The Big Green Gathering

I enjoyed the Big Green Gathering so much two years ago that people said it looked like I’d grown there – so I was determined to go again this year if only to bloom once again!

It was on a different site this year, near Cheddar in Somerset. In the middle was a lake and around that were fields, with everything from camping to healing, music and children’s area. The BGG seems to me like a big version of the Green Field at Glastonbury. It has always had a reputation for being chilled and family-friendly and this year was no exception.

My kids loved it. In fact I spent so much time chasing after my kids that I missed a lot of the music. Highlight of the festival for me, and headlining on the main stage on Sunday night were Headmix Collective from Brighton. Sadly this was probably their last gig as they’ve decided to take a break to pursue other interests.

If you’ve never seen them, you really missed out, their music being akin, some have said, to that of Morcheeba, only better, in my mind – a mixture of world music and dance, reggae and diggeridoo with a touch of Turkish folk and celtic violin thrown in for good measure. It was an excellent gig – so good that my friend, whose partner happens to be their drummer, was rebuked by an enthusiastic member of the audience for talking: “Do you mind talking elsewhere, I’m trying to listen.” the fan purportedly said. Fair enough. But then Deb has seen them so many times, she would take them for granted. For die-hard fans like me, it’s a great loss to music than they never made it on to the radio or TOTP. Still they got pretty famous in Wales and Holland.

I’m surprised my friend could have had a conversation because I could hear Headmix, as they started up playing, right over in the camper van field at the other end of the site! 2000DS also played and all us old Hackney squatters spent a lot of time trying to find out where. Unfortunately they ended up playing on another stage around the same time as Headmix so I missed them. I was green with envy when some fairly straight people from Paignton told me that they’d seen some “pretty good” punk band on Sunday night!

The Big Green Gathering is a quieter more laid back festival than Glastonbury. It’s not full of funky dance music or drum and bass keeping your kids awake all night. The stages close around midnight so you have to look for late-night acoustic stuff in the cafes which are dotted all over the site or find a friendly camp-fire. There’re quite a few of those since the organisers do try to provide wood, even it is snapped up quickly.

There’re loads of things for your kids to do, from very cheap to free, art and craft workshops as well as web workshops (Traveller’s Aid – many thanks), music workshops and DJ mixing sessions in the Teenagers tent (no adults allowed). I wish my parents had taken me to festivals. We came home with crystal trees and sparkly fairies and we could have probably done a lot more if I hadn’t spent half my time catching up with old friends and drinking copious amounts of cheap cider. Very cheap.

One of the aims of the Big Green Gathering is to highlight the use of renewable energy sources so most stuff is powered by wind and/or sun. The Groovy Moovie people still found a few volunteers to power their enlightening films and Rinky Dink had no shortage of kids cadging free rides around the site. The Healing Area seemed huge this year, great for all of those interested in the power of complementary medicine. Horse and carts were used to transport people and their luggage to the camping areas.

Although compost loos weren’t allowed this year, the horrible chemical loos were still pretty clean and if you really had to eat meat, you could find a greasy Joe’s café just outside the main gate, alongside a car boot sale on Sunday which a few festie-goers visited. I am proud to say my eight year old son came away a vegetarian after collecting a lot of leaflets about animal cruelty.

I wasn’t keen on the new site – not enough recycling facilities either – but it didn’t detract from the fact that The Big Green Gathering is worth going to, partly because it’s reasonably-priced, as well as being educational and entertaining. There’s a wonderful lack of ageism there, which Glastonbury seems to have lost a little, from tiny babies to ancient hippies who seem to come out their holes especially for this wonderfully uncommercial event.

I had to drag myself away even when everyone was obviously packing up to go home. I felt there was still a lot I had missed, mainly because I spent most of my time chasing around after my children, who were already begging to return next year.

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