gone bust, thanks to all the

concessionary tickets it had to

give us, and all the traders will

have long since disappeared

- apart from our neighbours

the Tiny Tea Tent, who will be

found a small corner near the

perimeter of the racecourse car

park so that they can continue

to supply us with hot chocolate.

There won’t be any artists or

speakers, of course, because

everybody will be too busy

promoting the paper to, um, each

other. As I see it, there is only

one way to save the Greenbelt

Festival in its present form. The

plan is this (and I must say I

rather impress myself with its

ingenuity): if every Greenbelt

Angel and volunteer took out

a subscription to the Church

Times, or Third Way, or Caris

right now, then there would be no need to promote them at Greenbelt, and I could just come and have a nice time with my family. In addition, you would enjoy a weekly helping of well-researched news, opinion, humour, inspiration and arts reviews (Church Times); a monthly survey of the world of faith, politics, and culture (Third Way); or a quarterly magazine well loaded with cool, wicked stuff that makes you want to rock on (Caris).

Of course, if you don’t subscribe and the Church Times takes over Greenbelt, you could still experience the festival - but only by reading about it in the Church Times, so it’s a no-brainer.

Order a free sample today! Subs@churchtimes.co.uk Subs@thirdway.com Subs@carismag.co.uk

associate

© Andy Stonehouse

Given the ease and success of this operation we’re planning to make this a permanent fixture on the Greenbelt website, in fact we’re planning to extend the scope so if you’re thinking of doing any shopping on the following websites please visit greenbelt.org.uk, click the link in the right-hand sidebar (or visit greenbelt.org.uk/shop) and follow the relevant link:

Amazon PC World Apple Store iTunes Dell John Lewis LoveFilm Viking Direct trainline Bodyshop Expedia

Intelligent investmentsGreenbelt says thank you (and then says please)…

Over Christmas we encouraged festivalgoers to follow a link on the Greenbelt website if they were planning to do any Christmas shopping on Amazon (as an Amazon associate we get a chunk of anything that is spent when purchases are made following a click-through from greenbelt.org.uk).

We’re pleased to say a whole lot of you did and consequently the Festival made a few bob - about enough to hire a couple of speakers for Mainstage. Thank you to all those who made the effort and who remembered that as well as books Amazon sells video games, toys, music, DVDs, electrical equipment and home appliances.

© Andy Stonehouse

365Online hints of Greenbelt’s unique Festival content

greenbelt.org.uk/blogRegular reflections and thoughts from Angels, volunteers, staff and others; the Greenbelt blog is full of news, stories and offers including a free talk from our back catalogue every month.

podcastHopefully many of you have become regulars to our monthly podcast. The Easter edition is available from the website now. Focussing on faith and featuring John Bell, Rita Nakashima-Brock and Alistair McIntosh you can download it directly from greenbelt.org.uk or by subscribing through iTunes.

Keep in touch my.greenbelt.org.ukmy.greenbelt.org.uk is the new way of updating your details and letting us know how you’d like us to contact you.

12

Don’t get lostVolunteers, don’t forget that if any of your details change, please let us know – email linda@greenbelt.org.uk

Thank-you’sAs you’re all aware, Greenbelt would not exist without the dedicated hard work of our volunteers. The following people are stepping down from their roles, and we’re very grateful for the time and effort that they’ve put in:

Emma Gosden (Programming Group Chair), Janet Crompton (0-5’s - Children’s Festival), Laura Gibbs (Site Vibing), Graeme and Debs Goodman (The Mix), Ben Elvidge (Contributors’ Liaison) Rob Tippin (Medics), Dan Kane (Venue Management Support) Steve Cox (Medics), Phil Summers (Site Vibing), Roy Crompton (Insurance), Tim Fox, Ernie Edgecombe, Dave Bull (Beer Tent), Mary Corfield (Talks), Peter Graystone (Performing Arts) and Suzanne Elvidge (Artist Liaison).

Chris Bold who has been a Trustee since March 2002 has recently stepped down. Chris has spent the past year in Afghanistan working with DFID and is shortly to go to the States. From a plane above the Tora Bora mountains Chris wrote:

Serving on the board has been a huge privilege and one for which I am immensely grateful. Greenbelt has impacted my life far beyond my ‘spiritual life’ … in particular it has affected my work where I was inspired by people who I met though Greenbelt to take risks with my career on the hunch that I might be able to find ways of living out Greenbelt’s mission in other countries.

I hope that the festival will continue to take risks – to be the bearer of uncomfortable messages, to remind people of the work still to be done... I [also] hope that Greenbelt will continue to be my bank holiday weekend sanctuary.”

We wish Chris all the best in the next chapter of his life and are extremely grateful for all his input and support over the years.

If you have any questions/comments about anything on this page please contact linda@greenbelt.org.uk

greenbelt.org.uk/volunteers© Elaine Duigenan

Festival Director Beki Bateson

Head of Content Rachel Stringer

Head of Operations Karen Stafford

Commercial Manager Phil Smith

Communications & PR Manager Nathan Jones

Programme Co-ordinator Matt Stone

Box Office Manager Peter King

Financial Administrator Nive Hall

Administrator Linda Watson

Patron The Rt. Revd. and Rt. Hon. Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

Trustees Jenny Baker, Jason Barnett, Paul Bennett (Company Secretary), Gaynor Bradshaw, David Cullen, Simon Hall, Jude Levermore, Karen Napier (Chair), Dot Reid, Jonathan Smith (Treasurer), Andy Turner (Vice Chair), Paul Wilson, Pip Wilson, Martin Wroe

Greenbelt Festivals Ltd 83 London Wall London EC2M 5ND

info@greenbelt.org.uk www.greenbelt.org.uk 020 7374 2760

A company incorporated in England & Limited by Guarantee No. 1812893 Registered as a Charity No. 289372

Design Jon Fletcher

Print Calverts

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13

14

Tales of the unexpec

Martin Thomson runs the drivers’ team, which is part of artists’ liaison, a team of around 100 volunteers working to look after the Festival’s contributors.

What do you do at Greenbelt,

and what do you do for a

living?

I lead the transport and drivers team who pick up contributors from around the country. In real life I’m an engineer at Ford, currently working on the next generation of fuel-efficient engines that will be launched next year to help reduce CO2 emissions worldwide.

How long have you been

coming to Greenbelt, and what

were your first impressions?

I first came in 1990. I thought

it was huge! There was such a

large number of people at the

communion service; I was sitting

somewhere near the back and

there was such a massive number

in front of Mainstage. There were

TV cameras – Songs of Praise

were filming it – and I thought

‘I’ve never been in a service with

this many people!’ And also, I

remember thinking that it wasn’t

scary, because before I went I

thought it would be!

How did you get involved with

volunteering?

Several of the friends who

I camp with volunteer, so

I thought ‘it’s time to give

something back to the Festival’.

I started as a driver in 2005. It

was interesting to look at the other side of Greenbelt, at the things that most people don’t see.

What are the main challenges?

Making sure that we get someone to pick up the contributors on time; some contributors have been on long flights and it’s important that we’re there to greet them to start their Greenbelt experience well. The drivers are sometimes their first point of contact, and their description of Greenbelt could be the first face-to-face conversation that a contributor has had about the Festival.

There was one specific incident last summer, when one of my drivers had to pick up a band who were playing at the Reading and Leeds Festival. The driver got to Reading, and the band were nowhere to be found. He rang their manager, who said that they were actually playing at the Festival’s other site, in Leeds. It turned into a very long journey...

Why do you keep coming back?

Fellowship – my family and I meet up with a very wide group of friends that we sometimes only see at Greenbelt. We try to camp together, and there’s usually at least one member of every family who’s volunteering, so we all tend to get together at some point in the weekend.

What’s your favourite time at Greenbelt?

Walking through the campsite very early in the morning when everyone’s asleep and I’m going to work. Seeing the expanse of the tents and all those people

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ctedVolunteer profile

all there for a common purpose. It restores one’s faith quite significantly, especially at that time of the morning!

And finally, what’s been your best Greenbelt moment?

I have had some time to think about this question and it has proved very difficult to answer, I started to create a list in my head but found it impossible to come to just one answer. So I thought what do all of these many ‘best moments’ have in common and I found that nearly all of them were things I had not expected to happen or see or do.

Things like an hour or so of stop frame animation with my son, Alex, away from all the hustle and bustle of the Festival; walking by Mainstage in the afternoon and catching something exciting or different like the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain a couple of years ago; chatting one to one with a contributor while driving them back to the hotel or airport. I’m looking forward to many more ‘best moments’ I will experience at Greenbelt in the future.

It’s thanks to Martin that Ford generously provide eight vehicles to help us get our contributors from across the UK. Some of these are the fuel efficient ECOnetic vehicles that Martin has helped develop and that will help Greenbelt to minimise our carbon footprint. They also save us a load of money for which we are very grateful.

Is there a way in which you or your employers could support Greenbelt? If so, get in touch with phil@greenbelt.org.uk

There are over 140 Team Leaders who alongside a staff team of nine, lead and manage over 1500 volunteers across Greenbelt. Around 50 of them came to London and Manchester recently for a varied day of training, sharing and inspiration.

We caught up briefly with Tamsin Vella, one of our new Team Leaders and a student in Music Industry Management and Live Production, to find out a bit about her and ask for her thoughts on the day.

How did you get involved in leading a team?

I’d been going to Greenbelt for a few years when I decided that I wanted some work experience in the field that I was interested in, so Greenbelt seemed a good place to start. I volunteered as a Venue Manager for a few years, and in 2008 I was a Stage Manager. Then,

after last year’s Festival I

was asked to join the Venue

Managers’ Support team.

So how was the day?

I really enjoyed it. It was

really nice to meet people and

get a feeling of the Festival

as a whole. I usually go to

Greenbelt on my own, so it

was great to meet with other

people who you wouldn’t

normally get to connect with.

What was the best part of

the day?

Probably the fellowship -

meeting with each other and

building relationships.

What should we do

differently next year?

It’s difficult for me to say as

it was my first Team Leader

Day, but it definitely filled

the criteria that I needed for

this year! Ask me again next

year…

Team Leader Day

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© Alison Whitlock

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Last words.Paul Bennett.

Paul Bennett is Greenbelt’s Company Secretary and has been attending Trustees’ meetings for a decade.

When did you first experience

Greenbelt, and what were your

first impressions?

I first visited in 1988 - I was 15 or 16. We turned up in the dark and camped in the wrong place: we were a fire hazard and got moved on! We were just a bunch of teenagers who were very excited and totally didn’t know what to expect.

How did you get involved with

Greenbelt?

I went on a weekend away to Iona with some Greenbelt people, and as a result I was persuaded to volunteer for the Angels venue. A year later I was running that venue, which seems quite typical of the way that Greenbelt hoovers you in very quickly!

How long have you been a

Trustee?

Hmm… now that’s a question that needs a very precise answer because of the legal definition! It’s been eight years now,

although I started attending meetings about ten years ago, but that was as a member rather than a Trustee.

What was the main reason for becoming a Trustee?

The year that I ran the Angels venue was 1999, Greenbelt’s first year in Cheltenham. What became apparent was that our finances were really down, and the two of us who were managing the venue were running around like crazy trying to get more people to sign up. We noticed over the course of the weekend that more and more of the trustees were sidling up to us for a chat! I think they realised that we were very enthusiastic about the Festival and happy to do a lot of work, and as a result I got asked to come to the board meetings.

Why do you continue to choose to give up your time?

I think there’s a need for Greenbelt and it appears that Greenbelt has a need for my skills, so while I can continue to do that in order for the Festival to continue, I’m happy. But I also get a lot out of it, like the friends

that I’ve made throughout the organisation. I can’t imagine what else I’d be doing on, for example, a random Saturday towards the end of April!

What do you do in real life? Does it interact with your Greenbelt life at all, and if so, how?

I’m a software engineer – I build the internet! It generally doesn’t interact with Greenbelt, although it does mean that I tend to stick my oar in whenever there’s something that affects the internet and Greenbelt, hopefully without being too overbearing! (Ed – for a long time Paul was our IT support, helping us buy the right computers and sorting out problems when they weren’t working!)

What’s the best thing about Greenbelt?

It’s somewhere to explore in safety – you can ask difficult questions, knowing that no-one’s going to rip you to shreds. It’s also a place to experience things you’ve not experienced before.

What’s your hope for the future for Greenbelt?

I hope that it’ll continue to be relevant to a wide range of people. Someone once expressed surprise to me that Greenbelt was still going on and said they thought it was going to be one of those places where it ends up being 200 people organising a Festival for themselves, and that thought terrified me! I hate cliques, so what I want for Greenbelt is to be not for ‘us’, but for a wider group of people.

The Greenbelt Trustees – who are, of course, all volunteers – share their hopes for the Festival, and tell us a bit about themselves.

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